Chamber and committees

Since 2003 the number of blue badges issued in each local authority area has been published annually in the Scottish Transport Statistics and can be accessed via the following web link (see chapters entitled “Road Transport Vehicles”):

www.transport.gov.scot/our-approach/statistics/#42763

This information has also been tabulated and placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. Number 63235).

The Scottish Government does not hold the information for years 1999 to 2002.

This information is not held by the Scottish Government .

The Scottish Government recognises the acute pressure that is felt by people due to energy price rises right now and will be pulling forward planned marketing activity to promote the advice and support that is in place for them.

The Scottish Government directs people towards its fuel poverty and home energy schemes, including Warmer Homes Scotland, via the Home Energy Scotland Advice Service. This makes it easier for people in Scotland to access all the support they are eligible for in one place and acts as the referral mechanism for the schemes.

In addition to the forthcoming activity, the Home Energy Scotland marketing campaign for winter 2021-22 ran very recently, concluding on 6 March 2023. The campaign ran over TV, digital and press advertising in two bursts of activity from 1 November 2021 to 12 December 2021 and from 5 January 2022 to 6 March 2022. An evaluation is currently being compiled to inform the immediate action that is underway in planning another burst of the Home Energy Scotland Marketing campaign to reach those most in need of support at this time.

Since 2011, Home Energy Scotland (HES), administered by Energy Saving Trust (EST) on behalf of the Scottish Government, has served as the primary domestic advice service providing impartial advice and support on energy efficiency, renewable heating and fuel poverty in Scotland and acting as the main point of referral for Scotland’s flagship fuel poverty scheme, Warmer Homes Scotland.

Prior to 2008, funding was provided from the Scottish Government (Scottish Executive) to support the Energy Efficiency Advice Centre (EEAC) network as part of a UK wide network of energy advice centres operated by EST. This was replaced in 2008 by the Energy Saving Scotland Advice Centre (ESSAC) Network.

The Energy Assistance Package was introduced in April 2009, and while advice services did advise people who were fuel poor prior to the Energy Assistance Package, it is not possible to say how much of the advice budget was specific to fuel poverty. Prior to 2013, fuel poverty was not a separate focus for advice services. Specific fuel poverty advice services funding figures are only available from 2013.

The following tables provide information on advice service funding, including fuel poverty advice, where available, in each year since 2008-09.

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.

Data on local authority debt are published as part of the annual Scottish Local Government Finance Statistics (SLGFS). The latest available data is from SLGFS 2020-21 which was published on 22 March 2022. Figures on General Fund debt by local authority at 31 March 2021, including figures per person, are provided in Table F of the 'Scottish Local Government Finance Statistics (SLGFS) 2020-21 - Additional Analysis - Capital' supporting excel file which can be downloaded at https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-local-government-finance-statistics-slgfs-2020-21/documents/ .

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of women’s refuge places available in each local authority area in each year since 1999. The data that is available relates to the Scottish Women’s Aid provision of refuge accommodation in Scotland, and data is available for each of 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2018. The provision is as described in the following tables:

Refuge accommodation profile in Scotland 2008

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02608 on 8 September 2021. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found here: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Data on complaints regarding the removal of care packages is not aggregated centrally – complaints may be made to the Scottish Government, the Care Inspectorate and individual Health and Social Care Partnerships, rather than to a single organisation.

The pandemic continues to present challenges for supported people, the social care workforce, and unpaid carers. We are working closely with Health and Social Care Partnerships to urgently address these pressures. We have made clear our expectation that disruption or removal of care packages should be avoided. Health and Social Care Partnerships have provided assurances that those care packages of most clinical urgency will continue during this difficult period.

There is not a single offence of modern slavery in Scotland. Several offences fall within the ambit of modern slavery. These offences are listed below.

On 31 May 2016, the Human Trafficking & Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 came into effect.

The 2015 Act introduced new offences and aggravations, which apply to conduct occurring on or after 31 May 2016.

Offences that were in effect prior to the implementation of the 2015 Act continue to apply to conduct occurring before 17 December 2016.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service are able to provide statistical data from 2002/03 onwards. Table 1 details the number of accused persons reported to the Procurator Fiscal, for one or more of the offences listed below, in each financial year since 2002-03.

Table 1