Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-36578

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 25 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many children and young people have been placed in temporary accommodation in the City of Edinburgh Council area in each year since 1999, also given as the percentage of the national number that this represents.

The following table shows the number of children and young people placed in temporary accommodation in Edinburgh at some point during each year, and as a percentage of Scotland from 2017-18 to 2023-24.

Data on temporary accommodation placements (HL3) is only available from 2017-18.

Children and young people are defined as when a household member is aged 24 and under.

Young people	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
Number	2,982	3,264	3,507	3,839	4,797	5,569	5,873
% of Scotland	11%	12%	13%	14%	17%	18%	18%

Data source: Scottish Government, HL1 & HL3 Homelessness statistics

Notes:

The Scottish Government records temporary accommodation placements (HL3 data collection) and the number of people by age band associated with households making homelessness applications (HL1 data collection). HL1 and HL3 household records have been linked to provide an estimate of the number of children and young people in temporary accommodation placements.

Please note that it is not necessarily the case that all household members within a homelessness application will enter associated temporary accommodation placement(s). For example, alternative arrangements may be made for children so they are never present in the temporary accommodation.

Households can have multiple temporary accommodation placements. Only one placement per reporting period has been included. This means a child or young person will be included in each year in which they have spent time in temporary accommodation and not counted multiple times within the same year.

Question reference: S6W-36298

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 25 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to promote the CitizenCard as a mainstream form of identification in Scotland.

Nationality and citizenship are matters that are fully reserved to the United Kingdom Government under the Devolution Settlement, therefore the Scottish Government does not control the provision and resultant use of all mainstream forms of identification, such as passports, in Scotland.

The Scottish Government does however support the PASS scheme, which is an accepted standard for age verification in different places, for example in a licensing context. The CitizenCard is an accredited card which is part of the PASS scheme. The Scottish Government also supports Young Scot to maintain provision of the Young Scot National Entitlement Card, which currently enables 834,000 young people across Scotland to have identification which meets PASS standards.

Question reference: S6W-36575

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 25 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many children and young people have been placed in temporary accommodation in each year since 1999.

The following table shows the total number of children and young people that were in temporary accommodation at some point during each year from 2017-18 to 2023-24.

Data on temporary accommodation placements (HL3) is only available from 2017-18.

Children and young people are defined as when a household member is aged 24 and under.

	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
Number	26,569	27,787	27,315	26,482	28,757	30,383	31,944

Data source: Scottish Government, HL1 & HL3 Homelessness statistics

Notes:

The Scottish Government records temporary accommodation placements (HL3 data collection) and the number of people by age band associated with households making homelessness applications (HL1 data collection). HL1 and HL3 household records have been linked to provide an estimate of the number of children and young people in temporary accommodation placements.

Please note that it is not necessarily the case that all household members within a homelessness application will enter associated temporary accommodation placement(s). For example, alternative arrangements may be made for children so they are never present in the temporary accommodation.

Households can have multiple temporary accommodation placements. Only one placement per reporting period has been included. This means a child or young person will be included in each year in which they have spent time in temporary accommodation and not counted multiple times within the same year.

Question reference: S6W-36576

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many primary school pupils in each local authority area are currently not entitled to free school meals as a result of its decision not to roll out free school meal provision to all primary school pupils.

Question reference: S6W-36592

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many complaints it has received from members of the public in relation to school education in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S6W-35741

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 23 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions its ministers have had in relation to requests to deliver Hugh’s Law, which would offer financial assistance to parents when children undergo prolonged hospital treatment.

We fully recognise that this is a challenging time for families. The Young Patients Family Fund helps families of young inpatients under 18 in Scotland cover some of the costs of hospital visits, regardless of diagnosis. Families can get support to cover costs of travel, food and/or accommodation.

Importantly, no-one needs a formal diagnosis to apply for Child Disability Payment which has paid out over £1 billion to families with disabled children to date. Parents applying on behalf of a terminally ill child can use our fast-tracked route to apply so they and their family can access the maximum level of financial support they are entitled to – quickly and with dignity.

Question reference: S6W-36385

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to make representations to COSLA in relation to a review of education funding formulas, in light of the introduction of VAT on fees for independent schools and any potential for increased state school admissions.

Scottish Government has no plans to make such representations.

The distribution methodology for calculating the Local Government Settlement is agreed with local authorities and is informed by a number of indicators including pupil numbers from the latest annual school census.

The local authorities that could see impacts from the ending of the VAT exemption for independent schools are all projected to have declining school rolls, which will mitigate any increase in admissions from the independent sector.

Question reference: S6W-36678

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many tribunals in relation to school support have taken place in each local authority area in each year since 1999, broken down by the reason for the tribunal.

The Scottish Government does not record this information. The First-Tier Tribunal for Scotland, Additional Support Needs (ASN) Jurisdiction is a separate and independent body.

Yearly statistics Tribunal Forum | First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Health and Education Chamber) (from 2016 onwards) are published on the total number of applications to the ASN Tribunal in relation to additional support needs following the annual Tribunal Forum, broken down by Education Authority and high-level reason for the hearing.

ASN Tribunal Decisions are published, providing detail of each case, and can be accessed via the Tribunal website: Decisions | First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Health and Education Chamber). Not all decisions are published, based on permission from the parent / child and the education authority concerned.

Question reference: S6W-36591

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to implement a presumption against children moving schools when they are placed in temporary accommodation.

The Scottish Government recognises the disruption a homeless household can experience when placed in temporary accommodation and is aware of the issues that can arise if accommodation is located too far from the household’s employment, education and support services.

The Unsuitable Accommodation Order states that accommodation is unsuitable if it is not in the locality of facilities and services for the purposes of education which are being used, or might reasonably be expected to be used, by members of the household. The exception to this is if those facilities are reasonably accessible from the accommodation, taking into account the distance of travel by public transport or transport provided by a local authority.

It can be challenging for local authorities to place homeless households close to existing family and social networks due to the location of available properties and the high demand in particular areas. The risk assessment conducted as part of the housing support service and allocation process informs the offers of accommodation made. While it is preferable for households to continue to access the same facilities as they have previously, this is not always possible. The Scottish Government’s code of guidance on homelessness makes clear that it is acceptable for local authorities to offer households access to similar facilities.

A new temporary accommodation standards framework, which built on the 2019 advisory standards, was published by the Scottish Government in 2023. Local authorities and social landlords are expected to work towards meeting the framework before it becomes legally enforceable. The framework requires accommodation to be in a location that allows access to school either by foot, by public transport or by transport provided.

Question reference: S6W-36582

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 22 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many care-experienced people have (a) requested and (b) received independent advocacy in each local authority area in each year since 1999.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Individual local authorities manage and monitor the provision of independent advocacy to meet local needs, including ongoing provision for care experienced people.

The Scottish Government is currently working with advocacy service providers and key partners, including The Promise Scotland, COSLA and Who Cares? Scotland to further develop our understanding of current advocacy provision and areas where needs are not being met.

The Scottish Government published an independent evaluation of the Children’s Hearings advocacy scheme in September 2024.

In addition, the Scottish Government provides grant funding to Who Cares? Scotland to operate their National Helpline which provides lifelong support to care experienced people.

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