Chamber and committees

Although there is a clear legal framework within which allocation policies must operate, local authorities have considerable discretion within these constraints to develop their allocation policy and practice to meet the needs of the communities in which they operate.

The code of guidance on homelessness aims to guide local authorities in their duties to assist people who are threatened with or who are experiencing homelessness. It sets out that local authority staff should ensure that accommodation and services are offered on the basis of a thorough assessment of the applicant's support or health needs and that these needs are addressed in a holistic fashion. We remain committed to a fuller review of the code of guidance on homelessness, in consultation with stakeholders – including those who represent the interests of children – once the new homelessness prevention measures have been introduced.

The Scottish Social Housing Charter sets out the outcomes and standards that all social landlords should be delivering for their tenants and other customers. This includes an outcome (outcome 12) that describes what councils should achieve by meeting their statutory duties to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Scottish Ministers will review the current charter in 2026-27 in consultation with stakeholders and this will provide an opportunity to ensure the charter continues to focus on matters that are important to tenants and others that use social landlord services.

Bringing ScotRail into public ownership and control represented a milestone in the devolved history of the railway in Scotland. Now that the 3rd anniversary of that crucial event approaches, it is right that we reflect on what has been achieved since then, and also look forward to the future.

This Scottish Government has maintained a strong track record of public investment in our railways. Public ownership is a logical extension of this scale of public investment, which remains at record levels - £1.6 billion pounds this year.

Public ownership has created the opportunity to deliver a railway which is run for the benefit of customers. The ability to plan for the long term brings with it the opportunity to modernise Scotland’s railway and deliver passenger services which are efficient and sustainable.

Our approach is widely admired and even envied elsewhere in GB – both our counterparts in Wales and the North of England want to follow our devolved model and success, which is reflected in consistently higher ScotRail train performance and Passenger Satisfaction in Scotland than the GB average.

We have seen strong growth in both passenger journeys and revenue, with a 27 per cent increase in journeys between 2022-23 and 2023-24. And this year, we expect to see that increase further to more than 84 million passenger journeys by the end of March this year.

We know that affordability is a key factor in the decision to choose rail, therefore we have kept fares increases as low as possible to maintain the affordability of rail as a travel option while balancing the increasing costs of inflation to the public purse.

The off-peak all-day trial which was funded by the Scottish Government from the end of 2023 until September 2024, simply could not have been undertaken under private franchising and, unsurprisingly, the cheaper simpler fares which were offered were popular with customers. We have learnt a lot from that trial – which will be used to develop further fare offers.

Since last September, regular travellers have been able to take advantage of a 20 per cent discount on all season tickets (which is the equivalent of a 40 per cent saving on the cost of day tickets), and an increase in the number of journeys available with a Flexipass – which offers a saving of 32 per cent.

We are seeing an increase in passengers on our railway - passenger journeys on our publicly owned train services are up 4.5% for each 4-week period this year compared to the same period last year when the trial was running.

ScotRail continues to develop fares initiatives which can help attract more passengers, while offering savings and added value to existing rail users.

It now employs 500 more staff than ever before, with 250 of those being train drivers meaning driver recruitment is at record levels and making real progress towards eradicating the reliance on rest day working that is all too common across the rail industry. ScotRail is also making progress in ensuring passengers feels safe with the expansion of its travel safe team into the east of the country, bringing the team up to 37 members.

Capacity on the West Highland Line has recently been increased in a boost for the tourism economy, and ScotRail is demonstrating innovation by trialling the use of vegetable oil as an alternative to diesel fuel.

Next week ScotRail will publish a report that sets out the value it brings to the economy, and I would encourage everyone with an interest in Scotland’s railway to read this once available.

We have achieved much to make Scotland’s railway successful in the last 3 years but there is much more we wish to do to give the people of Scotland the rail service they need and deserve.

The Scottish Government recognises that both rurality and disability can create additional barriers to accessing the internet and is, across a number of programmes, addressing these barriers.

The Scottish Government’s Connecting Scotland programme, delivered in partnership with the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), supports people in Scotland who are at risk of digital exclusion.

