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-15891

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 18 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber) has received relating to evictions and civil proceedings since 1 December 2017; how many of these are awaiting a hearing, and what the average waiting time is between an application being submitted and its hearing.

Question reference: S5W-15589

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 17 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors the effectiveness of home reports.

The Scottish Government carried out a full policy review of the Home Report after five years of operation, which found that on the whole the reports were working well.

The review also recommended areas for improvement. The Scottish Government is considering how best to take forward work to respond to these recommendations, within the wider context of the development of Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme.

Question reference: S5O-01850

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 8 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that homeless people spend as little time as possible in temporary accommodation.

We want time in temporary accommodation to be as short as possible and we are increasing housing supply to help with this.

Temporary accommodation ensures families have a place to stay if made homeless and while settled accommodation is found which meets their needs. The majority of accommodation is of good quality and in the social rented sector and we are working with local authorities to ensure that all temporary accommodation is the same standard as permanent accommodation.

We have also changed the length of time that families with children and pregnant women are in unsuitable temporary accommodation, from 14 days to 7 days, except in exceptional circumstances.

The Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group is working on its recommendations to end rough sleeping for good and to transform temporary accommodation services. The Action Group will draw on evidence of what works best to support homeless people and I look forward to receiving its recommendations later this year.

Question reference: S5W-14775

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 28 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government when it will next publish its HL3 Return, which provides data on local authorities' use of temporary accommodation, including the length of stay for households and individuals in B&Bs.

The Scottish Government has been working with local authorities to develop and quality assure the new HL3 statistical data return, which contains case level information on temporary accommodation placements for homeless applicants.

The progress of the HL3 data was discussed at the recent Annual Homelessness Statistics User Group meeting on 20th February 2018. Whilst some authorities are still to provide a fully complete and usable set of data, it was considered that the overall quality of the latest set of data received is looking much improved compared to six months ago. Subject to these levels of data quality and coverage continuing to improve further in the coming months, the Scottish Government plans to publish information from the HL3 return in the ‘Homelessness in Scotland 2017-18’ publication that is planned for release in June 2018. The scope and detail of the information published may depend on any remaining data issues outstanding, for example there may be some local authorities for which information on some aspects of temporary accommodation cannot be produced, however it is intended that the publication content will include information on lengths of stay by type of accommodation, including B&Bs.

Question reference: S5O-01824

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it promotes tourism in the Central Scotland region.

Question reference: S5O-01796

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 February 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that the rural economy is not adversely impacted on by large-scale developments.

Question reference: S5W-14295

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 8 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on introducing a national lending unit as an option to assist home owners with the repair and maintenance of their property, which was discussed in the May 2008 paper, Housing (Scotland) Act 2006: Part 2 - Scheme of Assistance: Lending Options for Local Authorities.

The Scottish Government reviewed proposals for a national lending unit in 2011 in response to the economic downturn, the impact of this on credit and household income, and arrangements under the concordat with local authorities. Following consultation, the Scottish Government decided not to set up a national lending unit but agreed to work with COSLA to identify other options for local authorities to take forward the development of new initiatives for lending, taking account of local priorities for investment in housing.

In January 2017, the Scottish Government launched an area-based pilot of an equity loan scheme to assist owners to carry out essential repairs and energy efficiency improvements, which could facilitate common repairs in tenements. The pilot scheme is testing the market for equity loans. If there is sufficient demand we will consider further options. This may include procurement of a nationwide scheme in the future as part of the development of Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme (SEEP).

Question reference: S5O-01771

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 7 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many business organisations have written to the First Minister and finance secretary in favour of income tax rises.

In developing our new income tax policy the Scottish Government has engaged with a number of business groups. We have delivered a balanced set of tax and spend proposals. For the majority of taxpayers there will not be an income tax rise - Scotland will be the lowest and fairest income taxed part of the UK, something that recent polling by the Times confirms the majority of people living in Scotland support.

Question reference: S5O-01728

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that major road projects promote active travel.

Question reference: S5W-13456

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 9 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-13028 by Kevin Stewart on 13 December 2017, when the review of skills and positions will be completed; for what reason this was not done before the More Homes Scotland approach was published in 2016, and whether the review will contain a figure for how many new skilled workers will be required to meet the house-building target.

The work of the short-life working group on skills in the house-building industry is expected to conclude in Summer 2018. It is being developed and delivered with our partners Homes for Scotland and Skills Development Scotland.

This work is considering the medium-long term skills picture across whole of the house-building industry, rather than the 50,000 affordable homes target. Delivery of homes is supported by the Scottish Government but direct delivery responsibility, including procuring delivery lies with individual local authorities and Housing Associations.