Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6W-09895

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 11 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an estimate of the number of people in (a) the East Kilbride constituency and (b) Scotland who have benefitted from the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax first time buyer relief since its introduction.

Around 43,000 home buyers have claimed first-time buyers relief since its’ introduction in September 2018.

Revenue Scotland does not publish constituency level data, however, the latest available local authority data shows that around 1,040 homebuyers in South Lanarkshire have claimed the relief.

LBTT statistics published by Revenue Scotland can be found at: https://revenue.scot/news-publications/publications/statistics/land-buildings-transaction-tax-statistics-0

Question reference: S6W-09226

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ash Regan on 30 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many category (a) F2 and (b) F3 fireworks it estimates have been sold in Scotland in each of the last five years.

Retail sector turnover figures are available from surveys carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) using Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes. There are no retail SIC codes specific to fireworks which means it is not possible to estimate figures on the number of F2 and F3 fireworks sold in Scotland from official statistics.

However, in their report published on 3 November 2020 the Firework Review Group, established by myself in 2019, estimated that there are around 250,000 sales of fireworks every year in Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-01312

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the potential impacts on Scotland's economy and society of the UK Government's policy programme, including the current and future impact of Brexit on Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-08713

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it will support the delivery of (a) social and (b) other affordable housing (i) across the South Lanarkshire Council area and (ii) in East Kilbride over the current parliamentary session.

Through our Affordable Housing Supply Programme, over this parliamentary session, we will make available over £156 million of funding for the South Lanarkshire Council area to support delivery of social and affordable homes. Details of the resource planning assumptions for this period can be accessed on our webpage – Affordable housing: resource planning assumptions to councils 2021-2022 to 2025-2026 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

This funding will support the delivery of projects identified as strategic affordable housing priorities to the area, as set out in the Council’s Strategic Housing Investment Plan (SHIP), and will be administered through our Scottish Government More Homes local area team, working with delivery partners across the local authority area. A copy of the South Lanarkshire Council SHIP should be available online and is updated annually.

Based on the 2022-27 SHIP, it is estimated that over 3,000 affordable homes could be delivered across South Lanarkshire in this parliamentary term including over 700 in East Kilbride. It should be noted that the SHIP is a moveable document and planned figures are subject to change throughout the course of a financial year.

Question reference: S6W-08714

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what estimates it has made of the number of (a) local authority, (b) registered social landlord and (c) other affordable homes built in the (i) East Kilbride constituency and (ii) South Lanarkshire Council area in each year since 1999.

The table below shows the actual number of local authority, registered social landlord and other affordable homes that have been delivered in the South Lanarkshire Council Area between April 1999 to end March 2022 (as per our latest published quarterly housing statistics). These include new build homes, rehabilitation projects, conversions and off-the-shelf purchases of both new and second hand homes.

We do not hold figures at a constituency level.

Financial Year	South Lanarkshire Affordable Homes Delivered
Financial Year	Council House Social Rent	RSL* Social Rent	Other Affordable Homes	Total
1999-00	0	87	46	133
2000-01	0	101	153	254
2001-02	0	138	102	240
2002-03	0	234	44	278
2003-04	0	173	39	212
2004-05	0	255	157	412
2005-06	0	194	99	293
2006-07	0	143	12	155
2007-08	0	142	23	165
2008-09	0	343	79	422
2009-10	0	274	134	408
2010-11	0	98	42	140
2011-12	61	243	31	335
2012-13	20	200	48	268
2013-14	117	136	59	312
2014-15	0	45	76	121
2015-16	37	81	36	154
2016-17	72	162	66	300
2017-18	83	171	15	269
2018-19	201	283	23	507
2019-20	78	206	13	297
2020-21	197	142	7	346
2021-22	362	189	3	554
Total Homes	1,228	4,040	1,307	6,575
* Registered Social Landlords

We also publish homes delivered by local authority broken down by social and other affordable homes and this can be accessed via our webpage - Affordable Housing Supply Programme: completions quarterly updates - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . This information is updated quarterly following publication of official statistics.

