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: S6W-14759

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many Protecting Vulnerable Group (PVG) checks have been undertaken in each year since 1999.

The PVG Scheme was established on 28 February 2011. The number of PVG disclosures completed in each financial year since that date is set out in the following table.

Financial Year	PVG Disclosures Completed
2010-11	5,738
2011-12	205,453
2012-13	248,273
2013-14	336,469
2014-15	343,331
2015-16	322,487
2016-17	282,900
2017-18	281,700
2018-19	280,000
2019-20	288,000
2020-21	211,100
2021-22	293,000
2022-23 (to 6 Feb 2023)	263,608

Disclosure Scotland’s Annual Report and Accounts, which includes figures about PVG disclosures, is laid in the Parliament each year and published on the MyGov.Scot website: Disclosure Scotland Annual Report and Accounts 2021-22

Question reference: S6W-15113

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how (a) much has been paid out and (b) many households have received funding from the Fuel Insecurity Fund since it was established.

Since being established in the winter of 2020, as part of the wider Winter Support Fund, a total of £33.595 million in support has been distributed from the Fuel Insecurity Fund (FIF) through our third sector delivery partners, namely Advice Direct Scotland, the Fuel Bank Foundation and the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations. This includes the full £20 million budgeted for in 2022-23, all of which has been drawn down by delivery partners.

We have agreed an approach to monitoring and evaluation of support provided by delivery partners which seeks to avoid excessive demands for data gathering and reporting, in order to ensure the FIF can be distributed to those most in need. As such, the Scottish Government does not hold this information, although we are aware of the unprecedented demand for support from the Fuel Insecurity Fund, which our partners are providing to households. Based on evaluation reports received to date and ongoing monitoring, we estimate over 100,000 households will have received some form of support.

Further information, including FIF partner publications and evaluations, can be accessed directly on their respective websites linked to below.

The Fuel Bank Foundation - Fuel-Bank-Fuel-Crisis-Report-2023.pdf (fuelbankfoundation.org)

Scottish Federation of Housing Associations – 92717.pdf (sfha.co.uk)

Advice Direct Scotland - Publications – Advice Direct Scotland

Question reference: S6W-15115

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many (a) houses and (b) flats in Scotland have been demolished in each year since 1999.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information at this level of detail. Latest published Scottish Government annual estimates on demolitions from 1999-00 up to the year 2020-21 are available on the Housing statistics: Conversions and demolitions webpage. This information is provided by local authorities but does not include a breakdown by houses or flats.

Note that these estimates are not considered comprehensive. Estimates of demolitions of local authority housing are thought to be generally accurate, however local authorities differ in their ability to provide comprehensive estimates of demolitions of private sector and housing association homes. As such, these estimates should be considered as the minimum level of demolition activity in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-15133

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many children currently living in temporary accommodation, who are of relevant age, are not enrolled and attending (a) primary and (b) secondary school.

Question reference: S6W-15127

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how much has been spent on providing people with temporary accommodation in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

The Scottish Government does not collect data on local authority expenditure on the provision of temporary accommodation to households experiencing homelessness. This information would need to be requested from each local authority directly.

The majority of homelessness funding since 1999 has been provided to local authorities through the annual local government finance settlement, which is £13.2 billion in 2023-24. Local authorities decide how best to use this resource to prevent and respond to homelessness on the basis of local needs and priorities, including the provision of temporary accommodation. This has been supplemented in recent years by £5.5 million from the Scottish Government’s health and housing budgets for the Housing First pathfinder and identifiable resource as follows:

Financial Year	Rapid Rehousing Transition Plans	Homelessness Support
2017-18	£0m	£22.5m
2018-19	£2m	£23.5m
2019-20	£8m	£23.5m
2020-21	£13m [1]	£23.5m
2021-22	£8m	£23.5m
2022-23	£8m	£23.5m
Total	£39m	£140.0m

Looking ahead, a new distribution formula for the £30.5 million Homelessness Prevention Fund has been agreed with COSLA leaders for 2023-24 onwards. The revised formula focuses on local authority activity on homelessness prevention and earlier intervention to better support delivery in advance of the introduction of the new homelessness prevention duties through the 2023 Housing Bill. This will be supplemented by a further £8m support for Rapid Rehousing Transition Plans in 2023-24.

[1] The Scottish Government provided an additional £5 million to local authorities for rapid rehousing transition plans in December 2020 as part of its Winter Plan for Social Protection.

Question reference: S6W-15129

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much public funding has been provided to third sector organisations in each year since 1999, broken down by organisation.

Question reference: S6W-15135

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many school libraries have closed in each local authority area in each year since 1999.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Provision of school libraries, which deliver a wide range of benefits and access to learning materials and resources for pupils, is a matter for local decision making in each local authority area.

We support the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) to deliver the School Library Improvement Fund and support Vibrant Libraries, Thriving Schools – A National Strategy for School Libraries in Scotland 2018-23 .

Question reference: S6W-15128

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how much has been spent on providing people with emergency accommodation in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

The Scottish Government does not collect data on local authority expenditure for the provision of emergency accommodation to households experiencing homelessness. This information would need to be requested from each local authority directly.

The majority of homelessness funding since 1999 has been provided to local authorities through the annual local government finance settlement, which is £13.2 billion in 2023-24. Each local authority is responsible for managing and administering their own budget on the basis of local needs and priorities, and have discretion as to how they use this resource to prevent and respond to homelessness, including providing emergency accommodation. This has been supplemented in recent years by £5.5 million from the Scottish Government’s health and housing budgets for the Housing First pathfinder and identifiable resource as follows:

Financial Year	Rapid Rehousing Transition Plans	Homelessness Support
2017-18	£0m	£22.5m
2018-19	£2m	£23.5m
2019-20	£8m	£23.5m
2020-21	£13m [1]	£23.5m
2021-22	£8m	£23.5m
2022-23	£8m	£23.5m
Total	£34m	£140.0m

[1] The Scottish Government provided an additional £5 million to local authorities for rapid rehousing transition plans in December 2020 as part of its Winter Plan for Social Protection.

Question reference: S6W-15353

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many disabled people are currently living in temporary accommodation.

The Scottish Government HL1 data collection gathers information relating to reason support may need to be provided, according to the judgement of a homelessness officer, for households who make a homelessness application.

No information is gathered about support needs or disabilities of individuals within the household.

The HL3 data collection gathers information about temporary accommodation placements associated with homelessness applications. The following information has been derived by linking data from Scottish Government HL1 and HL3 collections

Support needs identified for households in temporary accommodation, as at 30 September 2022 (latest available)

	Number of households
All in temporary accommodation	14,887
Mental health problem	4,272
Learning disability	529
Physical disability	903
Medical condition	1,491
Drug or alcohol dependency	1,758
Basic housing management / independent living skills	2,701
Households with at least one support need identified	7,010

Please note, it is possible for a household to have more than one identified support need.

Question reference: S6W-15346

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce legislation similar to the so-called Awaab’s Law, which would require social landlords to fix reported health hazards within specified time frames.

Social landlords in Scotland must already meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard which requires properties to be free from damp, have adequate ventilation and be suitably insulated and they must ensure any requests for repairs are carried out in a timely fashion. Compliance is monitored by the Scottish Housing Regulator. If landlords fail to comply, tenants can escalate complaints to the Scottish Public Sector Ombudsman. The latest report on the Scottish Housing Charter shows that almost 9 out of 10 social tenants are satisfied with the homes and service that their landlord provides.

The Regulator is currently working proactively with social housing providers to identify and share best practice in dealing with damp and mould and is expected to publish updated guidance shortly.