Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to S6W-20272 on 17 August 2023. In addition, the EIR response referenced alludes to comments made by the Scottish Government regarding the logistics and infrastructure sections within the application documentation.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Legal Aid Fund is an open-ended, demand led budget. Last year total expenditure on legal aid was £138.3m. Civil legal aid is available in a wide scope of actions with generous eligibility thresholds and the application is subject to statutory tests which cover the merits of the case and the means available to the applicant. This can include contested divorces and applications for non-harassment orders if the tests are met. Means testing is an important lever for retaining this wide scope.

We are implementing ‘Equally Safe’, Scotland’s strategy for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls. This is backed by £19m of annual funding to support 121 projects from 112 organisations that focus on early intervention, prevention as well as support services.

The Scottish Government is absolutely committed to tackling all forms of violence against women and girls, including domestic abuse, and ensuring that victims receive the support they need. We have invested significant levels of funding into front line services, as well as working closely with statutory agencies to improve their response to victims and survivors. It is vital that those who suffer domestic abuse have the practical and emotional assistance they need, which is why we are providing £18.5m, through our Victim Centred Approach Fund, for specialist advocacy support for survivors of gender-based violence.

We support the Scottish Women’s Rights Centre (SWRC) which is at the forefront of improving access to justice offering free legal information and advice to women in Scotland who have or are experiencing gender-based violence. Funding has been provided to the Scottish Women’s Rights Centre through the Scottish Legal Aid Board since 2015 and the Scottish Government continues to provide funding in 2023-24 up to a limit of £230,000. The SWRC provide a range of services, including a national helpline, legal surgeries, advocacy services and online legal guides.

Homelessness in Scotland is a statistical bulletin published by the Scottish Government twice a year. This data provides quantitative evidence across a number of issues for homeless households, including applications, assessments, temporary accommodation and outcomes. We will use the annual and interim Homelessness in Scotland statistics as the key measure of the success of initiatives to reduce the number of households and length of time spent in temporary accommodation.

We will also work with the sector on the potential to develop an additional monitoring framework to provide more up to date data in between these statistical publications, balancing the need for information with the pressures on landlords.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-20381 on 17 August 2023 All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

We are continuing to work through technical and practical points around purchases from landlords in the private rented sector with tenants in situ, and further information will be communicated as soon as possible. Any council or Registered Social Landlord that is currently exploring any such purchase – where this meets a clear strategic purpose and where the tenant is at risk of homelessness – should contact their local More Homes Division area team office.

The Citizens’ Assembly for Scotland published its final report in January 2021. The Scottish Government published a detailed response on 23 November 2021. Since then, Scottish Government’s commitments on participatory and deliberative democracy have been developed through the Institutionalising Participatory and Deliberative Democracy (IPDD) working group, which published its recommendations on 25 March 2022. Scottish Government published a response to on 27 March 2023 and work is ongoing to deliver the commitments set out.

This work is included in the Citizens’ Participation and Public Petitions (CPPP) Committee’s scrutiny remit. Since Spring 2022, the CPPP Committee has been undertaking a Public Participation Inquiry – it will publish its final report in September 2023, and plans to follow this with a debate in Parliament.

A range of policy documents were shared with the Scottish Government by Circularity Scotland (CSL) during the application process for the scheme administrator role for the Deposit Return Scheme. Documents which supported the scheme administrator application by CSL were the subject of an Environmental Information Request and subsequent review, details of which are published on our website at https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202200298347/.

The main changes between MHDGN 2022/02 and MHDGN 2023/01 are listed in the ‘Introduction’ section of MHDGN 2023/01. Both guidance notes continue to be available on the Scottish Government website for reference purposes.

I have overall responsibility within my portfolio for support for business, industry and manufacturing.

The Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity, under circular economy, is the lead on the Circular Textiles Fund.

Affordable housing investment benchmarks will not apply to the purchase of ‘second hand’ residential dwellings through the national acquisition programme and no grant limits will be attached to any purchase.