Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold the information you request regarding defibrillators in schools.

You may wish to contact Scottish Local Authorities individually for information they may hold. The Scottish local government page of the Confederation of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) has contact information for these: https://www.cosla.gov.uk/councils .

In the 2022-23 financial year, the final outturn allocations to the schemes were as follows:

• Warmer Homes Scotland - £42.5 million
• Area Based Schemes - £41.7 million
• Home Energy Scotland - £22.4 million

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all children across Scotland can access high quality play opportunities in a range of settings. Through play, children and young people can explore the world around them in a creative and engaging way. It is important for their growth, development and wellbeing.

The Scottish Government has delivered funding of £20 million in the first three years of the play park renewal programme. Distribution and allocation of the remaining funding has been agreed with COSLA and we have written to all local authorities confirming their funding allocation until 2026 as per the table:

Since 2019-20, local authorities have been allocated an annual share of £8 million from the Ending Homelessness Together Budget to support the implementation of their rapid rehousing transition plans. The additional £2 million in 2023-24 for rapid rehousing transition plans has also been allocated from the Ending Homelessness Together Budget.

Since 2019-20, local authorities have been allocated an annual share of £8 million from the Ending Homelessness Together Budget to support the implementation of their rapid rehousing transition plans. This is in addition to £2 million allocated in 2018-19 from the same budget for each local authority to develop a rapid rehousing transition plan, and £5 million in 2020-21 from the Winter Plan for Social Protection to help mitigate the negative impacts of the pandemic.

The additional £2 million allocated in 2023-24 for rapid rehousing transition plans is new money. No additional rapid rehousing transition plan funding was made available in 2022-23.

Homelessness in Scotland is a statistical bulletin published by the Scottish Government twice a year. This data provides quantitative evidence across a number of issues for homeless households, including applications, assessments, temporary accommodation and outcomes. We will use the annual and interim Homelessness in Scotland statistics as the key measure of the success of initiatives to reduce the number of households and length of time spent in temporary accommodation.

We will also work with the sector on the potential to develop an additional monitoring framework to provide more up to date data in between these statistical publications, balancing the need for information with the pressures on landlords.

The eligibility criteria of the Tenant Grant Fund was extended in September 2022 to enable local authorities to use the fund to prevent homelessness for households who had built up more recent arrears, including as a result of the cost of living crisis. National monitoring of this fund was completed in June of this year.

Any local authorities with remaining funds are no longer limited to the criteria of the fund, and can use any remaining monies in ways that best meet the needs of tenants in their area.

The Scottish Government considers the conversion of temporary to permanent accommodation an effective measure to increase the number of social homes. We encourage local authorities to ‘flip’ a tenancy wherever the property is in the right location, and of the right size and type to meet the household’s requirements. Large scale flipping of tenancies can be particularly effective in areas where the greatest pressures in temporary accommodation are experienced.

In our response to the Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group recommendations, we said that we will work with COSLA, the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers and the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations to develop national guidance to encourage more effective stock management by the end of this year.

As set out in our response to the Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group recommendations, there are a number of reasons a property can become void. We will therefore work with each local authority, starting with the areas facing the greatest temporary accommodation pressures, on the solutions to accelerate void processing that are right for them.

We are in discussions with the Scottish Housing Regulator, the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, the Glasgow West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations, COSLA and Shelter to agree what changes could be made in the next two to three years that would reduce the turnaround time for vacant social homes. We will confirm specific actions in due course, once agreed.

We are in discussions with the Scottish Housing Regulator, the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, the Glasgow West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations, COSLA and Shelter Scotland to agree how to increase the number of allocations to homeless households in the next two to three years to support our commitment to reduce the number of households living in temporary accommodation. We welcome this positive engagement and we will report on the outcomes in due course.