To date, over £389,000 in grant funding has been provided to support digital inclusion projects in Scotland. While being funded by the Scottish Government and supported by SCVO, these initiatives are delivered by local organisations - ensuring they are tailored to the needs of the communities being served.

The most recent data indicate that the majority of funded projects are providing support to disabled people and people affected by ill health.

The Scottish Government’s £600+ million Reaching 100% (R100) programme is providing resilient digital connectivity infrastructure across Scotland, which is required for digital inclusion projects to serve these communities.

To date, over 75,500 faster broadband connections have been delivered by the R100 programme. Over 70% of R100 contractual build is in rural parts of Scotland.

Taking into account the legacy Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme, over one million faster broadband connections have been delivered in Scotland in the last ten years, deploying over £1 billion of publicly driven investment.

Details of all ministerial visits can be found on the Parliament website, available at the following link - Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts - gov.scot

Scottish Ministers have visited Skye House on several occasions since 2017 as part of routine engagements to meet patients and thank staff for their work.

The Scottish Government’s National Carers Strategy published in December 2022 sets out a cross-government approach to tackling issues that affect carers, including through health and social care policies. The Strategy sets out our intentions regarding carers’ healthcare at chapter 3. We are considering whether it is feasible to provide flexible health appointments for carers, including replacement care for appointments as part of the implementation process of the Strategy.

There are already a range of services in place, including access to personalised, flexible short breaks and preventative support through the Carers Act, that can support unpaid carers to better manage their health. Some have a carer-specific focus, while others are more general. The Scottish Government will continue to raise awareness of these services among unpaid carers and will ensure that our health services consider the needs of carers. Taking a strategic approach to this will support a joined-up approach that supports all aspects of carers’ lives, and this will be done under the auspices of the National Carers Strategy.

Every suicide is a tragedy, with far reaching impacts on family, friends and the wider community. Providing support to people bereaved by suicide is a core part of our aim to ensure ‘everyone affected by suicide has access to high quality, compassionate, appropriate, and timely support’.

The commitment to expanding the provision of support for people bereaved by suicide is set out in Creating Hope Together – Scotland’s suicide prevention strategy and action plan, which is jointly owned by Scottish Government and COSLA.

Since 2021, the Scottish Government has provided funding of over £1 million to the Suicide Bereavement Support Service pilots in NHS Ayrshire & Arran and NHS Highland. These pilots have evaluated positively and the report was published in April 2024.

Since then, we have been working closely with partners to design and plan the expansion of suicide bereavement support across Scotland; which takes account of the evaluation findings and existing local provision. We are on track to fulfil the commitment to provide suicide bereavement support in 50% of Health Boards by April 2026, and have made recent progress in identifying the Health Board areas and commencing detailed planning. Further details will be shared over 2025.

The expansion of suicide bereavement support beyond April 2026 will be considered as we develop our next three-year Creating Hope Together action plan. That process will begin later this year.

Information on Ministerial engagements is routinely published on the Scottish Government website and can be found at: www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts/.

Visits are not recorded by parliamentary constituency.

Local authorities have duties under the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 to provide adult carer support plans or young carer statements for any carer that wants one and to provide support to carers according to their eligible needs. These responsibilities are set out in the Carers’ Charter.

The Scottish Government has asked Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) and the Mental Welfare Commission (MWC) to undertake joint inspections of all child and adolescent inpatient units in Scotland as a matter of priority.

Neil Gray, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and myself met with both organisations in March to discuss this. HIS and the MWC are working jointly to establish these inspections. The inspections will start once a robust plan has been agreed, ensuring effective oversight of the quality and safety of these services. We expect that this will become a regular programme of inspections depending on the recommendations made from the initial round.

The Scottish Government continues to fund Partners in Advocacy with £295,00 per year to deliver the My Rights, My Say, Children’s Service. This service supports children aged 12-15 to access advocacy and legal representation to enable them to be fully involved in decisions about their education and to exercise their rights under the Additional Support for Learning legislation.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all students with a disability, long term medical condition, or additional support need, can access further and higher education and are fully supported throughout their studies. It is for institutions to make decisions on their intake, but they are required under the Equality Act (Scotland) 2010 to provide equal opportunities and prevent discrimination.