Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not collect information on the number of foster carers registered with each local authority or voluntary provider.

I have frequent discussions with Ministerial colleagues on a range of matters. We are committed to reforming council tax to make it fairer, working with the Scottish Green Party and COSLA to oversee the development of effective deliberative engagement on sources of local government funding. including Council Tax, that will culminate in a Citizens' Assembly.

The Scottish Government has no plans to review the legislation governing the election of civic heads.

The Scottish Government publishes figures relating to Local Authority New Build Completions in the ‘Local Authority Starts and Completions’ table found on our website here; https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-for-scotland-new-house-building/ .

Some of these homes will have been supported by Scottish Government funding and some will have been financed through other routes.

We do not hold related council tax band information.

The Scottish Housing Regulator collects information from social landlords on performance against the standards and outcomes of the Scottish Social Housing Charter. This includes information on the total number of emergency and non-emergency repairs completed during the reporting year. The published Scottish Housing Regulator Charter Data information is available at Statistical information | Scottish Housing Regulator .

The Scottish Government does not collect or hold this information.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on how many households have received the single person’s council tax discount in each year between 1999 and 2003, broken down by local authority.

The Scottish Government does hold data on how many households have received the single person’s council tax discount in each year between 2004 and 2021, broken down by local authority.

A copy of the table has been placed in SPICE - BIB number 63208.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that police and local authorities, who lead on tackling antisocial behaviour, continue to have the powers and resources they require. We understand there have been problems in the Tron area and that Police Scotland is working with partners to minimise antisocial behaviour and crime.

The Scottish Parliament passed the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-Restricted Products) (Scotland) Act 2021. This came into force on 24 August 2021 and created a new specific statutory offence of threatening, abusing or assaulting a retail worker, adding to the offences that can already be used to prosecute those who abuse retail workers. Everyone should be able to work without fear of abuse and the criminal law should be used to deal with attacks.

Local authorities have the financial freedom to operate independently, with the vast majority of their funding provided by means of a block grant. It is the responsibility of local authorities to manage their budgets and to allocate resources on the basis of local needs and priorities, including responding to antisocial behaviour.

Support has been provided to businesses through a £6 million City Centre Recovery Fund, to boost footfall and visitors to our city centres, the Scotland Loves Local fund and support for Business Improvement Districts. Since the start of the pandemic, businesses have benefitted from £4.5bn in support from the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on kinship care payments as local authorities are responsible for deciding levels of care allowance based on local decision making practices and specific needs of individual children or young people.

In 2002, the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) adopted a new system for the management of Children’s Hearings data. Prior to 2002, information on Children’s Hearings was not recorded in the same way – only substantive decisions were recorded, and the data would therefore not be comparable. SCRA can be contacted for further detail on this if required. The number of children’s hearings held in each year since 2002-2003 are: