Chamber and committees

(a) The Homeless Persons (Unsuitable Accommodation) (Scotland) Order will be strengthened by introducing a cap of one week for families with children and pregnant women living in B&B accommodation, this is a tightening of the Order which currently has a cap at 14 days. (b) The consultation exercise to strengthen the Order is underway, with Ministerial signature of the Order planned for summer 2017.

Through the Children and Young People Act 2014, the Scottish Government has placed Scotland’s Adoption Register on a statutory footing. The Register provides opportunities for children to be matched with families across Scotland, if they cannot be matched locally.

Since its establishment in 2011, the Adoption Register has facilitated 363 matches with adoptive families. Adoptions of looked after children have reached their highest level ever in 2016.

We believe that by requiring all local authorities to use the Register, we will further reduce the delays in children being matched with adoptive families, and finding permanent homes. As of March 2017, 26 local authorities are making active use of the register.

The Adoption Register has successfully moved onto an online system run in collaboration with Link Maker. The online system went live on 11 November 2016.

Evaluation of the Scottish Adoption Register and the surrounding activities is reported on in quarterly reports submitted to the Scottish Government and the Scottish Adoption Register Steering Group.

The Transport and Works Scotland Order application for the Queen Street Station redevelopment was approved on 31 March 2017.

Works at Queen Street Station have already commenced with an advanced works package in the North Hanover Street car park area and internal work in Consort House in preparation for the subsequent demolition.

The Compulsory Purchase process to complete land assembly for the Station Redevelopment (including the demolition works) is currently underway and is currently expected to conclude in August 2017. Commercial discussions with the preferred contractor to undertake the major station redevelopment works are on-going, with a view to awarding a contract shortly.

Further to the meeting with Land Securities and Glasgow Chamber of Commerce on 26 January 2017 referred to in my answer to S5W-07088 I had a teleconference with both parties on 15 June 2017 during which Land Securities outlined its plans for further investment in the Buchanan Quarter.

The Scottish Government collect information on the number of households and the number of dependent children in Temporary Accommodation from Local Authorities via the HL2 data collection. However, the total number of people in temporary accommodation is not collected. Temporary Accommodation statistics are published on a bi-annual basis. The most recent published data presents the number of households in Temporary Accommodation, broken down by local authority, as at 31 March 2017.

Please see Table 17 in the most recent publication, available in the Tables document here: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2017/06/8907/downloads

The Scottish Government collect information on households in Temporary Accommodation from Local Authorities on a quarterly basis. The HL2 data collection provides a snapshot figure of households in temporary accommodation at the end of each quarter, therefore monthly data is not available. The following table contains the total number of households with children or a pregnant family member that were placed in either B and B or hostel accommodation at the end of each quarter since the beginning of 2016.

Households with children or a pregnant family member in B and B or hostel accommodation – snapshot figures at the end of each quarter.

Source: HL2 dataset as at 28 June 2017

Data on average time spent in temporary accommodation is not currently available.

From 1 April 2016, Local Authorities began submitting household level data on temporary accommodation via the HL3 return to the Scottish Government.

This data gives placement level information on temporary accommodation and will enable analysis of the time spent in temporary accommodation. Once the data quality has been assured this data will be used to monitor and publish information on the use of temporary accommodation.

Alcohol misuse is not a marginal problem or restricted to one particular sector of society which is why we have adopted a whole population approach in our alcohol strategy Changing Scotland's Relationship with Alcohol: A Framework for Action. Our strategy is well regarded internationally and contains over 40 measures to tackle alcohol misuse. Excessive daily and weekly consumption is common across different age and socio-economic groups, although we know that the greatest harm is experienced by those who live in the most deprived areas. There is no doubt that a key factor in alcohol related harm is affordability. This is why minimum unit pricing is such an important part of our package of measures to tackle the availability of cheap, high strength alcohol that causes so much damage.

The Scottish Government has taken the decision not to take part in the UK Government Race Disparity Audit.

There have been on-going discussions with the UK Government since December 2016. We remain unconvinced that participation in the Audit is in Scotland’s interest. Furthermore we are aware of the concerns of stakeholders around the nature of the audit. We are clear about the importance of collecting race equality data and continue to find ways to improve data and evidence that is available. The Equality Evidence Strategy, which will be published shortly will provide a basis for strengthening the evidence base on race equality in Scotland.

The eligibility criteria for the Best Start Grant has yet to be finalised. However, for the purposes of policy development, we have estimated that, the annual cost of providing maternity payments for second and subsequent births will be approximately £3.6 million per annum. The following table gives a breakdown of forecasts by type of payment for the Best Start Grant.

Best Start Grant - forecast costs by type of payment – 2019/20

It should be noted that, these are estimates and are likely to change following final decisions on the eligibility criteria and updates to underlying assumptions for modelling. Scottish Government analysis is based upon a range of data sources, including projected numbers of births and estimates of families receiving qualifying benefits.

The annual operating costs of the BSG are included as part of the Outline Business Case for the Social Security Agency in Scotland, which was published on the Scottish Government website on 27 April 2017. This estimates the annual running costs of the new social security agency to be around £150 million.

The Social Security Bill will be accompanied by a Financial Memorandum that will offer more information on estimated implementation and delivery costs.

We are working to finalise a number of details in relation to the operation of the Best Start Grant (BSG); including the eligibility criteria and options around the application process.

We will be undertaking a range of work to improve take up. This includes undertaking marketing and communications work to promote the new BSG and raise awareness among parents and people who come in to contact with parents around the times that they are entitled to payments.

The Scottish Government continues to discuss progress with the development proposals for this project with all relevant parties.

Assessment of the economic impact of the delivery timescale of the Buchanan Galleries redevelopment is being led by Glasgow City Council, as part of the governance arrangements for the Glasgow Buchanan Quarter Tax Incremental Financing pilot.