Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00472 on 8 June 2026. 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.

Data on the number of people on a housing waiting list is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. Estimates of the proportion of households on a housing waiting list is published on an annual basis using data from the Scottish Household Survey (SHS). However, the SHS does not sample people living in communal establishments/temporary accommodation. Due to the impact of COVID-19 restrictions, SHS data is not available for 2020 and 2021.

The latest data can be found on our website Households in Scotland by housing tenure: Scottish Household Survey, 2024 - gov.scot. Previous years can be found here: Scottish Household Survey: results - gov.scot. Data for 2025 will be published later this year and a publication date will be announced on the Scottish Government’s Official statistics: forthcoming publications list: Official statistics: forthcoming publications - gov.scot.

The Scottish Government also publishes the number of applications for local authority housing on an annual basis. This can be found on the Scottish Government website here: Housing Statistics 2025: Key Trends Summary - gov.scot. Local authority level data can be found in the tables linked to this publication: Housing statistics: Management of local authority housing - gov.scot. Please be aware of the caveats stated in the publication – the data:

• Is not a complete picture for Scotland, as six councils with no local authority housing stock (so for example, Glasgow) do not provide us with data on waiting lists.
• Will include double counting, as households can apply to multiple lists.
• Will include applications where housing is no longer needed, however they may not be removed from the housing list immediately.

The Scottish Government and COSLA published the Coming Home Action Plan in March 2026. The action plan is backed by Scottish Government funding of up to £20m to support implementation. The majority of this funding will be distributed via the Independent Living Fund (ILF) Scotland through the creation of a new Coming Home fund.

ILF Scotland are currently designing the new fund in collaboration with stakeholders with a view to formally opening to applications during Summer 2026. The fund will provide flexible, person-centred support and transitions will progress at an appropriate pace for each individual, to ensure safe and supportive care.

The Scottish Government has made such representations in response both to specific cases and in the generality of immigration policy.

We expect the immigration system and visa approvals to reflect Scotland’s distinct demographic and economic needs. In view of this, the Scottish Government will continue to make representations and calls on the UK Government to introduce a tailored approach to migration reflecting Scotland’s distinct needs. In addition, the Scottish Government will continue to prioritise the recruitment of Gaelic medium teachers by promoting and supporting a range of routes into Gaelic medium education.

The Scottish Government is working in close partnership with COSLA and Scottish Swimming to deliver a national programme of free swimming lessons for all primary school children. A School Swimming Working Group, chaired by the Scottish Government and COSLA, has now been established to support both the development of the initiative and its subsequent implementation. Focused on the Primary 5 cohort predominantly, this three year phased approach will ultimately result in every primary-aged child in Scotland receiving access to high-quality swimming lessons.

The Scottish Government are keen to progress discussions at pace, in order to commence the phased school swimming roll out as soon as possible.

The Scottish Government continues to make progress in delivering the National GP IT Reprovisioning Programme, working closely with NHS National Services Scotland (NSS), system suppliers and territorial health boards.

Migrations to the Vision hosted GP IT system are ongoing and continue to scale up. The Primary Care Digital Services (Scotland) programme team is currently working with each health board to agree Quarter 3 2026-27 deployment plans, and in some cases Quarter 4 plans, to support the continued rollout of the new system.

As at 30 April, a total of 395 GP practices have successfully migrated to the Vision hosted system. This includes 343 Vision-to-Vision migrations, representing 85% of all planned Vision-to-Vision migrations, and 52 EMIS-to-Vision migrations, representing 11% of planned EMIS-to-Vision migrations. Overall, around 45% of Scottish GP practices have now transitioned to the Vision hosted platform.

Migrations resumed in late 2025 and will continue to accelerate throughout 2026 as deployment plans are finalised and capacity increases. NSS and suppliers remain actively engaged with health boards to support local readiness, data migration, and assurance activity.

The Scottish Government remains committed to modernising GP IT systems to support integrated care, improve services for patients, and reduce administrative burden for general practice.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00342 on 5 June 2026. 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 UK Government launched a Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) from 1 April 2026, replacing English Discretionary Housing Payments and the Household Support Fund. The CRF also now incorporates elements similar to Scotland’s Scottish Welfare Fund. The CRF is discretionary in nature and designed to meet a broad set of short-term pressures.

The approach to Discretionary Housing Payments in Scotland differs in both purpose and delivery. Our policy is to fully mitigate the bedroom tax and provide targeted support so that low income households are protected as far as possible from the impacts of other UK welfare reforms, including the benefit cap and the freeze to Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates.

Given these different policy objectives and delivery mechanisms these schemes are not directly comparable.

However, Scotland’s investment represents a significant commitment to protecting low income households, with spending per head notably higher than that in the rest of the UK.

This year alone the Scottish Government is investing £115 million in Discretionary Housing Payments, supporting up to 92,000 households and nearly 20,000 children impacted by the bedroom tax; up to 3,000 families impacted by the benefit cap; and up to 15,000 families affected by the freeze to LHA rates. In addition, £41 million is being invested in the Scottish Welfare Fund to provide vital crisis support and help people establish independent living.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of maintaining a safe, high-quality NHS estate and we are aware that there remain a substantial backlog of maintenance which Health Boards are actively managing and prioritising based on risk and patient safety.

This is a matter for each territorial NHS board. The information requested is not held centrally.