Chamber and committees

At my instruction, Transport Scotland are undertaking an intensive review of the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme. This work is expected to conclude in September 2016. In my statement of 5 July 2016, I made clear my intention to bring the review findings and senior Network Rail officials before the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee to answer any questions and to set out clearly when they will deliver the promised improvements and how much they will cost.

 

Network Rail advise us that the work in Queen Street Tunnel is making good progress. The tunnel remains on schedule to re-open as planned on 8 August 2016.

Financial considerations are not the reason for the delays to the electrification of the Edinburgh Glasgow line now being reported by Network Rail. The reasons will be set out in full following the conclusion of the Transport Scotland led review.

The Scottish Government does not collect data on the sub-reasons for children becoming looked after, so it is not possible to provide specific data on the numbers of children being placed in kinship and foster care due to parental imprisonment.The annual totals of children becoming looked after in foster care and kinship care (some of whom may have entered the care system due to parental imprisonment) are presented here:

	2010-2011	2011-2012	2012-2013	2013-2014	2014-2015
Starting to be looked after in kinship care	842	967	960	884	890
Starting to be looked after in foster care	1,097	1,404	1,421	1,443	1,237
All children starting to be looked after	4,746	4,811	4,470	4,295	4,198

The most relevant figures to homelessness available are in the following table, which details the number of children in households applying as homeless, where the main applicant had previously been in prison:

	2008-2009	2009-2010	2010-2011	2011-2012	2012-2013	2013-2014	2014-2015	2015-2016
Male Children	69	75	88	94	64	46	30	32
Female Children	69	81	72	85	73	39	30	30
All Children	138	156	160	179	137	85	60	62

It should be noted that the applicant’s earlier imprisonment may only be one of a number of factors leading to a homelessness application.

The Homeowner Housing Panel (HoHP) is an independent tribunal established under the Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 (the Act) to deal with disputes between homeowners and property factors. It is for the HoHP to decide whether to issue a legally-binding property factor enforcement order (PFEO) and determine whether a property factor has complied with the PFEO.

The HoHP must notify Scottish Ministers under section 23(2) of the Act where a property factor has failed to comply with any PFEO. Scottish Ministers have the power to remove a property factor from the register where it has failed to demonstrate compliance with the property factor code of conduct and any property factor enforcement order made by the HoHP. Since 1 October 2012, when the Act came into force, they have removed two factors from the register because of their non-compliance.

<>The Homeowner Housing Panel (HoHP) is an independent tribunal established under the Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 to deal with disputes between homeowners and property factors. The Act came into force on 1 October 2012.

Information on the cost of the HoHP for each year are included in its annual report which is laid before the Scottish Parliament. The reports are published at https://hohp.scotland.gov.uk/who-we-are-hohp/annual-reports.

The Housing (Scotland) Act 1987, as amended, gives all those assessed as homeless the right to temporary accommodation.

Scottish Government policy is that temporary accommodation should be of a good standard and the stay there should be as short as possible. Households in temporary accommodation should be given appropriate support for the duration of their stay, and helped to move on to settled accommodation in accordance with their rights.

Since the closure of large scale hostels in Scotland some years ago, the Scottish Government has been clear that modern hostels, provided by local authorities, housing associations and third sector agencies, should be small scale, increasing the range of options available in providing short term temporary and supported accommodation.

Hostels can meet the immediate needs of some homeless households by providing additional support while options for settled accommodation are considered. A person centred approach is important and different models of hostel provision may be required to meet the needs of different households.

The Scottish Government has regular discussions with Creative Scotland on a wide range of subjects including developments around the Youth Music Initiative which allows young people to take part in music in and outside of school in all 32 local authorities.

The Scottish Government will ensure that all local authorities and schools are aware of the eligibility and award criteria for school clothing grants following discussions with COSLA. Guidance will be provided as appropriate.

On 5 January 2015, free school meals were extended to primary 1 to 3 children in Scotland to help ensure every child has the best possible start in life and gets every chance to succeed at school. The policy has had a huge take up with latest figures showing that over 134,500 primary 1 to 3 children (81.7%) across all 32 local authorities in Scotland are taking a nutritious free school meal, saving families around £380 a year for each eligible child. The Scottish Government is fully funding this policy and is providing £54 million revenue funding in 2016-17, building on the £70.5 million of revenue funding provided over 2014-16 and the £24.8 million of capital funding which was provided to support implementation.