Chamber and committees

The Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016 (the 2016 Act) will enable local authorities to apply to Ministers to designate an area as a rent pressure zone where rents are rising too much, causing undue hardship to tenants and increasing the pressure on authorities to provide housing or subsidise the cost of housing. If Ministers designate a zone, rent increases for sitting tenants in that zone would be capped at a minimum of the Consumer Prices Index plus 1% for a period not exceeding 5 years per application. The 2016 Act does not contain any other rent provisions that can be used by local authorities.

The Scottish Government wishes to ensure that mid-market rent levels remain affordable to households on low to modest incomes. Landlords which have received Scottish Government support in recent years – whether in the form of grant funding, loan finance or financial guarantees – are not permitted to set rents above the mid-point of local private sector rent levels, which are generally based on Broad Rental Market Area data collected and published by the Scottish Government. These landlords will therefore be obliged to take account of any recent fluctuations in private rental prices when setting rents for the next year.

Information about the number of families who have received free school meals is not held centrally. Information about the number of children and young people in primary, secondary and special schools, who were registered for and taking a free school meal is collected by the Scottish Government. Table 2 in the accompanying supplementary data of the Scottish Government publication Summary statistics for attainment, leaver destinations and healthy living, No. 6: 2016 Edition provides details of the number of children and young people in primary, secondary and special school who were registered and taking free school meal on the day of the survey each year from 2006. This can be accessed at http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/MealsSD/mealspesd/mealspesd2016.

The number of children and young people in primary, secondary and special schools who were registered for and took a free school meals in 2005 can be accessed from table 2 of the Scottish Government publication School Meals in Scotland 2009. This can be accessed at http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2009/06/22104701/0.

We have provided £200,000 (2016-17) to support a pilot access to elected office fund in Scotland. This includes £40,000 for administration (including assessment and support). The Fund is available to pay for practical support, covering reasonable adjustments, to support disabled people who wish to stand for selection or election in the 2017 local government elections.

We will review uptake of the fund later in the financial year to see whether this needs to be increased, and we will ensure that funds are available for the first quarter of next financial year to cover the 2017 election.

We do not hold information on individuals employment terms and conditions. However, our commitment will enable all care workers supporting vulnerable adults to be paid at least the Living Wage.

In this year alone we estimate that up to 40,000 workers, mainly women, will benefit from a well deserved pay rise directly because of this policy.

Neuro-rehabilitation for patients who have suffered a stroke is predominantly provided by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde's community based stroke team which include physiotherapists who have specialised in stroke rehabilitation. This allows rehabilitation to be undertaken in a home environment negating the need for individuals and carers to travel to an out-patient clinic. The majority of patients are seen within 24 hours of hospital discharge with a maximum waiting time of 4 days.

For patients for whom an out–patient clinic appointment would be more appropriate NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde have a stroke specific physiotherapy service at both Stobhill and Victoria Acute Care Hospitals which operate 4 sessions a week between the two sites. Average waiting time for this service is 5 weeks. There is also an option to be seen by a physiotherapist in one of the day hospitals across NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

The Scottish Government has been working with COSLA, local authority revenue and benefits practitioners and their software suppliers since early June 2016 to ensure Councils will implement the reforms from April 2017.

The extension of the council tax reduction scheme for households on low income living in band E to H properties will come into force on 1 April 2017. Individual local authorities administer the council tax reduction scheme, so it is a matter for each Council to decide whether to accept applications before then, although the reduction in liability can only be granted from that date. I would encourage people on lower incomes to apply for Council Tax Reduction.

We will look to optimise spend up to £50m however this will be dependent on the state of readiness of projects to move forward to draw down this financial year. There are no carry forward arrangements for uncommitted funds but we will aim to manage any unallocated budgets effectively across housing or wider SG in line with normal programme management arrangements.

Given the timing of the Fund relative to SHIP submissions in November 2016 and the availability of resource this financial year, Local Authorities were asked to provide initial views about priority sites to the Scottish Government ahead of formal SHIP submissions with a view to identifying projects we could support this financial year