Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold information relating to the total number of public or private electric vehicle (EV) charge points in each local authority area. Information about public EV charge points in each of Scotland’s local authority areas can be found in the UK Government's Department for Transport’s ‘Electric vehicle charging device statistics’ which are published on a quarterly basis. The next quarterly report is scheduled for release in July 2024.

There are no publicly available statistics on the number of private charging devices in Scotland, such as those in workplaces, fleet depots and at residential properties.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-28245 on 10 July 2024. 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 .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-28245 on 10 July 2024. 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 .

This is an operational matter for ScotRail. The Member may wish to contact ScotRail directly.

We know that registered social landlords are uniquely placed as housing providers to identify and assist people at risk of homelessness, building on existing housing management practice and the delivery of housing support.

There is already good practice happening across the country by social landlords. Their services, such as tenancy sustainment, are already key features of their work with tenants. We want to build on this so there is a consistent, robust and sector wide approach to prevention across Scotland.

We make a significant annual investment in discretionary housing payments (over £90 million in 2024-25) to help people who are struggling with housing costs to remain in their homes. We also have a multi-year fund of £100 million to deliver actions in our homelessness strategy, the Ending Homelessness Together action plan, which has prevention at its heart.

I welcome the work that local authorities already undertake in ensuring the data they share is accurate, allowing offers to homeless households can be made swiftly – but we also recognise that more can be done here to improve the accuracy of data provided. Data published by the Scottish Housing Regulator shows that 60% of registered social landlord lets to homeless households come through section 5 referrals, when a local authority requests that a registered social landlord provides the household with permanent accommodation. However, around 15% of offers to homeless households are declined due to the right information about the household’s needs not being provided. We want that situation to improve.

The Scottish Government produced the Code of Guidance on Homelessness to help guide local authorities in their duties to assist people who are threatened with or are experiencing homelessness. Local authorities must take account of this statutory guidance, which sets out how the legislation and related policies should be implemented, when making an assessment of the hosing support needs of the household. The Code of Guidance states that, to facilitate effective case management, local authorities should establish protocols and procedures for the sharing of information about people making homelessness applications between housing departments, social work, housing support providers and other relevant agencies. The protocols developed should set out the type of information to be shared and the stage at which this should be carried out.

In declaring a housing emergency, the Scottish Government expects action to be taken in response to the issues identified by organisations across the sector, which contributed to this situation. Local authorities have a key part to play in ensuring comprehensive and adequate data is passed to registered social landlords through the referral process to support the transition of a homeless household into a settled home, helping to ensure as little time as possible is spent in temporary accommodation.

The Scottish Government provided local authorities with funding of £8 million per annum between 2019-24 to implement Rapid Rehousing Transition Plans (RRTPs). RRTPs set out each local authority’s five-year plan to transition to rapid rehousing, including through the delivery of Housing First.

In recognition of the positive impact of rapid rehousing for people experiencing homelessness and the challenging context in which RRTPs have been delivered, including a pandemic and cost of living crisis, the Scottish Government provided a one-year extension to this funding in 2024-25.

The Scottish Government evaluates the impact of RRTP funding via annual local authority monitoring returns. Future funding will be considered as part of the Scottish Government’s usual budget setting processes.

There are currently no plans to create a new homelessness prevention fund. In line with our commitment to introduce homelessness prevention duties, we agree with the principle that investment should be prioritised for prevention work, to address homelessness before households reach crisis point and to prevent repeat homelessness.

We make a significant annual investment in discretionary housing payments (over £90 million in 2024-25) to help people who are struggling with housing costs to remain in their homes. We also have a multi-year fund of £100 million to deliver actions in our homelessness strategy, the Ending Homelessness Together action plan, which has prevention at its heart.

The length of residential rehabilitation programmes varies substantially. Data from the publication ‘Pathways into, through and out of Residential Rehab in Scotland ’ published in November 2021 shows that placements across private providers are typically shorter (5-12 weeks), while third-sector providers are typically longer (14-156 weeks). The mean average core programme length across all providers was 23 weeks. Some providers suggested that this was flexible based on individual need.

This year's budget is the most challenging since devolution. For that reason, our preference is for any available money to be targeted at areas which are experiencing specific pressures, particularly where there is sustained use of temporary accommodation.

The Scottish Government are working with COSLA to develop a targeted approach.