Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-14445

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 January 2023
Current Status: Answer expected on 10 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many libraries have closed in each year since 2009.

Question reference: S6W-14348

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2023
Current Status: Answer expected on 9 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many homes have been built through the Islands Housing Fund in each year since 2016-17.

Question reference: S6W-14349

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2023
Current Status: Answer expected on 9 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many homes have been built through the Rural Housing Fund in each year since 2016-17.

Question reference: S6W-13924

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 26 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-13133 by Tom Arthur on 22 December 2022, whether it will provide an update on how much unspent COVID-19 funding has been recovered from each local authority.

Question reference: S6W-13801

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many families, in the period since 2012, have lived in temporary accommodation for at least three years.

For this response families have been interpreted as households with children.

There have been 447 households with children included in the homelessness application that have spent three years or more in temporary accommodation. This is based on available temporary accommodation placement data, where placements closed on or before 31 March 2022. Source: HL1 and HL3 data collections up to 31 March 2022, data as published on 18 August 2022.

Notes on data

The total duration of stay in temporary accommodation for households with children has been derived by linking records between the homelessness application (HL1) and temporary accommodation placement (HL3) data collections. The HL1 collects information on the composition of households making homelessness applications (available from 2002-03). The HL3 gathers information about temporary accommodation placements associated with homelessness applications (only available for all local authorities from 2017-18, however, it includes placements which commenced prior, and includes data prior to this for some local authorities).

The total duration is based on the sum of the durations of all temporary accommodation placements associated with the same household. It may be underestimated where households have placements that started and ended before the HL3 data collection began.

The figure includes households who may have turned down multiple offers of settled accommodation by the local authority but have chosen to wait for an offer that fully meets their needs.

It is important to note that households may sometimes make alternative arrangements for children when entering temporary accommodation and therefore children included in the HL1 return are not always present in associated placements. It can also be that children are present for only part of the stay in temporary accommodation, e.g. as part of shared custody arrangements.

Question reference: S6W-13804

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 26 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people with “no fixed adobe” have died while receiving treatment in NHS Scotland since 2012.

The exact information requested is not held centrally or by Public Health Scotland. Detailed below are published information that are available and relevant:

1. Estimates of the number of homeless deaths registered in Scotland during 2021 are published by the National Records of Scotland. These data include breakdowns by sex and age-group, council area and cause of death, but have no information on whether they were receiving NHS treatment. These figures are also based on a wider definition of homelessness than people with no fixed abode. The publication can be found here: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/vital-events/deaths/homeless-deaths/2021

2. Published figures on numbers of patients with “no fixed abode” that have been admitted to hospital can be found within the within the Annual Acute Activity publication. Published data is available for a ten year period, from financial year 2012/13 to financial year 2021/22. Data on patient activity is presented in Table 2 – inpatient and day case activity, and the measure of interest can be found by selecting the NHS board of residence in the indicator drop down and either stays, episodes or patients within the measure drop down. Figures where ‘no fixed abode’ will then be listed in the table. The publication can be found here: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/acute-hospital-activity-and-nhs-beds-information-annual/acute-hospital-activity-and-nhs-beds-information-annual-annual-year-ending-31-march-2022/

Question reference: S6W-13803

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 25 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the COVID-19 funding that it allocated to local authorities it has reclaimed, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-13917

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 24 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what policy review it has undertaken in relation to children with autism and their assessment for other conditions and co-morbidities, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Significant policy review in relation to neurodevelopmental disorders including autism and attention deficit disorder (ADHD) was undertaken through the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Taskforce which reported in 2019. The Taskforce recommended that the Scottish Government should develop a neurodevelopmental service specification for use across services in Scotland. The Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Programme Board and the subsequent Joint Delivery Board took responsibility for developing these principles and standards of care.

In September 2021, the Scottish Government published the National Neurodevelopmental Specification for Children and Young People which sets out seven standards for service providers to ensure that children and young people who have neurodevelopmental profiles with support needs receive the support that they require.

The Specification is purposefully inclusive and includes support for those who may be identified with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

The Specification states that comorbidity and coexistence of a range of neurodevelopmental needs is common and that all children and families should experience joined up support, based on the single child’s plan, with professionals from different agencies working together to provide the range of support the child or young person needs.

Question reference: S6W-13918

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 24 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to provide access to cancer screening for firefighters and other public sector workers with higher cancer risks.

Question reference: S6W-13923

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 24 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many waste land notices have been issued in each year for which records exist, broken down by local authority area.

Planning authorities are required to maintain a Register of Enforcement containing details of any enforcement action taken by that authority, including notices issued under s.179 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997. The Register of Enforcement is a public document and is published by the planning authority.

There is no requirement for a planning authority to inform the Scottish Government when any enforcement notice, including a notice under s.179 of the 1997 Act is issued. The Scottish Government therefore does not hold such information.

Chamber and committees