Chamber and committees

We have convened a Scottish Government-led implementation and monitoring group to oversee the delivery of the recommendations within the report . This group will have its third meeting in May 2022. Members have agreed a work plan covering a two year period and identified where responsibilities for recommendations lie.

Progress has been made against a number of the 27 recommendations:

• We established a governance and engagement advisory board in September 2021 to support the development and implementation of the new Human Rights Bill and included a representative with gender expertise.
• To help ensure our homelessness strategy meets the needs of diverse groups of women, we refreshed the membership of our Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group in 2020/21 to include members with gender expertise and have provided gender competency training to policy makers in the Scottish Government’s homelessness unit.
• A number of local authorities, including East Lothian and Dundee, are developing Housing First for women experiencing domestic abuse in partnership with women’s organisations.
• We are preparing draft statutory guidance for landlords on the new provisions in the Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Act and we intend to invite input from stakeholders with gender expertise.
• The temporary accommodation standards working group is currently developing recommendations that are gender responsive and will take account of the different needs and priorities of all those who require temporary accommodation.
• We published guidance on the application of the Unsuitable Accommodation Order in January 2021 to help guide local authorities in their duties to assist people who are threatened with or who are experiencing homelessness, including victims-survivors of domestic abuse.
• We aim to have a proposal for Universal Credit split payments policy implementation by early summer 2022, which will be sent to the Department for Work and Pensions to action.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all people living in Scotland with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and person-centred.

While the NHS Recovery Plan is not condition specific, the aim is to effect whole system recovery and support prioritisation and planning. In that respect we would expect this to directly affect neurology services and the experience and outcomes for people with neurological condition, including MS.

There is a commitment to update on the progress of the plan on an annual basis and to review the strategic plan. Work on the first annual review will commence shortly and is expected to be published in the summer of 2022.

In 2019, we published a Neurological Care and Support – National Framework for Action . The aims include improving the provision of co-ordinated health and social care services, developing sustainable workforce models and ensuring high standards of person-centred care for people with neurological conditions.

Through implementation of the framework, we have awarded £1.4m since October 2020 to fund innovative projects working to achieve better outcomes for people living with neurological conditions. Over £300,000 of this has been committed to projects which improve the health and wellbeing of people with MS in Scotland.

In recognition of the anxiety the pause for those over the age of 71 to self-refer is causing, I asked for work to explore options that will accelerate the restart of self-referrals for women aged 71 and over. Any decision will be informed by clinical advice and the on-going pandemic. As part of these considerations our goal is to restart the option to self-refer by the end of September 2022, with a number of factors still to be worked through. The restart will be done in a phased way without unduly impacting appointment times for the eligible screening population for whom there are clear screening benefits. Every effort continues to be made to increase capacity in the screening programme, including through deploying additional mobile units and offering weekend and evening appointments.

Regardless of their age, women should remain symptom aware and report any symptoms to their GP immediately for these to be investigated.

The UK Building Safety Bill introduces fundamental changes to the Building and Fire Safety regime for high rise buildings in England. Part five of the Bill includes provision for a New Homes Ombudsman scheme, the aim of which is to drive up standards in housebuilding and to independently resolve disputes between developers and purchasers where there is an issue concerning the quality of a new-build home.

The provisions would confer a regulation making power on Scottish Ministers to be able to add an additional descriptor of developers who would be required to join the scheme. Other aspects of the scheme are to be established by the Secretary of State either administratively or by regulations. The provisions require that Scottish Ministers are consulted on the main aspects of the scheme before they are taken forward, in order to ensure it is tailored to suit Scottish needs, culture and practice.

Whilst housing is a devolved matter, reservations apply to consumer protection and there may be matters which cannot be entirely addressed in a Scottish system. The Scottish Government wants to ensure that protections offered to buyers of new-build homes in Scotland can also take account of relevant consumer protection requirements.

The extension of the New Homes Ombudsman scheme to Scotland is subject to the approval of the Scottish Parliament.

Scottish Government supports creating a sustainable quality culture across construction sector and protection of consumers is important. Although mandatory licensing is a reserved matter this is an issue we will raise with the construction sector to understand what the options in this area may be. We have also taken forward actions where we can to help consumers avoid rogue traders.

Although the regulation of consumer protection is the responsibility of the UK Government, under the Scotland Act 2016 the Scottish Government has acquired responsibility for consumer advice and advocacy. We are determined to do all we can to reduce impact from rogue traders on people living in Scotland, within the scope of our devolved powers. The Scottish Government has provided funding to the Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland (SCOTSS) to develop and promote an Approved Trader Directory which allows consumers anywhere in Scotland to find if there are any local authority vetted or checked traders in their area.

We understand the threat of rogue traders within the industry and would also point you towards the Strategic Framework within Scotland’s Scams Prevention, Awareness and Enforcement Strategy, published in 19 March 2021, which focusses on prevention, disruption, awareness, education and enforcement. This is intended to help all consumers with practical steps they can take to recognise common scam tactics and avoid the risk posed by this criminal activity.

Further advice can be obtained from consumeradvice.scot which is a free consumer helpline funded by the Scottish Government.

In addition, through the work of the Construction Leadership Forum, Scottish Government is also keen to see renewed focus on construction quality, including regulatory compliance, which will improve life-cycle value to clients and productivity of the industry.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-06205 on 4 March 2022. 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-06205 on 4 March 2022. 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-06205 on 4 March 2022. 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 .

Transport Scotland, as part of the implementation of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, has been working on the liability provisions contained within Part 8 of the Act which will bring into force Keeper Liability across Scotland.

I can advise that Part 8 (Recovery of unpaid parking charges) of the 2019 Act has not yet been implemented and there is still a significant amount of challenging and complex work to be undertaken before this part can become law.

Work on the secondary legislation programme is progressing and Parliament will be updated in due course.

The Scottish Government continues to engage in discussions with the UK Government around reported labour shortages through several forums, including Business and Industry Interministerial Group QUAD Meetings and DEFRA/devolved administration inter-ministerial group meetings. Our concerns have been echoed by colleagues from Wales and Northern Ireland in these meetings, and the Devolved Governments have jointly written to the UK Government Minister for Safe and Legal Migration requesting regular and meaningful engagement on migration issues.

It is clear from engagement to date that the UK Government is unwilling to make the necessary changes required to address Scotland’s needs. The UK Government must revise its restrictive migration policy to prevent further harm to our economy and society, and establish a specific Labour Market Shortages Taskforce with the Devolved Governments to enable constructive discussion on the measures required to tackle labour shortages