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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S5W-09299

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 31 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much government funding to local authorities has been ring-fenced for additional support needs in schools in each year since 2011.

The Scottish Government does not provide ring-fenced funding for Additional Support for Learning in schools. Funding is included in the block grant which the Scottish Government provides to all local authorities as part of the annual local government finance settlement. It is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financial resources available to it on the basis of local needs and priorities having first fulfilled its statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities including the Scottish Government's key strategic objectives.

Question reference: S5W-09266

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how often the ScotRail-chaired cycle forum meets.

Question reference: S5W-09263

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of ScotRail's performance in meeting the improvement targets set out out in its Cycling Innovation Plan, and how this was carried out.

Question reference: S5W-09265

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when ScotRail will next update its Cycling Innovation Plan.

Question reference: S5W-09298

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many new shower facilities have been installed in Scottish stations since Abellio won the ScotRail franchise in 2015.

Question reference: S5W-09184

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 18 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding how many tenement buildings have been demolished as a result of falling into disrepair in each year since 2007.

Information on the number of tenement buildings that have been demolished as a result of falling in to disrepair is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Estimates of the total number of demolitions in Scotland are published each year by the Scottish Government in Housing Statistics for Scotland web tables, available at: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/HSfS/ConDem.

The Scottish Housing Regulator collects information through the Social Housing Charter Data on the number of social sector properties demolished as a direct result of the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS), which is available here: https://www.scottishhousingregulator.gov.uk/find-and-compare-landlords/statistical-information

Question reference: S5W-09183

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 16 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it takes to help maintain tenement buildings.

Responsibility for maintaining tenements is principally the responsibility of the owners. The management and maintenance of tenements is usually governed by rules and conditions set out in the title deeds for the flats within the block. The Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004 provides a structure, known as the Tenement Management Scheme (“the TMS”), for the maintenance and management of tenements. The TMS only applies if the title deeds do not make other arrangements or if they are defective. The TMS contains provision for majority decision making on a range of issues, including repairs.

The Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 gave local authorities discretionary powers to require owners to carry out work on substandard houses and to provide assistance with repairs and improvements to private property. The Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 amended these powers to make them more effective in response to consultation with local authorities and other stakeholders, including new provisions to allow local authorities to pay missing shares for work agreed by a majority of owners in a tenement. In January 2017, the Scottish Government launched an area-based pilot of an equity loan scheme to assist owners to carry out essential repairs and energy efficiency improvements, which could facilitate common repairs in tenements.

Question reference: S5W-09055

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 9 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how local authorities manage homeless applications from people who are from outside their area.

Homelessness legislation sets out the steps local authorities must take in investigating homelessness and this includes the ‘local connection’ test. The local authority has a power, but not a duty, to refer an applicant to another local authority if it thinks the applicant does not have a local connection with it and does have a local connection with another authority.

Legislation is supported by the statutory Code of Guidance on Homelessness, to which local authorities must refer when making decisions. This includes stating that in exercising its discretion to use its power on local connection, a local authority should take particular care to operate in a non-discriminatory way.

The HL1 statistics collected by local authorities and published by the Scottish Government, also provides more detailed information on homelessness applications.

Question reference: S5W-09061

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 9 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many homeless people have used temporary accommodation in each year since 2012.

Data on the number of homeless people using temporary accommodation in each year is not currently available.

The HL2 data collection provides a snapshot of the number of households in temporary accommodation at the end of each quarter. This is published on a
bi-annual basis. The most recent published data is from 30 September 2016 and is available in Table 8 of the publication Homelessness in Scotland: Update to 30 September 2016 http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0051/00512963.xls.

Question reference: S5W-09060

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 9 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding homeless hubs set up prior to 2012, how many hub meetings there have been since 2012, and what the outcomes of these meetings were.

The Scottish Government does not keep this level of information. It is for the local authority-led Housing Options hubs to plan and facilitate their own meetings and develop and implement their own workplans. Scottish Government officials attend where required.

The Scottish Government organises regular National seminars for Housing Options hubs and other local authority representatives, with the involvement of third sector organisations.