Chamber and committees

Rent Service Scotland does not hold official data on Landlords leaving the Private Rented sector.

The Scottish Government has not carried out an evaluation of the performance of each NHS Board against Article 26 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

COVID-19 vaccines are recommended in pregnancy. Vaccination is the best way to protect against the known risks of COVID-19 in pregnancy for both women and babies.

Public Health Scotland have created animations for minority ethnic audiences which include information on vaccinations and pregnancy. These videos, information and other assets are shared routinely with partners representing minority ethnic communities in Scotland for cascading.

Our COVID-19 vaccine explainer video also covers pregnancy and is available in a range of different community languages.

COVID-19 vaccine pop-up clinics have been held in maternity clinics in a number of health boards. This allows people to get vaccinated in a safe and trusted space, after having any concerns or questions answered by an expert health practitioner.

The Scottish Government Marketing Team are continuing to promote vaccine uptake in pregnancy and if planning a pregnancy through a targeted marketing campaign. To find out more visit www.nhsinform.scot/covid19vaccinepregnancy

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09064 on 21 June 2022 which includes a link to the Affordable Housing Supply Housing Programme annual out-turn reports.

Incremental equity changes are not recorded and Scottish Government systems show properties where Ministers have an equity stake at what that equity stake is at the current time.

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 underspend against HM Treasury Scottish budgets for each financial year since 1999 is provided in the following table:

Scottish Government requires local authorities to assess, set out and monitor delivery against affordable housing priorities through Local Housing Strategy and Strategic Housing Investment Plans, which should be available on the relevant local authority websites. Planning authorities are responsible for the determination of planning permission in accordance with the development plan and relevant material considerations. Development plans set out where new development should and shouldn’t happen in the places they cover, enabling delivery of the right development in the right place.

INTOG is aligned to the Scottish Government’s commitment to delivering plan-led opportunities for offshore wind and marine renewables in Scottish waters. INTOG has been designed to facilitate both targeted oil and gas decarbonisation opportunities and provide a plan led approach to allowing smaller innovation type projects to access seabed. Something that is currently unavailable.

Whilst decoupling IN and TOG processes may allow one category of applications to proceed faster, the potential for cumulative impact and the need for plan-level assessments, to ensure negative impacts are appropriately managed, would not be removed and in fact may delay and complicate the assessments unnecessarily. As such, both components of INTOG will remain combined.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. The particular circumstances and needs in terms of social work input of each Cystic Fibrosis patient and their family can be highly variable. The Scottish Government therefore expects NHS Boards and Local Authority partners delivering care to work together to support Cystic Fibrosis patients according to individual need.

Housing to 2040 sets out the Scottish Government’s strategy to ensure that housing in 2040 will support people to live in affordable homes that meet their accessibility needs as well as net zero targets. This is a long term strategy for new and existing homes, underpinned by the new tenure-neutral Housing Standard for Scotland which is currently under development and which will include elements relating to retrofit. There will be extensive consultation and engagement with stakeholders to ensure that accessibility needs are appropriately considered and that the new standard aligns with Heat in Buildings ambitions for meeting net zero targets.

The Housing for Varying Needs design guide offers good practice in the design of homes in order to help them achieve a degree of flexibility, suit people of varying needs, be convenient to use, and be fit for purpose. Where possible, all new affordable homes delivered through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme are built to Housing for Varying Needs standards.

As set out within the Housing to 2040 route map, we are reviewing the Housing for Varying Needs design guide. We want the guide to help better meet the needs of an ageing population, help people to live in their home for longer, consider a wider range of needs, and learn lessons from the pandemic by recognising the importance of outdoor space, and space for home working or study.

We plan to consult on proposed changes to the guide over the coming months and will wish to engage with disability groups and those with experience of living in homes delivered to Housing for Varying Needs standards, as well as those involved in the delivery of new homes.

Once complete, the review of Housing for Varying Needs will inform the introduction of building standards in 2025-26 to underpin a new Scottish Accessible Homes Standard, which all new homes will need to achieve, regardless of tenure.