Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to helping displaced Ukrainians access sustainable accommodation, including in the PRS.

The Housing (Scotland) Bill includes a package of PRS reforms that provide additional rights and protections for tenants, including displaced people from Ukraine.

Information on tenants’ rights has been translated into Ukrainian and shared via the Scottish Government’s website and within the Ukrainian community. The Minister for Housing has engaged with landlords, estate agents and their representatives and will continue to do so to understand the challenges facing the PRS and how we may most effectively support displaced Ukrainians in accessing it.

Latest data published by the Scottish Government on 25 April 2024, show that as at 25 March 2024, an estimated 2,150 guests were in welcome accommodation in Scotland. This represents a reduction of 70% from the peak of just over 7,200 people in November 2022

The next statistical release on the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland will be published by the Scottish Government on 29 August 2024.

Additionally, the Scottish Government publish a calendar of forthcoming statistical releases. The calendar can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/official-statistics-forthcoming-publications/ ”

Scottish Government recognises the value engagement to evaluate the impact of the measures we are progressing with respect to Fairer Funding. Officials in the Third Sector Unit are in regular contact with organisations like SCVO and the network of Third Sector Interfaces which provide a voice for the wider sector.

As I said in my letter to the Social Justice and Social Security Committee on 20 May we recognise, through our engagement, there is a need to ensure that we can work with them to identify solutions to the challenges facing us.

Reporting covering monthly spend over £25k are published on the Scottish Government website Government spend over £25,000: monthly reports - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . In addition, annual budget documentation setting out spending plans by portfolio and programme are included in the annual accounts, Consolidated Accounts: year ended 31 March 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) also available from the Scottish Government website. Whilst current annual reporting does not give the analysis proposed, the monthly reporting provides detailed information. The Scottish Government is currently undergoing a transition of its financial reporting functionality, that will allow for financial reporting developments in the future.

I refer the member to the answer to S6W-28419 on 22 July 2024. 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 S6W-28419 on 22 July 2024. 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 .

In the 2023/24 Programme for Government we committed, as part of developing an approach to fairer funding for the third sector, to deliver improvements in grant-making arrangements, including providing greater clarity and consistency of practice.

Expanding on this, the Former First Minister committed to specific delivery goals for 24/25 in his speech at the Gathering third sector conference including a) prompt notification of funding to third sector organisations (before 31 March for funding due to commence on 1 April) b) an increase in the number of multi-year arrangements, where possible and c) a review of grant conditions.

I wrote to the Social Justice and Social Security Committee on 20 May to report on our progress against these delivery goals and our progress towards Fairer Funding more generally, setting out the challenges that we have met in the current financial context. I have committed to providing a further update as our work progresses.

I provided an update on our plans to introduce multi-year funding for the third sector in my letter to the Social Justice and Social Security Committee on 20th May. As noted in that letter, we remain committed to embedding a multi-year grant approach on third sector grants by 2026 including delivering increased numbers of multi-year funding awards, where possible and appropriate.

While it is very challenging to deliver in the current financial context, I have asked officials to do further work and have confirmed I will write to the committee again to update on progress.

As I set out in a recent letter to the Social Justice and Social Security Committee, issued on 20 May, work is underway to improve the transparency and consistency of our grant-making practices with the third sector.

Consideration is being given to how we can better monitor and report on third sector grant funding including the timeliness of notification and grant payments.

There are no plans for the Scottish Government to publish open data on grant funding using the non-governmental 360 Giving Standard database. Existing reporting covering monthly spend over £25k is published on the Scottish Government website, providing details of payee and description. Government spend over £25,000: monthly reports - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .