Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government publish annual estimates of spend targeted at supporting low income households, with almost £2.5 billion invested to support low income households in 2020-21, including nearly £1 billion specifically targeted to children.

Full detail of this calculation, including the policies and funding streams included, are set out within the Tackling Child Poverty: third year progress report. This can be accessed via the link below:

Tackling child poverty: third year progress report 2020-2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

In light of increasing pressure on household budgets, as a result of the rising cost of living and £20 cut to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credits, the Scottish Government have committed a range of further action this year.

This includes investing around £65 million to support around 500,000 low income households through £130 Low Income Pandemic Payments, to be made by the end of October; putting £130 million in the pockets of families through the Scottish Child Payment and Bridging Payments and making additional investment of around £21 million to double the December 2021 Carer’s Allowance Supplement payment for more than 91,000 people.

We are continuing to explore what more we can do to provide the support people need this winter and will announce plans in due course.

In 2021-22, South Ayrshire Council has been allocated £176,000 from the Ending Homelessness Together Fund. To date, South Ayrshire Council has been allocated an additional £30 million to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic over and above its regular grant payments. It is the responsibility of individual councils to allocate the financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities.

However, South Ayrshire Council has reported that there has not been an increase in homelessness applications and that they are continuing to support people through the system and into settled accommodation as quickly as possible.

It is not possible to determine exactly how many owner occupied homes have alarms of the prescribed type installed as this information is not currently collected as part of the Scottish House Condition Survey.

We consider that, in principle, all houses could meet the standard by the date it comes into force. But, as with existing standards, it is possible that some owners will be unwilling to carry out work to substandard houses, and that others might need more time, for example, due to illness or because of the cost. The legislation allows some flexibility, as it says work should be carried out within such period as is reasonable in all the circumstances.

When the regulations on the new fire alarm standard have come into effect, we will collect more precise data because compliance with the tolerable standard is included in the Survey. This will allow us to monitor progress in bringing Scotland’s homes up to the new standard.

We continue to await final confirmed data on college and university based projects, delivery of which continued until the end of the academic year and I hope to provide an update on final anticipated figures for Year One shortly. However, to date, based on available data and anticipated final college and university numbers, at least 7,500 i ndividuals have received training through the programme across a range of sectors including Tourism and Hospitality, Rural, Creative Industries, Aviation and Aerospace.

In Year Two we have broadened the scope of NTTF. While retaining the focus on recovery from the economic impact of Covid-19, we are also supporting sectors affected by Brexit as well as those sectors with significant skills transitions such as the transition to net zero. Year Two data is not yet available.

The Scottish Government Code of Practice for the Welfare of Cats recommends that all cat owners should consider neutering and microchipping their pets as the best way of being reunited with them should they be separated.

The Scottish Government is aware of the Defra call for evidence and recent public consultation on the microchipping of cats. We will give full consideration to the results of this consultation and the details of any proposed legislation when they are available.

We remain willing to consider areas where consistent changes to legislation in all GB administrations will improve the welfare of kept animals.

We will publish updated versions of all previously published impact assessments, including an islands communities impact assessment, ahead of the Licensing Order coming into force.

Paragraphs 13.30-13.35 of our 2020 islands communities impact assessment (ICIA) sets out details on licensing related costs. The ICIA notes that, although operators in island communities may face higher costs in implementing measures to comply with the basic safety standards required by the licensing scheme (compared to mainland operators), these basic standards are required under existing legislation or best practice. Therefore, these are costs that responsible operators will already be incurring.

In addition, further detail on licence fees and compliance costs has been set out in our consultation draft Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA), published on 25 June 2021, which can be found at: Short-term lets - licensing scheme and planning control area legislation: draft business and regulatory impact assessment (BRIA) - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

We are removing the overprovision powers from the Licensing Order. Having considered representation made through the 2021 consultation, the Scottish Government is of the view that the powers given to local authorities to establish control areas are sufficient to manage high concentrations of short-term lets, where local authorities wish to do so.

We are already delivering 11 benefits, seven of which are new. These include the first major disability benefit, Child Disability Payment, which launched as a pilot on 26 July and will roll out across Scotland on 22 November 2021. The new benefit also marks the start of our complex and large-scale programme of case transfer.

We have ambitious plans for the coming years. Next year we will deliver Adult Disability Payment and extend Scottish Child Payment to all eligible under 16s, subject to DWP cooperation. Last month, we announced further benefit dates including the planned launch of Low Income Winter Heating Assistance in winter 2022 and Pension Age Winter Heating Assistance, provisionally scheduled for winter 2024. We are working with DWP to confirm a launch date for Scottish Carer’s Assistance and will consult this winter on the new benefit.

As we emerge from the worst of the pandemic, with a new Ministerial team in post, we will take the opportunity to review our full timetable with our delivery partners in light of what we have learned during COVID-19, to see where there are options to do things differently and more efficiently.

We have heard evidence of noise and antisocial behaviour issues in rural and island areas relating to short-term lets through: correspondence, consultation responses and meetings with affected residents.

Party mansions have not been formally defined, but the term is commonly used to refer to a large house used to accommodate large numbers of guests, often for stag and hen parties.