Chamber and committees

As set out in the response to S6W-06821 on 10 March 2022, the vast majority of homelessness funding provided to local authorities in the annual local government finance settlements since 1999 has been included in the block grant. It is at each local authority’s discretion as to how they use this resource to prevent and respond to homelessness, which includes providing temporary accommodation. This has been supplemented in recent years by additional, identifiable resource as follows:

Scotland is committed to playing our part in welcoming and supporting all Asylum Seekers, Refugees and displaced people.

The UK’s Syrian Resettlement Programme, also known as the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS), ended in March 2021. The programme matched people with accommodation identified by local authorities prior to their arrival in the UK. All 32 of Scotland’s local authorities participated in the programme, supporting 3,328 refugees to settle in communities across the country.

All 32 local authorities have also confirmed their participation in Afghanistan Relocation and Resettlement Schemes. So far, there have been 127 families (520 individuals) relocated to 20 Scottish local authorities.

It is the Home Office who have responsibility for hotel accommodation for Afghan families across the UK. Its data currently shows that there are 12,000 people in hotels across the UK.

During Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2022, we welcomed the training offer that Beat, the UK’s eating disorder charity, has developed to ensure that our future workforce feels confident to support anyone who comes forward with concerns about disordered eating.

We were also pleased to announce additional funding for Beat which includes Beyond the Symptoms training for GPs and healthcare professionals. This supports them to identify when a patient has an eating disorder and confidently intervene early. This funding was in addition to the £5 million additional investment to support those with eating disorders in 2021-22.

More generally, our Programme of Government commits to ensuring that by 2026 each GP Practice will have access to a mental health and wellbeing service; creating 1,000 additional dedicated staff who can help grow community mental health resilience and direct social prescribing.

Data relating to visas and arrivals under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, including the Scottish super sponsor scheme, is published regularly by the UK Government;

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-visa-data-by-country-upper-and-lower-tier-local-authority

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05286 on 10 January 2022. 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

A set of data tables for the most recent Chronic Pain Waiting Times publication, which was released on 8 March 2022, can be found at https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/chronic-pain-waiting-times/chronic-pain-waiting-times-quarter-ending-31-december-2021

Data is available from the quarter ending 31 December 2015 to the quarter ending 31 December 2021.

Information about the levels of debt on school meals across Scotland is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. The handling of school meal debts is a matter for local authorities, taking into account the local needs and circumstances of all families within their respective local areas.

The Scottish Government recognises the work which has been undertaken by Aberlour on this issue and the First Minister has committed that officials will work with COSLA to understand this issue more fully.

A grant model was used to enable a quick start to the programme and to test the viability of an arm’s length delivery approach based on established principles behind Scotland’s property systems. Interim learning from this approach shows there is a need to move to a model based on directly procured contracts to speed and scale delivery and at lower overall risk. This change was announced to the Scottish Parliament by myself on 12 May 2022 - Update on cladding remediation programme: Cabinet Secretary's statement - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning chaired all meetings of the working group, it met five times between 28 April 2020 and 15 March 2021.

Eight buildings have received grant payments and all other buildings are being supported through the Single Building Assessment process.

All SBAs so far have used physical intrusive inspections and desktop reviews to determine outcomes.