Chamber and committees

Police Scotland has concluded that a stand-alone portal is neither the optimum nor best value route to create the capability for digital media to be submitted by members of the public.

Police Scotland will utilise the Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC) Programme, currently in pilot in Dundee, which will make it easy for a member of the public to submit digital evidence as part of an investigation following a report to the police. DESC will enable development of further capabilities where scope to further improve the service to the public is identified.

DESC is planned to be rolled out on a phased approach across Scotland between 2024 - 2026.

Local authorities have a duty under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 to manage and maintain local roads in their area and duties under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 to secure the expeditious, convenient and safe movement of traffic.

The statutory responsibilities arising from the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 Act are, in the main, duties to maintain the local road network. That legal framework gives discretion over maintenance decisions, direct operations and reinstatement entirely to local government. There is no role for the Scottish Government to become involved in how any local authority discharges their discretionary powers, or to mandate how any specific site should be resourced by the road maintainer.

It would be appropriate for any complaints about how the work is progressing to be raised via local authorities normal complaints process, and then via the Public Services Ombudsman, if escalation is required.

In the case of a roads authority site which is improperly guarded, incorrectly notified or otherwise causing a danger, both the Health and Safety Executive and the Scottish Road Works Commissioner have powers to investigate any alleged failure to meet safety standards. The Scottish Government are unaware of any safety issues being reported for this site.

The Scottish Government is continuing to work in partnership with partners and World Athletics following confirmation of the successful bid to host the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow.

In total the Scottish Government will provide £1.15 million of support for the event from the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture Portfolio, with VisitScotland providing a further £350,000 of support from its core budget. None of this funding is capital. This financial support is profiled across a number financial years, reflecting the long lead in time to prepare for an event of this size. UK Sport and Glasgow City Council are also providing funding.

The bid was carefully considered by all partners and this event has the potential to generate economic and societal benefits for areas of Scotland.

On 27 October 2023 I wrote to the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee about the scope of a 2024 update on implementation, which confirms that the purpose of the update is not to amend the types of licence i.e. home-sharing, home-letting and secondary let because it is important that safety standards apply to all visitor accommodation. I have had no discussions which commit to suspending either of these accommodation types from the scheme.

We have been responsive throughout our implementation of the short-term let licensing scheme. We consulted three times over three years and engaged extensively to develop the detail of the scheme, which was scrutinised by Parliament prior to its approval in January 2022. Since local schemes became operational in October 2022, thousands of short-term let hosts and operators have applied for home-sharing, home-letting and secondary let licences under this scheme.

A copy of the letter is available on the Scottish Parliament website at: https://www.parliament.scot/-/media/files/committees/local-gov/correspondence/2023/shorttermlets27oct.pdf

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23070 on 4 December 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

The Scottish Government is taking action to support families with the cost of school uniform and clothing so that every child in Scotland can attend school feeling comfortable, confident, and ready to learn.

In partnership with local authorities, we have delivered on our commitment to increase the level of school clothing grant in Scotland. This vital support for families has increased to at least £120 for eligible primary school pupils and £150 for eligible secondary school pupils. As part of action to further reduce the cost of the school day for families, we have committed through the 2023-24 Programme for Government to increase funding to local authorities for school clothing grant in the next financial year. This is in addition to the increased funding for school clothing grant that was provided in 2023-24 financial year which took the total funding provided to local authorities to £13m.

To further support families, we will also introduce national guidance on school uniform and clothing. This will support schools to work with families to develop and implement affordable and sustainable uniform and clothing policies that recognise the individual needs, circumstances and identities of all pupils and reduce costs of families. It is anticipated that the guidance will be published in spring 2024.

These measures are being taken forward as part of our wider action to tackle child poverty and protect people as much as possible during the ongoing cost of living crisis.

The Scottish Government does not collect this data, which will instead be held by individual local authorities.

In the Programme for Government 2023 to 2024 , the Scottish Government confirmed the Housing (Scotland) Bill will be brought forward as part of the year three legislative programme. This Bill will introduce new duties aimed at the prevention of homelessness.

We continue to engage with stakeholders, including COSLA and organisations from across the homelessness sector, on the development of the duties in order that we get our approach right.

The Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group convened a Task and Finish Group to set out recommendations on how best to prepare for the duties. We are considering the report which was published on 30 th August 2023 and will respond in due course.

The members of the Ministerial Oversight Group on Homelessness are:

• Paul McLennan MSP, Minister for Housing (chair)
• Elena Whitham, MSP, Minister for Drugs & Alcohol Policy
• Maree Todd, MSP, Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport
• Emma Roddick, MSP Minister for Equalities, Migration and Refugees
• Natalie Don, MSP, Minister for Children, Young People and Keeping the Promise
• Jenni Minto, MSP, Minister for Public Health and Woman’s Health
• Joe Fitzpatrick, MSP, Minster for Local Government and Planning
• Siobhan Brown, MSP, Minister for Victims and Community Safety
• Patrick Harvie, MSP, Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants' Rights
• Graeme Dey, MSP, Minister for Higher and Further Education; and Minister for Veterans

The Ministerial Oversight Group on Homelessness remit is to bring together ministers from across the Scottish Government to identify the actions required across portfolios to prevent and end homelessness. The group then collectively ensures delivery of these actions. The group provides a space for shared political leadership and enhanced policy links with a view to ensuring everyone has a safe, warm place to call home.

We have published further information on the Ministerial Oversight Group on Homelessness on the Scottish Government’s website at Ministerial Oversight Group on Homelessness - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . This includes the membership and terms of reference of the group. The Ministerial Oversight Group on Homelessness has so far had one meeting. The minutes, once available, will also be uploaded to this webpage.

We will shortly publish the minutes of the first meeting of the Ministerial Oversight Group on Homelessness. They will be available here - Ministerial Oversight Group on Homelessness - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .