Chamber and committees

The Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum is chaired independently by Alan B Ferguson. Representatives from the following organisations are members of the group:

Age Scotland

Association for the Conservation of Energy

Child Poverty Action Group

Citizens Advice Scotland

COSLA

Energy Action Scotland

Energy Saving Trust

Existing Homes Alliance Scotland

Public Health Scotland/NHS Scotland

Poverty Alliance

Scottish Gas

Scottish Federation of Housing Associations

Scottish Power

Shelter

SSE

Scottish Housing Energy Efficiency Network (SHEEN)

Ofgem (as observers)

ScottishPower Energy Networks (as observers)

Scottish and Southern Energy Power Distribution Networks (as observers)

Chair of Scottish Rural Fuel Poverty Task Force (until group is dissolved)

Chair of Scottish Fuel Poverty Strategic Working Group (until group is dissolved)

The Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum last met on 27 April 2016 and will meet again on 24 August 2016.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with stakeholders, including the Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum to tackle fuel poverty.

The most recent statistics on fuel poverty were published in December 2015 Scottish House Condition Survey: Key Findings 2014 http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2015/12/8460) and show that there were around 845,000 fuel poor households in Scotland in 2014.

The Scottish Government remains committed to tackling fuel poverty. Last year we designated energy efficiency as a National Infrastructure Priority, which will be delivered through Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme (SEEP).We will now develop a longer-term approach to tackling fuel poverty as part of SEEP, and set this out in legislation by introducing a new Warm Homes Bill.

This new approach will be informed by stakeholders, in particular the Fuel Poverty Strategic Working Group and the Scottish Rural Fuel Poverty Task Force, which are both due to report by the end of 2016 and make recommendations on, among other things, the effective use of newly devolved powers (both obligations on energy suppliers and fuel poverty related benefits), the current definition of fuel poverty, and how to deal with the particular issues facing rural and remote households.

The Scottish Housing Regulator publishes a directory of all registered social landlords which can be found at:

https://www.scottishhousingregulator.gov.uk/find-and-compare-landlords/directory-social-landlords

Information on housing associations currently developing and in receipt of grant is published annually within the Scottish Government’s Affordable Housing Supply Programme Outturn Reports, the most recent of which is for 2014-15. Outturn information for 2015-16 will be published in due course. The outturn reports can be found at:

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/investment/ahip

For information on the number of planned projects for each of the next five years I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-01393 on 26 July 2016. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Over the next five years, the Scottish Government will deliver at least 50,000 affordable homes. While the majority of these will be new build homes, the Affordable Housing Supply Programme includes initiatives such as the Town Centre Empty Homes Fund which encourages owners of empty homes to bring these properties back into use as affordable housing. The Open Market Shared Equity Scheme allowing people on low to moderate incomes to buy existing homes for sale on the open market also contributes towards the Affordable Housing Supply Programme.

The exact number of homes delivered in each year of the next five years is dependent upon progress made by councils and housing associations in each local authority area over the five year period. For the current year, we expect to deliver around 8,000 affordable homes. All councils are required to submit their strategic housing investment plans in November 2016, and this will give a clearer indication of delivery in future years.

The Scottish Government works closely with all housing stakeholders to ensure that we make the best use of all our resources and expertise to deliver more affordable homes. The Joint Housing Policy and Delivery Group brings together stakeholders from across housing and the group’s delivery plan captures a crucial set of delivery actions which we collectively agree are vital at this time.

We have listened to what housing partners need to increase the pace and momentum of housing delivery. These discussions have helped us to develop our More Homes Scotland approach.

Through this approach, the following additional measures will further support the increase in the supply of homes with focus on four key areas:

more investment for more housing - we will invest over £3 billion in affordable housing to deliver at least 50,000 affordable homes over the next five years - a 76% increase on our current five-year investment;

a flexible grant and loan Housing Infrastructure fund with up to £50 million available in 2016-17

a wide-ranging review of the planning system to improve the effectiveness of planning processes; and identify with stakeholders any critical skills and expertise gaps that could prevent delivery of our ambition

We are determined to increase and accelerate housing supply across all tenures and support the industry and local authorities to deliver their housing priorities with quality homes in mixed communities that fit local needs.

We do not routinely publish breastfeeding rates at discharge. However this data is collected on the Scottish Morbidity Record 02 (SMR02) submitted by maternity hospitals to Information Services Division Scotland and this data has been used to gather the information on breastfeeding rates for mothers leaving hospital after giving birth.

The three tables show the numbers and rates of women who had a live birth in Scotland and who breastfed at the time of discharge. Breastfeeding means those women exclusively breastfeeding or those that were mixed feeding (breast and formula feeding). The breastfeeding rate is calculated using only those records where ‘feed on discharge’ is known i.e. records where feeding status is either unknown or missing are excluded.

It is not possible to split all hospitals into community or consultant led, therefore, results are presented by type of maternity unit(s) in each hospital. The three groups are: Obstetric Units (or Consultant-led) only, Obstetric Units with Alongside Midwifery Units, and Freestanding Midwifery Units.

For those delivery episodes occurring in hospitals with an Obstetric Unit and an Alongside Midwifery Unit it is not possible to determine if the birth was in the obstetric or midwife led unit. For example, The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh is an Obstetric Unit with Alongside Midwifery Unit, it has a hospital code of S314H irrespective of the delivery taking place in the obstetric unit or the midwifery unit.

A copy of these tables has been placed in the Scottish Parliaments Reference Centre, bib 58041.

The number of births by type of delivery for consultant-led maternity units and obstetric units alongside midwifery units has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 58076)

For those delivery episodes occurring in Obstetric Units with Alongside Midwifery Units it is not possible to determine if the birth was in the obstetric or midwifery part of the unit. For example, The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh is an Obstetric Unit with Alongside Midwifery Unit, it has a hospital code of S314H irrespective of the delivery taking place in the obstetric unit or the midwifery unit.

It should be noted that women delivering in hospitals that have consultant-led units will have different characteristics to women delivering in hospitals with midwife units. Women deemed to be low-risk are more likely to deliver in midwife units. For this reason the figures presented for the different types of units in the Scottish Parliament Information centre are not comparable.

Tables Source: SMR02, Information Services Division Scotland

Ref: IR2016-01270

The information provided in the answer to this question is provided in a list of tables, is based on data per given financial year and therefore runs from 1 April to 31 March of the following year.

Birth location is often planned at the time of antenatal booking. This records either the women's choice of place of birth or, if no choice is made, the location of the booking visit. There can be planned changes to place of delivery during antenatal care and/or emergency transfers during labour.

A copy of these tables have been placed on the Scottish Parliaments Information Centre bib 58077.

Advice services in Scotland are provided mainly by local authorities and the third sector. They are accessed by a cross-section of Scottish society, but are of particular value to the most vulnerable through their work to tackle social inequalities. In many cases, this advice is funded by the Scottish Government.

There is scope to better understand and improve the coordination of Scottish Government funding for advice services to ensure that they continue to meet the needs of Scotland’s communities, that spending aligns as effectively as possible with ministerial priorities and provides maximum value for money for the use of public funds. Scottish Government officials are at the very early stages of this work and will continue to engage with the sector as this project develops.