Chamber and committees

This information is not held centrally.

The Scottish and UK Governments have a common interest in working together, as envisaged by Paragraph 30 of the Edinburgh Agreement, to support each other in maintaining the delivery of services during the agreed period of transition. We believe that this option will offer the best possibility for minimising transition costs and ensuring continuity of service. Any decisions to change existing services will be for future governments of an independent Scotland.

The Scottish Government is taking a wide range of action to support the delivery of new housing across all tenures and throughout Scotland, stimulating activity, protecting and creating jobs and helping to secure our vision for housing.

That includes our planned investment of £1.35 billion in affordable housing over the four years to 2015-16 and my decision to increase the subsidy available for each new affordable home we support, putting us well on track towards our target to deliver 30,000 affordable homes over the lifetime of this Parliament. It also includes the £275 million Help to Buy (Scotland) scheme, which has already helped more than 1,600 people to buy a new home.

I am committed to working with organisations from across the housing sector to build on these actions and to explore opportunities to work towards the shared aim of increasing housing supply.

I have asked Colin McConnell, chief executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

“Prisoners’ private cash accounts are monitored and controlled in strict accordance with the Scottish Prison Service Financial Policy and Guidance Manual.

Each prisoner has a record within the Scottish Prisons Information Network Prisoner Record Application (SPIN PR Application) showing the balance of cash held on their behalf along with the wages balance. All transactions relating to prisoner monies must be timely and accurately recorded on the SPIN PR Application. Prisoners may verify a printed copy of their individual financial record held within the SPIN PR Application on a periodic basis.”

I have asked Colin McConnell, chief executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

“There is no maximum single payment limit regarding a prisoner’s private cash account across the Scottish Prison Service estate. However, local limits on money sent/handed in will be set at the discretion of the governor. As a result of there being no maximum single payment limit, as this is set at the discretion of the governor, the maximum amount of money a convicted prisoner may transfer from their prisoner private cash account to wages is £20 per week. Where it is deemed that receipts may be from an illegitimate source or may be used for an illegitimate purpose they will be withheld from the prisoner pending investigation. All concerns will also be raised through the establishment intelligence unit.”

The Scottish Government’s detailed response to the report and recommendations was considered by the Public Audit Committee on 11 December 2013. The committee was happy with the level of detail provided and described the response as positive. The response was also referred to the ICI Committee for the latter’s interest in the subject area. In September 2013, the Scottish Government announced that the investment in affordable housing over the three years to 2014-15 would increase to £970 million and that a further £390 million would be invested in 2015-16, not only consolidating the increases that have been made to the existing budget, but also representing an increase of around 21% on the average annual spend within the current three year programme. A range of other actions have also been taken, e.g. publishing information on in-year movements in the affordable housing supply budget, the publication of guidance on the operation of Local Authority Housing Revenue Accounts and the launch of the Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing. Other actions are in hand, and will be completed at various points in 2014 and beyond.

Scottish Planning Policy (SPP), published in 2010, sets out the government’s planning policy in relation to the green belt. This requires that a review of specific greenbelt boundaries should be part of the development plan process led by the planning authority in the first instance. Planning authorities are required to keep their development plans under review, with the requirement that local development plans be replaced at least every five years.

SPP is currently under review. The draft SPP, published for consultation in April 2013, also indicated that in reviewing development plans, planning authorities should identify the most sustainable locations for long term development, and where necessary review the boundaries of any green belt. The finalised SPP is due for publication on 23 June 2014.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Education authorities and other agencies have duties under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 (as amended) to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of their pupils. An additional support need can arise for any reason and be of short or long term duration. Additional support may be required to overcome needs arising from learning environment; health or disability; family circumstances or social and emotional factors.

For children and young people who have complex or multiple needs which require significant support from education and another agency or agencies a co-ordinated support plan (CSP) may be required. The purpose of the CSP is to support co-ordinated planning to meet pupils' individual needs, consequently the cost of providing support through a co-ordinated support plan may vary significantly from pupil to pupil, depending on the individual’s needs.

The figures for the last financial year have not yet been cleared by audit. However, it is estimated that to provide the information would cost over £600. This has been calculated on the basis, that there were around 30,000 witness expense claims paid in 2012-13.

A search was however carried out in all expense claims over £500 in 2012-13 and these were all examined manually. As a result, there was only one instance discovered, at a cost of £975, involving an essential witness in a High Court case being flown back from holiday. The trial proceeded and the witness gave evidence. Whilst we cannot verify this is the only instance, it does demonstrate that it is very rare that witnesses are flown home from holiday to give evidence.

Since February 2003, there have been 2,375 properties purchased under the mortgage to rent scheme.

From 2009, the mortgage to rent scheme was expanded to include mortgage to shared equity, becoming the Home Owner Support Fund. Table 1 illustrates the number of settled cases, by local authority, under the original scheme which ran from February 2003 until March 2009. Table 2 shows the number of settled cases by local authority, from April 2009 until present, as part of the Home Owner Support Fund.

Table 1: settled cases under the original mortgage to rent scheme (February 2003 until March 2009).

Table 2: Settled mortgage to rent cases, under the Home Owner Support Fund (April 2009 until present)