Chamber and committees

We want time in temporary accommodation to be as short as possible and we are increasing housing supply to help with this.

Temporary accommodation is an important part of Scotland’s strong homelessness legislation and we are committed to ensuring that temporary accommodation is of good quality and serves the needs of its residents in helping to ensure positive outcomes for those experiencing homelessness.

Last month the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group released its recommendations for transforming temporary accommodation, most of which we have accepted in principle. Together with the Group’s previous recommendations around eradicating rough sleeping that were issued in March, there is a focus on preventing the need for temporary accommodation in the first place, by reducing demand through effective prevention measures, and improving outflow or move-on by increasing appropriate options for accommodation.

Proposed measures include the development of a national system of rapid rehousing, including moving to a ‘Housing First’ model for those with most complex needs – where people, for whom it is appropriate, move straight into a permanent, settled home rather than temporary accommodation.

It is intended that the Action Group will submit its final set of recommendations on ending homelessness at the end of June and following this, together with our partners, we will bring forward a programme of work to take forward the recommendations.

In October we reduced the period from 14 to 7 days that families with children and pregnant women are in unsuitable temporary accommodation, except in exceptional circumstances.

The Scottish Government is keen to encourage owners of empty properties to bring them back into use to increase the supply of housing in Scotland. We are tackling the problem through legislative changes, provision of funding, and practical advice and assistance.

The Scottish Government recently doubled the funding for the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership. The Partnership approach has resulted in more than 2,800 homes being brought back into use since 2010. Feedback demonstrates that having a dedicated resource to drive forward work on empty homes is having a real impact across Scotland. 97% of homes brought back into use last year can be attributed to the work of empty homes officers. We are therefore keen to see all 32 local authorities recognise the benefits of this approach.

Local authorities also have access to a number of tools which can be used to bring empty homes and vacant land back into positive use. Since 2013 they have had the power to introduce a council tax levy on long term empty homes in private ownership and have wide ranging compulsory purchase powers. We have also committed to introduce legislation, within this Parliamentary term, to provide local authorities with a new power to promote compulsory sale orders to tackle the blight of abandoned buildings and small plots of land in town centres and communities.

We have also provided dedicated funds to tackle empty homes through the £4.5 million Empty Homes Loan Fund and the £4 million Town Centre Empty Homes Fund. Further funding is also available from the £30 million Rural and Islands Housing Fund.

The Scottish Government does not issue guidance to non-departmental bodies requesting that they record staff absences that are due to mental ill health. Non Departmental Public Bodies have responsibility for the recruitment, retention and motivation of its staff. The broad responsibilities toward its staff are to ensure that HR policies comply with employment and equalities legislation.

In line with the Programme for Government commitment, the Transport Bill will be introduced to Parliament before summer recess. At this time the Scottish Government’s proposals in relation to responsible parking will be set out in detail and subject to the associated legislative scrutiny.

Local authorities have duties under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 to provide secure expeditious, convenient and safe movement of traffic, including parking matters. Under the 1984 Act, local authorities can decide to restrict or prohibit parking by making a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO). A TRO can be promoted for a variety of reasons and is enforceable when the appropriate road signs or markings are displayed.

Local Authorities can use these powers to cover particular hotspots, such as car free zones near schools or larger areas, and need not necessarily prohibit parking at all times – this would very much depend on the wording of the TRO being promoted by the local authority.

The Scottish Government introduced free car parking on all NHS owned car parks in December 2008.

For the three PFI hospital car parks, the Scottish Government will continue to actively manage and review all historic PFI contracts effected before this Government’s commencement in office, with a focus on ensuring that contractual obligations are delivered and that contracts provide best value for money for the taxpayer.

Scottish Government and the BMA have agreed that GP income should not be subject to arbitrary variation and should instead reflect the value of a GP’s work as an expert medical generalist. This can only be achieved by providing practices with the necessary funding for expert medical generalist work and the necessary expenses to support this work. To this end we have introduced a new funding formula to better address practice workload whilst investing £23 million to ensure that no practice lost funding in the transition.

The new GP contract – backed by investment of £110 million in 2018-19 – will also invest in placing additional primary care staff in GP practices to reduce GP practice workload. This includes an increased role and additional training made available for practice administrative staff who play a vital role in supporting patients in general practice.

As part of the preparatory work for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) the Scottish Government eHealth Division has worked closely with NHSScotland Boards and considered the financial implications of these changes in legislation in consultation with the Information Commissioner's Office.

NHSScotland Boards recognised this is having a low impact as currently in most cases they do not charge for people to have access to their medical records.

We have no plans to review the legislation on banding and valuation of properties for council tax purposes.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-16571 on ‎5 June 2018. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

The Scottish Government recognises that protests can often be distressing for women attending hospital and we are continuing to monitor any reports about anti-abortion protests and to consider whether there is further action that should be taken as a result.