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: S5O-03190

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it assists older people to stay in their homes for as long as possible.

Question reference: S5W-22703

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 1 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the main reasons were for those households assessed as intentionally homeless (a) making a homeless application and (b) failing to maintain accommodation in each of the last five years.

The following table gives the reason for making a homelessness application for those assessed as intentionally homeless for each of the last five years.

Reason for application	2013-2014	2014-2015	2015-2016	2016-2017	2017-2018
Termination of tenancy - mortgage due to rent arrears - default on payments	475	470	485	440	525
Other action by landlord resulting in the termination of the tenancy	280	255	245	220	220
Applicant terminated secure accommodation	240	235	165	155	160
Loss of service - tied accommodation	5	10	5	5	5
Discharge from prison - hospital - care - other institution	40	55	55	35	35
Emergency (fire, flood, storm, closing order from Environmental Health etc.)	5	5	5	0	0
Forced division and sale of matrimonial home	5	5	5	0	0
Other reason for loss of accommodation	95	100	110	125	125
Dispute within household: violent or abusive	45	45	30	30	30
Dispute within household - relationship breakdown: non-violent	85	105	70	55	65
Fleeing non-domestic violence	20	30	25	20	15
Harassment	25	25	20	20	20
Overcrowding	10	10	15	5	15
Asked to leave	260	270	240	190	180
Other reason for leaving accommodation - household	215	175	160	135	135
Total	1805	1795	1630	1440	1530

Source: HL1 dataset as at 12-12-2018

The following table gives the reasons for failing to maintain accommodation for those assesses as intentionally homeless in each of the last five years. Note that applicants may provide multiple reasons for failing to maintain their accommodation.

Reason for failing to maintain accommodation	2013-2014	2014-2015	2015-2016	2016-2017	2017-2018
All completing this question	1035	975	865	845	1030
Financial difficulties- debt- unemployment	490	445	450	420	575
Physical health reasons	40	55	60	75	95
Mental health reasons	115	120	145	180	265
Unmet need for support from housing- social work- health services	45	45	45	45	55
Lack of support from friends- family	95	105	95	120	150
Difficulties managing on own	130	110	105	110	135
Drug- alcohol dependency	165	145	125	145	175
Criminal- anti-social behaviour	195	155	135	105	145
Not to do with applicant household (e.g. landlord selling property, fire, circumstances of other persons sharing previous property, harassment by others, etc)	275	270	195	165	220
Refused	15	35	30	15	10

Source: HL1 dataset as at 12-12-2018

Question reference: S5O-03182

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 April 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to tackle violent crime.

Question reference: S5W-22296

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered mandatory awareness training regarding domestic abuse for (a) sheriffs presiding over domestic abuse cases and (b) family court sanctioned mediation services.

The Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008 provides that the Lord President, as Head of the Scottish Judiciary, has statutory responsibility for making and maintaining arrangements for the training and guidance of judicial office holders.

On 30 January 2019, the Judicial Institute announced that all judges and sheriffs in Scotland will receive specific training on domestic abuse ahead of the commencement of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2019 on 1 April. Since 2014, induction for new Sheriffs has included training on family law and domestic abuse.

Section 1 of the Civil Evidence (Family Mediation) (Scotland) Act 1995 protects the confidentiality of the family mediation process where the mediation is conducted by a mediator accredited by an organisation approved by the Lord President. Decisions on what training must be in place for a mediation organisation to be approved under the 1995 Act are a matter for the Lord President.

Question reference: S5W-22262

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 28 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to consult on the use of referral fees for solicitors or estate agents during the conveyancing process.

The Scottish Government has no plans to consult on the use of referral fees for solicitors or estate agents during the conveyancing process at this time.

The use of such referral fees for solicitors falls to the Law Society of Scotland as the regulator. The Society has Rules and Professional Standards for solicitors to comply with.

The regulation of Estate Agents is reserved under section C7 of Schedule 5 of the Scotland Act 1998. Estate Agents are principally regulated by the Estate Agents Act 1979 and the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

We are aware that the UK Government have consulted on such referral fees in their call for evidence on Improving the Home Buying and Selling process. The consultation UK Government response are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/improving-the-home-buying-and-selling-process-call-for-evidence .

Any outcomes from the UK Government consultation would apply to Estate Agents across the UK including Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-22105

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 26 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many civilian staff working for Police Scotland received a decrease in pay due to the new Police Scotland pay grading structure compared with their former pay structure in the regional police forces.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Police Scotland and the SPA confirm that the pay and reward modernisation package recently agreed with trade unions will directly benefit the majority of police staff. More than 70% of police staff will benefit, a number of staff will face no change and a minority may in time experience a detrimental effect. The exact figures will be determined by changes to posts and shift patterns in the lead up to implementation. For those facing a reduction, SPRM provides pay protection for two years in the form of a lump sum or monthly payments. There is also pension protection for those within 10 years of retirement.

Question reference: S5W-22106

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 26 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many civilian staff who were employed by regional police forces have since left employment with Police Scotland.

The information requested is not held by Scottish Government. Police Scotland have recently started to publish the number of support staff working across each of the 13 local policing divisions and specialist functions as part of the Police Officer Numbers Quarterly Fact Sheets. http://www.scotland.police.uk/about-us/police-scotland/212598 .

The member may wish to write to Police Scotland directly to request further information.

Question reference: S5O-03060

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 March 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government under what circumstances it would introduce a universal basic income.

Question reference: S5W-21892

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 13 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its strategy for the prevention and eradication of violence against women and girls.

The Scottish Government is implementing Equally Safe, Scotland’s strategy for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls. In November 2017, we published our Equally Safe delivery plan. It contains 118 different commitments across 4 priority areas and has a clear outcomes framework with indicators to demonstrate progress nationally and locally to prevent and eradicate violence against women and girls.

In November 2018, the Scottish Government published its first Equally Safe annual progress report which highlighted key progress made to date on many of the actions contained within the delivery plan and outlined our priorities for the year ahead. We will continue to publish an annual progress report over the lifetime of the strategy and delivery plan.

Question reference: S5W-21552

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 26 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) social housing, (b) private rented sector and (c) owner occupier properties do not currently have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of at least band C.

Estimates of the number and percentage of households at each EPC energy efficiency band are published annually in the Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) Key Findings report. The most recent data for 2017, published in December 2018, estimates that 45% of social sector dwellings, representing around 279,000 dwellings, had an EPC energy efficiency rating below C. The equivalent figure in the private rented sector stood at 61% of occupied dwellings (212,000 dwellings), and 62% (930,000 dwellings) for owner-occupied dwellings. These figures are summarised in Table 1.

Table 1: Grouped EPC Band by Broad Tenure in 2017, SAP 2012. SHCS 2017.

	EPC band
	C or above		Below C
	000s	%	000s	%
Owner occupied	561	38%	930	62%
Private rented	135	39%	212	61%
Social sector	347	55%	279	45%