Chamber and committees

The members of the Ministerial Oversight Group on Homelessness are:

• Paul McLennan MSP, Minister for Housing (chair)
• Elena Whitham, MSP, Minister for Drugs & Alcohol Policy
• Maree Todd, MSP, Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport
• Emma Roddick, MSP Minister for Equalities, Migration and Refugees
• Natalie Don, MSP, Minister for Children, Young People and Keeping the Promise
• Jenni Minto, MSP, Minister for Public Health and Woman’s Health
• Joe Fitzpatrick, MSP, Minster for Local Government and Planning
• Siobhan Brown, MSP, Minister for Victims and Community Safety
• Patrick Harvie, MSP, Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants' Rights
• Graeme Dey, MSP, Minister for Higher and Further Education; and Minister for Veterans

The Ministerial Oversight Group on Homelessness remit is to bring together ministers from across the Scottish Government to identify the actions required across portfolios to prevent and end homelessness. The group then collectively ensures delivery of these actions. The group provides a space for shared political leadership and enhanced policy links with a view to ensuring everyone has a safe, warm place to call home.

We have published further information on the Ministerial Oversight Group on Homelessness on the Scottish Government’s website at Ministerial Oversight Group on Homelessness - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . This includes the membership and terms of reference of the group. The Ministerial Oversight Group on Homelessness has so far had one meeting. The minutes, once available, will also be uploaded to this webpage.

Scotland has the strongest rights in the UK for people experiencing homelessness and local authorities have a legal duty to provide accommodation and advice to anyone experiencing or at risk of rough sleeping.

This year we have provided £713,228 of funding to City of Edinburgh Council and £1,471,795 to Glasgow City Council for implementation of their rapid rehousing transition plans (RRTPs) which aim to support people experiencing homelessness into settled accommodation as quickly as possible, including through Housing First.

We continue to work closely with both local authorities and third sector partners to ensure emergency accommodation and support is available for people at risk of rough sleeping, including through the operation of rapid rehousing welcome centres (RRWCs) over the winter months. This year we have provided £215,471 of funding to support the operation of RRWC’s in Glasgow and Edinburgh, with £1,120,021 million of funding provided to support these services since 2020.

The Scottish Government has also made £50,000 of personalised budget funding available to frontline third sector organisations in Glasgow and Edinburgh this year. This funding allows frontline staff to meet the immediate needs of people at risk of, or experiencing, rough sleeping and provide them with support in a dignified and person-centred way.

We know that a proportion of people rough sleeping in Scotland are doing so as a result of the UK Government’s no recourse to public funds policy, which prevents people from accessing statutory homelessness assistance. We will continue to call on the UK Government to change this policy, which is pushing people into destitution and is one of the biggest barriers to eradicating rough sleeping in Scotland.

In the Programme for Government 2023 to 2024 , the Scottish Government confirmed the Housing (Scotland) Bill will be brought forward as part of the year three legislative programme. This Bill will introduce new duties aimed at the prevention of homelessness.

We continue to engage with stakeholders, including COSLA and organisations from across the homelessness sector, on the development of the duties in order that we get our approach right.

The Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group convened a Task and Finish Group to set out recommendations on how best to prepare for the duties. We are considering the report which was published on 30 th August 2023 and will respond in due course.

The Scottish Government does not collect this data, which will instead be held by individual local authorities.

We will shortly publish the minutes of the first meeting of the Ministerial Oversight Group on Homelessness. They will be available here - Ministerial Oversight Group on Homelessness - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The Scottish Government is taking action to support families with the cost of school uniform and clothing so that every child in Scotland can attend school feeling comfortable, confident, and ready to learn.

In partnership with local authorities, we have delivered on our commitment to increase the level of school clothing grant in Scotland. This vital support for families has increased to at least £120 for eligible primary school pupils and £150 for eligible secondary school pupils. As part of action to further reduce the cost of the school day for families, we have committed through the 2023-24 Programme for Government to increase funding to local authorities for school clothing grant in the next financial year. This is in addition to the increased funding for school clothing grant that was provided in 2023-24 financial year which took the total funding provided to local authorities to £13m.

To further support families, we will also introduce national guidance on school uniform and clothing. This will support schools to work with families to develop and implement affordable and sustainable uniform and clothing policies that recognise the individual needs, circumstances and identities of all pupils and reduce costs of families. It is anticipated that the guidance will be published in spring 2024.

These measures are being taken forward as part of our wider action to tackle child poverty and protect people as much as possible during the ongoing cost of living crisis.

As compliance with the Temporary Accommodation Standards Framework is not yet mandatory, no formal data collection has been established to gather information on breaches.

The Temporary Accommodation Standards Framework was published in April 2023 and replaced the advisory standards [1] published in the Homelessness Code of Guidance in 2019. The new standards for temporary accommodation were produced by a short term working group, which also considered how the standards could be regulated and legally enforced.

Although the framework has been agreed, the route of legal enforcement remains under consideration. Before the standards can be legally enforceable, they will first have to be formally consulted on.

In the meantime, before the framework becomes legally enforceable, local authorities and social landlords are expected to work towards meeting the standards. Social landlords are already voluntarily complying by making improvements to their temporary accommodation supply, providing the necessary training for their staff and ensuring new processes are implemented in line with the revised standards

[1] The advisory standards were based on the Guidance on Standards for Temporary Accommodation published in 2011 by the Chartered Institute of Housing Scotland and Shelter Scotland.

The Scottish Government has not made an estimate of the cost of bringing back into use council houses that are currently unoccupied. Local authority social landlords maintain data on managing their housing stock.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Local authority social landlords maintain data on their housing stock.

The vast majority of homelessness funding provided to Scottish local authorities since 1999 has been included in the block grant of annual local government finance settlements [1] .

In February 2017, the ‘temporary accommodation management fee’ funding from the UK Government was devolved to the Scottish Government. In 2017-18, the Scottish Government allocated the full amount of £22.5 million provided through this arrangement to Scottish local authorities. Since 2018-19, Scottish local authorities have received an annual share of £23.5 million.

In 2023-24, this budget was augmented by a £7 million former Hostels Grant to create the new £30.5 million Homelessness Prevention Fund. Each local authority receives their annual share of this settlement through an in-year transfer.

It is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the financial resources available to it on the basis of local needs and priorities having first fulfilled its statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities. It is therefore not possible for the Scottish Government to ascertain how much each local authority spends each year on temporary accommodation.

[1] Local government finance circulars - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)