Chamber and committees

We have a strong record on housing matters across all tenures from rental to home ownership. Since 2007 we have encouraged housing supply, maintaining higher build rates in both affordable and private housing than the rest of the UK. We have exceeded our target to deliver 30,000 affordable homes in this Parliament, including over 20,000 homes for social rent, through a range of innovative financing mechanisms. We have also maintained price inflation of only 1% since 2008 unlike the average increase of 21% in England. The last published data showed that the average household spent just under 10% of their income on housing costs in Scotland and this has remained constant since 2007.

However, despite our strong action on housing supply we know that some households continue to struggle to find affordable housing solutions and we can assure them that we are working hard within our powers to assist them. We have committed to build a further 50,000 affordable homes during the next parliamentary term, if elected, as well as continue with our current initiatives for low cost home ownership such as Help To Buy.

We are also mitigating against some of the impacts of welfare cuts brought in by the UK Government. For example, we are providing local authorities with £70 million in 2014-15 and 2015-16 to fully mitigate the bedroom tax through discretionary housing payments. This is in addition to £20 million provided in 2013-14.

In addition, the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Bill will protect 700,000 people from the prospect of unforeseen and unfair eviction and unpredictability over rent increases, as well as ensuring the sector is attractive to investors, with better management and regulation. The bill forms a key part of the Scottish Government strategy to grow and improve the private rented sector.

The Scottish Government is increasing affordable housing supply to expand the settled accommodation options for families in temporary accommodation.

We have now met and exceeded the current target to deliver 30,000 affordable homes, and within that the constituent parts – 20,000 social homes including 5,000 council homes. And we have increased the grant funding available for 2016-17 by over £90 million, as the first stage in our determination to boost housing supply still further.

Temporary accommodation is a necessary stage in the delivery of the local authority’s legal duty to provide settled accommodation to families, but the statutory Code of Guidance on Homelessness makes clear that time spent there should be as short as possible. Families should have the widest range of appropriate, sustainable housing options – that may mean a quick solution is not always desirable.

A new mandatory collection of data on time spent in temporary accommodation will begin at the end of March 2016 and help inform the approach of the Scottish Government and our partners on this issue.

The Scottish Government funds the Home Energy Scotland advice centres and helpline which are managed on our behalf by the Energy Saving Trust. Home Energy Scotland provides free and impartial advice on energy saving to all householders, including private sector landlords. This includes information about specific energy efficiency measures, as well as checking eligibility for government schemes and programmes, and providing details of local suppliers who are qualified to carry out energy efficiency improvements. They can also provide advice on renewable energy, sustainable transport, waste prevention, and more, to all householders in Scotland. Home Energy Scotland can be contacted on 0808 808 2282 or further information can be found at: www.greenerscotland.org/warm-homes.

Since 2012-13 the Scottish Government has also been funding the Energy Saving Trust to provide specific support and advice for landlords in relation to energy efficiency and renewables. This service involves either home visits by specialist advisors to interested landlords' properties, or specialist remote advice where a visit is not required.

The Scottish Government designated energy efficiency as a national infrastructure priority in June 2015, and we are working with stakeholders to develop this programme. Ministers are also committed to taking forward consultation on proposals for minimum energy efficiency standards in private sector housing in the next parliamentary session.

This is not a statistic used by the Scottish Government. It appears to be an estimate based on officially published statistics of the numbers of households with children in temporary accommodation over a year.

We do not want to see an increase in families in temporary accommodation and the time spent there should be as short as possible. Our actions and strong legal rights for homeless households ensure that families are placed in good quality temporary accommodation until suitable settled accommodation becomes available.

The Scottish Government has made no specific assessment of mental health of children in temporary accommodation. The Scottish Government and its partners have put in place a number of measures to ensure that the experience of temporary accommodation is as positive as possible for children before they move to settled accommodation.

This includes a strengthening of the Homeless Persons (Unsuitable Accommodation) (Scotland) Order 2014, which makes clear a number of standards that need to be met in temporary accommodation for households with children. These standards, including proximity to schools and health services and provision of room to play, all contribute to the mental health of children.

Local authorities have a legal duty to provide housing support to homeless households with children, where this has been assessed as being required. The Scottish Government has also published guidance on “Meeting the Best Interests of Children Facing Homelessness” which emphasises adopting a corporate approach and multi-agency working and which provides guidance on the particular issues faced by children facing homelessness.

Psychiatric inpatient and day case discharges are recorded in Scottish morbidity record 04 (SMR04). Data on SMR04 is routinely published by financial year and 2013-14 is the latest year for which information is available. Inpatient deaths show a decline of 49.28% between 2006-07 and 2013-14.

Table 1: Number of mental health inpatient^1,2 deaths³, 2006-07 to 2013-14.

1. Psychiatric inpatient and day case activity is recorded in Scottish morbidity record 04 (SMR04).

2. Data from the learning disability specialty have been excluded.

3. Patients were identified as having died if the ‘discharge type’ was recorded as ‘death’. This includes patients who died while out on pass.

The majority of deaths of mental health inpatients occur amongst patients within the sub-specialty of psychiatry of old age. Of the inpatients who died, 85% were aged 70 and over.

On occasion people will be treated outside their board areas where specialist or urgent care is required. Care and support is provided in the most appropriate environment, regardless of board boundaries, and is always dictated by clinical need and benefit to the patient.

Information Services Division have not yet published data for mental health patients treated outwith their NHS board area in 2014-15.

Information from various studies into the prevalence of different mental health conditions in the general population is available on the Scottish Public Health Observatory website under the mental health topic (http://www.scotpho.org.uk/health-wellbeing-and-disease/mental-health/key-points).

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-29231 on 19 January 2016. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.