Based on management information we currently estimate around 425 affordable homes could potentially be delivered across the South Lanarkshire council area in 2022-23, with 67 of these homes expected to be in East Kilbride.

Question reference: S6W-08712

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it (a) provided in each financial year from 2015-16 to 2021-22 and (b) has allocated in 2022-23 to support the delivery of affordable housing in the (i) East Kilbride constituency and (ii) South Lanarkshire Council area.

The following table shows actual funding provided between 2015-16 and 2021-22 to support the delivery of affordable housing in the South Lanarkshire Council Area.

Actual spend

2015-16

£m

2016-17

£m

2017-18

£m

2018-19

£m

2019-20

£m

2020-21

£m

2021-22

£m

Total (£m)

South Lanarkshire

14.341

15.527

21.526

33.430

30.158

25.110

20.659

160.751

For 2022-23, £30.16 million has been allocated as a resource planning assumption to the South Lanarkshire Council area to support the delivery of affordable homes. Information on resource planning assumptions by local authority area can be found via our webpage – Affordable housing: resource planning assumptions to councils 2021-2022 to 2025-2026 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Information on actual out-turn by local authority area can be found in our annual out-turn reports – Affordable Housing Supply Programme - More homes - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

We do not hold figures at a constituency level.

Question reference: S6W-08726

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 14 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-08428 by Ben Macpherson on 19 May 2022, whether it can provide an estimate of the number of children and young people in the East Kilbride constituency who are (a) eligible for and (b) forecast to receive payments for the (i) Scottish Child Payment and (ii) Best Start Grant.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission publish estimates and forecasts of eligibility and payments for Scottish Child Payment and Best Start Grant but only for Scotland. There are no estimates or forecasts of eligibility and take-up (the proportion of eligible children that receive payments) by area within Scotland. The following figures cannot be used to inform eligibility or take-up for East Kilbride specifically.

However, internal Scottish Government analysis suggests around 6000 children in East Kilbride are forecast to be eligible for Scottish Child Payment in each of the next 6 years and around 1000 for Best Start Grant. Also, that in 2022-23 around 4000 children are forecast to receive Scottish Child Payment, rising to 5000 from 2023-24 onwards. For Best Start Grant, around 1000 children are expected to receive payment in each of the next 6 years.

All figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand to reflect these are approximate estimates and use national level eligibility and take-up rates. See Tables 1 and 2:

Table 1: Estimated number of children in East Kilbride constituency forecast to be eligible for Scottish Child Payment and Best Start Grant.

	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25	2025-26	2026-27	2027-28
Scottish Child Payment	6000	6000	6000	6000	6000	6000
Best Start Grant	1000	1000	1000	1000	1000	1000

Source: Internal Scottish Government estimates.

Table 2: Estimated number of children in East Kilbride constituency forecast to receive payments for Scottish Child Payment and Best Start Grant.

	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25	2025-26	2026-27	2027-28
Scottish Child Payment	4000	5000	5000	5000	5000	5000
Best Start Grant	1000	1000	1000	1000	1000	1000

Source: Internal Scottish Government estimates.

Question reference: S6W-08428

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 19 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its most recent estimates are for how many children in the East Kilbride constituency are receiving support from (a) the Scottish Child Payment and (b) Best Start Grants.

In the South Lanarkshire Local Authority (a) 5,525 clients received one or more payments for Scottish Child Payment between April 2021 and December 2021, and (b) 3,955 clients received one or more payments for Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods between April 2021 and February 2022.

These figures are based on secondary analysis of the most recently published statistics on Scottish Child Payment and Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods, published by Social Security Scotland. Whilst these include information by local authority area, we do not currently produce information by Scottish Parliament constituency.

Question reference: S6O-01065

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the economy in East Kilbride.

Question reference: S6F-01044

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 April 2022

To ask the First Minister what steps the Scottish Government can take to encourage more women to stand for elected office.