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-06639

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to local authorities to accommodate and support unaccompanied asylum-seeking children arriving through the national transfer scheme.

The Scottish Government works closely with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities to support local authorities to accommodate and support unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) arriving in Scotland through the National Transfer Scheme (NTS).

In light of the unprecedented rise in UASC arrivals the Scottish Government has provided additional revenue funding of £0.5 million to local authorities and funded extra age assessment training for local authority staff.

I wrote to the Home Secretary on the 25 of November ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/mandatory-participation-in-national-transfer-scheme-letter-to-the-home-secretary/ ), and jointly with the Welsh Government on 14 December ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/nationality-and-borders-bill-joint-letter-to-the-home-secretary/ ) setting out the serious concerns of the Scottish Government regarding the decision to mandate Scottish local authorities to participate in the NTS and calling for urgent additional financial support.

The Scottish Government continues to press the Home Office to provide the necessary financial support. Work is ongoing to monitor UASC arrival numbers in Scotland and the need for additional financial assistance is being kept under review.

Question reference: S6W-06641

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 15 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding in total it has given to local authorities to support the administration of the self-isolation support grant in each month since its launch, broken down by local authority.

Local authorities have received a total of £3,056,147 in administration funding to process Self-isolation Support Grant (SISG) applications since it was launched in October 2020 until end December 2021.

In addition to a fixed sum for administration start-up costs, the administrative funding was distributed using Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD). In September 2021 local authority leaders accepted a recommendation from COSLA to change to a unit cost for actual applications received by each local authority.

Local Authority Total

December 2020 (£906,500)

April

2021

(£801,855)

August 2021 (£823,662)

December 2021 (£524,130)

Total

(£3,056,147)

Question reference: S6W-06637

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the next round of applications will open for the Gypsy/Traveller Accommodation Fund.

Question reference: S6W-06640

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to provide further funding to local authorities in relation to support for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children arriving through the national transfer scheme.

Question reference: S6W-06629

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects the working group on the temporary accommodation standards framework to publish its proposals.

Following our consultation in 2019, a short-life working group was established in October 2021 to help produce a new temporary accommodation standards framework, identify if legislative changes are required, consider how the framework can be applied and regulated and produce the processes to support this.

The working group has met five times to date and aims to produce a temporary accommodation standards framework later in 2022.

Question reference: S6W-06633

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on the number of hotels that are currently being used as accommodation for asylum seekers.

Asylum is a matter reserved to the UK Parliament and handled by the Home Office. This includes provision of asylum accommodation to people who require it while awaiting the outcome of their asylum application.

I have written to the Home Secretary and the UK Immigration Minister to express my concerns about the use of hotels to accommodate people seeking asylum. Three letters I have issued are published on the Scottish Government website: Use of hotels to accommodate asylum seekers: correspondence with UK government - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Home Office procures asylum accommodation through private sector contracts. Mears Group is the current contract holder in Scotland. The Scottish Government has no control of asylum accommodation and support and do not have access to Home Office systems or to operational systems run by their contractors.

The Scottish Government is aware that the Home Office has procured hotels as contingency initial asylum accommodation in Scotland and understands that five hotels are currently in operation for this purpose in Scotland. We are also aware that Mears Group has retained use of a hotel in Glasgow as contingency accommodation to enable people who have presented in Glasgow to undertake Covid quarantine prior to moving into dispersal accommodation in the community.

Question reference: S6W-06628

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide an update on the development of a temporary accommodation standards framework.

Following our consultation in 2019, a short-life working group, chaired by Jim Hayton, was established in October 2021 and has met five times to date. So far, the working group has considered:

Amendments required to the existing advisory standards and how the new standards can be incorporated into a temporary accommodation standards framework.
What the processes are to ensure the framework is implemented by local authorities.
Whether legislative changes are needed to implement the framework.
What the timescales are for the framework implementation.
The support local authorities may require to fully implement the standards framework and to ensure compliance.
How the standards will be assessed.
How the standards framework can be monitored and regulated.
Whether sanctions are necessary and, if so, how they will be enforced.

The working group aims to produce a temporary accommodation standards framework later in 2022.

Question reference: S6F-00918

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 March 2022

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government anticipates meeting the interim targets set out in the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017.

Question reference: S6W-07025

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 14 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it plans to take to reduce waiting times for audiologist tests to obtain NHS hearing aids.

Excessively long waiting lists are not acceptable and we offer our sympathies to all patients waiting for treatment. Pausing of non-urgent activity has taken place across the health system and has inevitably led to a build-up of patients waiting for treatment, and the emergence of Omicron is continuing to have an impact on existing significant pressure.

Remaining covid restrictions and infection prevention control measures mean that Audiologists are working on reduced capacity and a reduced numbers of patients have access to the services.

Additionally, all services have seen a surge in referrals since restrictions have started to ease and GPs have become more accessible. Waiting lists have grown as a result and services have to balance ensuring that patients receive good quality, efficient and effective treatment with reducing waiting times.

We published an NHS Recovery Plan in August 2021 which sets out our plans for health and social care, including audiology services, over the next 5 years.

Backed by over £1 billion of funding, the Plan will support an increase in inpatient, daycase, and outpatient activity to address the backlogs of care, which will be supported by the implementation of sustainable improvements and new models of care.

Question reference: S6W-06846

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 11 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the process is, including any legislative requirements, for it to top up reserved benefits, and how this can be accelerated if required urgently.

Any new benefit intended to top-up reserved benefits would have to be developed with research and testing among potential users, and close collaboration with DWP and other stakeholders. For delivery of new benefits, we need to develop and test all application and case management systems to ensure households are able to apply, in addition to obtaining data from DWP and HMRC in order to process and administer the benefit. Any work of such nature is extremely complex and takes a considerable period of time to develop, build and deliver. It would require other priorities to be set aside.

New benefits also require legislation to be made by the Scottish Parliament. The procedures for scrutinising proposed legislation are set out in the Standing Orders of the Parliament. There may also be a requirement for amending regulations to be laid by the UK Government, to ensure that any new income provided by the top-up of reserved benefits does not affect entitlement to other reserved benefits.