Chamber and committees

There are no plans to change the current site selection requirements for safety cameras in Scotland.

These were included in the 2013-2014 Review of the Scottish Safety Camera Programme, the outcome of which has delivered lasting improvements, maximising the Programme's collision and casualty reduction potential.

The rules and guidance for the Programme in Scotland can be found within the Scottish Safety Camera Programme Handbook 2015.

Following the introduction of the Public Bodies (Joint Working) Act 2014, local authorities are required to delegate adaptations functions and budgets to local health and social care partnerships.

Funding for adaptations for owner occupied and privately rented housing comes from local authorities' general funds including from the Local Government Funding settlement from the Scottish Government. Adaptations for local authority housing is mainly funded from the local authorities' Housing Revenue Account.

For a number of years the Scottish government has provided funding to help Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) deliver housing adaptations. £10 million has been made available to RSLs in 2017-18.

Within our disability delivery plan. A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People (published in December 2016) we have committed to working with local authorities, disabled people, and other stakeholders to ensure that each local authority sets a realistic target within its Local Housing Strategy for the delivery of wheelchair accessible housing across all tenures and reports annually on progress.

The Scottish Government also intends to revise the Local Housing Strategy guidance in 2018 to reflect this.

A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People was published in December 2016. We do not anticipate receiving data from local authorities until, at least, one full reporting year has elapsed.

Following the recommendations of the independent Adaptations Working Group on improving the delivery and funding of adaptations, five Adapting for Change demonstration sites, including Fife, were established across the country to pilot new approaches. An independent evaluation of the demonstration sites was commissioned and the final report will be published soon.

Following publication of the report, we will work with health and social care partnerships, disabled people, local authorities and the housing sector to develop guidance for housing and care providers on the provision of adaptations and the associated timescales.

Whilst the Scottish Government has not committed to drafting new regulations for adaptations, we are working with health and social care partnerships, disabled people, local authorities and the housing sector to take forward the recommendations of the adaptations working group. Part of this work will include developing guidance for housing, health and social care services on the delivery of adaptations.

The alert messaging system draws on contact detail information entered by staff to the Parliament’s self-service payslip portal, eHR, which feeds into the payroll system. In the past the view was taken that the comparatively high level in Members’ staff turnover meant that it was logistically difficult for Members’ staff to be included in the alert messaging system.

The alert messaging system has been used more frequently in 2017 in connection with a number of incidents affecting the Parliament and building users. The alert system has proved to be a highly effective way of communicating messages quickly, both through texts and emails. Over the summer, a review was undertaken to examine the feasibility of adding Members’ staff to the system. As a result of this review, we now intend to adjust the system to include Members’ staff whose contact details are listed in eHR and thus the payroll system.

Later this month, Members will be advised on how staff contact details can be added to or amended on eHR. The intention is that the expanded alert messaging system will be operational from November 2017.

Finally, it should be noted that the current emergency messaging contract is subject to a re-tendering process and it is possible that adjustments will need to be made as a result later this year. Members and their staff will be advised if this is the case.

Social landlords, including local authorities, are responsible for the allocation and management of their social housing stock. The Scottish Government’s guidance Social Housing Allocations: A Practice Guide advises landlords on the flexibility they have to ensure that accessible or adapted properties are allocated to applicants who need them.

The Scottish Government is providing £70,000 of funding to the Glasgow Centre for Inclusive Living (GCIL) in 2017-18, through the Housing Voluntary Sector Grant Scheme. This funding includes the running costs of Home2Fit, a database which helps match disabled people with suitable accessible property, including social rented properties.

The Scottish Government was provided with the regional labour market statistics for the period March to May 2017, at the time they were published by the Office for National Statistics at 09.30 on 12 July 2017.

No organisations or businesses have received assistance from the Scottish Growth Scheme to date. When the Scottish Growth Scheme was announced, it was clearly indicated that work would be undertaken to develop and design it, working with financial institutions, and our enterprise agencies. The first tranche of this work was completed with the introduction of the £200m Scottish-European Growth Co-investment programme in June this year, and the second tranche, additional ERDF resources for the SME Holding Fund under the scheme was announced at the end of August, with further support elements of the wider programme expected to follow in the coming months.