Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S5W-26457

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 5 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will ask Ofgem to provide an estimate of the average credit balance held by customers in Scotland for each energy supply company that has failed since January 2018.

Question reference: S5W-26454

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 5 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will seek reassurance from Ofgem that any new rules it is proposing to put in place under the Supplier Licencing Review will alleviate the moral hazard problem in the energy supply market where suppliers are able to use an uninformed line of credit in the form of customer credit balances.

Question reference: S5W-26456

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 5 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Ofgem on protecting consumers from higher bills as a direct result of energy supply company failures, where credit balances and unpaid renewables obligations are thereafter mutualised across other suppliers.

Question reference: S5W-26452

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 5 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what representations it will make to Ofgem and the UK Government as part of the Supplier Licencing Review.

Question reference: S5W-26453

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 5 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will encourage Ofgem, through its Supplier Licencing Review, to ensure that energy suppliers guarantee (a) 100% of their credit balances and (b) government policy costs, should they fail through parent company guarantees, ringfenced cash or any other appropriate financial instrument.

Question reference: S5O-03906

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 December 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what it can do to support the re-establishment of the O2 ABC venue in Glasgow.

Question reference: S5W-26490

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 4 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what bids it has received from Glasgow City Council, or the local authority's arms length external organisations, for support from the Ending Homelessness Together fund in each year since 2017.

We have not received any bids for funding from the Ending Homelessness Together Fund, which has been established to support transformation and transition as we deliver the changes set out in the Ending Homelessness Together Action Plan.

However, the following table shows funding received by Glasgow City Council from the Ending Homelessness Together Fund since it was established in 2018-19.

Year	Amount	Organisation	Reason
2018-19	£301,000	Glasgow City Council	Rapid Rehousing Transition Plans development
2019-20	£1,332,000	Glasgow City Council	Rapid Rehousing Transition Plans implementation – Year 1

In 2018-19, £1.25 m was allocated to Corra Foundation from the Ending Homelessness Together Fund for distribution across the service providers operating in the five Housing First pathfinder sites, which includes Glasgow. A total of up to £6.5 m from the Ending Homelessness Together Fund and the Health Portfolio is being made available for the 3 year Housing First pathfinder programme.

In addition, the Ending Homelessness Together Fund has been used to provide funding to national organisations for Scotland-wide projects, some of which will benefit services in Glasgow.

Funding received for interventions specifically for Glasgow are shown in the following table:

Year	Amount	Organisation	Reason
2018-19 (April 2018)	£7,500	Simon Community Scotland	Flexible Emergency Funds* - Glasgow
2018-19 (Jan 2019)	£21,000	Simon Community Scotland	Flexible Emergency Funds – Glasgow
2019-20 (Oct 2019)	£25,000	Simon Community Scotland	Flexible Emergency Funds – Glasgow
2019-20	£140,000	Simon Community Scotland	Contribution to the Multi-Agency Health, Wellbeing And Home Hub for Glasgow
2019-20	£10,000	Simon Community Scotland	Outreach Contingency Fund to provide extra outreach shift at night on Glasgow and Edinburgh

*Flexible Emergency Funds are a facility available to frontline outreach staff to act immediately and directly in the interests of the person they are working with to prevent rough sleeping.

Question reference: S5W-26489

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 3 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of sub-zero temperatures being recorded in the city in November 2019, what its response is to calls for night shelters in Glasgow to open before 1 December.

As set out in my letter to you dated 27 November, I support the views of organisations across the homelessness sector in Glasgow that this kind of emergency accommodation is not what we should be aspiring to. The third sector organisations working in this sector have been very clear that what is needed is resource and empowerment to work with those who are “hardest to reach” and get them into a settled, mainstream home with support to address their wider needs. That is why planning and working together effectively, across housing partners, the wider third and public sector and involving mental health and addictions services is so important. The shift towards Rapid Rehousing for all homeless households is central to our plans, including Housing First wrap-around support for those with multiple and complex needs. This will ensure that emergency shelter is only ever needed in extreme circumstances.

That said, I welcome the news that, after discussion and weather monitoring by partners, the Glasgow Winter Night Shelter will open on Thursday 28 November, 3 days earlier than scheduled.

Question reference: S5O-03828

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to help families experiencing in-work poverty.

Question reference: S5O-03795

Current Status: Withdrawn