Chamber and committees

The Government plans to introduce a new Housing Bill this year. The timing and scope of that Bill is subject to ongoing review an consideration as we continue to deliver our emergency response to support tenants through the ongoing cost of living crisis.

We expect the Scottish Local Authorities Renumeration Committee to provide its report and recommendations to the Government in Autumn 2023.

Once this is provided, the Scottish Government will consult with COSLA on a response to the recommendations, and inform Parliament of our decisions as soon as possible thereafter.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the number of industrial units built for SMEs. Relevant asset owners are responsible for property within their ownership. Local authorities may hold data on development in their area.

Whilst there have been homes delivered in rural areas since 1999, this has only been reported on since 2015 -16. Data on new build affordable homes in rural areas is therefore provided from that year onwards in the following table below. Figures relating to 2021-22 will be published early in 2023. There were also non-new build homes provided and the final column in the table includes all affordable homes delivered in rural areas.

The latest Scottish Government Private Sector Rent Statistics, Scotland, 2010 to 2022 was published on 29 th November 2022, which presents average private rents by property size and Broad Rental Market Areas between 2010 and 2022 (years to end September), based predominantly on advertised rent data. This is the lowest level of granularity available for the Scottish Government Private Rent Statistics. The figures cannot be disaggregated to local authority level as the data collection method used has not been designed for this purpose. and therefore the Scottish Government does not produce or publish rental data at local authority level. In addition, data is not held for the years prior to 2010.

In terms of average rents in the social rented sector, the Scottish Government Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Statistics publication contains a time series by local authority area (Table 8) of the average weekly rent on local authority HRA properties from 1997-98 onwards. These figures are also included alongside corresponding figures for housing association average rents by local authority area in an archived Scottish Government Housing Statistics publication table , although this table covers the period 2005-06 to 2012-13 only. More recent data on average rents in the social rented sector for local authority and housing association properties, including by property size, is published as part of Scottish Housing Regulator Charter Data outputs for the years 2013-14 onwards, available in the Scottish Housing Regulator Statistical Information webpages . The Charter Data figures are available at a social landlord level only, and so housing association figures are presented as landlord level averages rather than by the local authority location of their housing stock. However separate Scottish Housing Regulator stock data for the latest year 2021-22, available in the same Statistical Information webpages, includes information for on average rents split by both social landlord and local authority area for the year 2021-22.

Published figures on the most recent and historical numbers of patients that have been admitted to hospital can be found within the within the Annual Acute Activity publication, which was released on 27 September 2022. The publication can be found at the following link:

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/

Published data is only 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.

Below is an excerpt from the dataset, with the measure of interest highlighted in bold.

The Scottish Government supports local authorities to develop new walking, wheeling and cycling infrastructure through the Places for Everyone programme (PfE) with over £52 million in funding committed in 2022-23. Local authorities can apply for funding and support for projects that aim to develop path networks on disused railway lines.

The Scottish Government also invests in developing active travel networks on disused railway lines as part of the National Cycle Network, with £1.6 million committed in 2022-23 to projects on disused railway lines. This includes £280,000 allocated to constructing a section of route along an old railway alignment from St.Fillans to Lochearnhead, and £45,000 for design work on a route from Comrie to Crieff.

Local groups with proposals to promote active travel by utilising disused railway assets should in the first instance raise with their local Regional transport Partnership and with Network Rail, who own most disused railway across Scotland. The Network Rail Property team in Scotland will assist where possible in the development of any initiatives that will support the Scottish Government’s aims to increase active travel, as is demonstrated at Levenmouth.

The Scottish Government announced on 21 December an agreement with the social housing sector meaning restrictions on rent-setting will no longer apply to the sector from 1 April. Social landlords have instead committed to average increases that will ensure rents remain affordable, while allowing them to continue investing in essential services such as home improvements and maintenance.

We have been clear since we introduced the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 that we would work with the social rented sector to agree a way forward for after 31 March, and social landlords have been consulting with their tenants on possible rent rises for after that date. The agreements are based on the options being tested through those consultations, aiming to keep rents affordable while ensuring landlords have the resources to continue providing essential services for tenants and to deliver more affordable homes.

COSLA has committed to keeping local authority rent increases for 2023-24 to an average of no more than £5 a week. The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and Glasgow and West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations has committed to increases averaging 6.1%.

The agreement of average figures, rather than a fixed cap, allows for the flexibility to honour the outcomes of the statutory tenant consultations social landlords must undertake each year on rent setting.

No social landlord is consulting on a rent increase at or above CPI inflation, which was 11.1% at the time of the data being collected.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13137 on‎ 9 January 2023. 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

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with COSLA to find a way forward on the introduction of a Scottish Recommended Allowance for foster and kinship carers.