Chamber and committees

Currently we have not undertaken any modelling and do not have an estimate of property acquisitions likely to be supported. All acquisitions will align with Local Housing Strategies.

The Scottish Government considers the conversion of temporary to permanent accommodation an effective measure to increase the number of social homes. We encourage local authorities to ‘flip’ a tenancy wherever the property is in the right location, and of the right size and type to meet the household’s requirements. Large scale flipping of tenancies can be particularly effective in areas where the greatest pressures in temporary accommodation are experienced.

In our response to the Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group recommendations, we said that we will work with COSLA, the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers and the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations to develop national guidance to encourage more effective stock management by the end of this year.

The advice provided on the Scottish Government website is correct. Home owners may use either sealed battery or mains-wired fire alarms to meet the Tolerable Standard guidance. The Building Standards Domestic Technical Handbook 2022 sets a higher standard requiring two power supplies for new buildings under the Building (Scotland) Regulations 2004, as amended.

Since 1 February 2022, the Tolerable Standard has required every home in Scotland to have interlinked smoke alarms and a CO alarm where there is a carbon-fuelled appliance.

This requirement already applied to new build and private rented properties since 2013. The Tolerable Standard ensures the same level of protection now applies to all tenures, regardless of whether someone owns their home or rents from a private or social landlord.

The Tolerable Standard sets out the following requirements for coverage in every home:

• One smoke alarm installed in the room most frequently used for general daytime living purposes (normally the living room/lounge);

• One smoke alarm in every circulation space on each storey, such as hallways and landings;

• One heat alarm installed in every kitchen;

• All smoke and heat alarms to be ceiling mounted; and

• All smoke and heat alarms to be interlinked.

Having an interlinked system means the occupier will be alerted immediately, regardless of the room in which the alarm is triggered, increasing the chance to escape.

Sealed battery alarms or mains-wired alarms are compliant with the standard. Both types of alarm are interlinked by radio frequency and do not need WiFi.

If battery alarms are used, they must be sealed tamper-proof units and have long-life lithium batteries. Batteries last for the duration of its operational lifespan, which may be up to 10 years or more - although sensors degrade over time.

The Tolerable Standard is a minimum standard, and does not preclude more effective or extensive systems provided that they meet the basic requirement of (a) a secure power source for the lifetime of the unit, and (b) effective means to provide an immediate alert in the event of any part of the system being actuated.

New build homes and homes undergoing refurbishment work that requires a building warrant are required to comply with the Building (Scotland) Regulations 2004, as amended. Guidance on this is set out in the Building Standards Domestic Technical Handbook. This requires that smoke alarms be mains operated with battery back-up and all alarms interlinked.

However, long-life and tamper-proof battery powered alarms have been allowed as part of the Tolerable Standard in recognition that it may not be possible or may be prohibitively costly to install mains powered alarms in existing properties where there is no refurbishment work planned.

The Scottish Government is committed to the creation of a Scottish Veterinary Service (SVS) to ensure there are highly trained staff to provide Scotland with good animal health and food safety to meet all our needs across the public and private sector for animal health issues.

A Programme has been established to manage the work required to create an SVS, which includes determining which functions the Service should deliver, and conducting a financial appraisal of the operational and investment costs of the Service.

All potential functions considered for future delivery by the SVS are already funded by the Scottish Government under a variety of arrangements. The financial appraisal will assess how consolidation under a single body provides opportunities to enhance quality, efficiency, resilience and value for money.

The Marine Directorate’s Science, Evidence, Data and Digital Portfolio published its first assessment of genetic introgression in wild salmon in 2021: A national assessment of the influence of farmed salmon escapes on the genetic integrity of wild Scottish Atlantic salmon populations | Marine Scotland Data Publications .

The research found evidence of introgression at 23% of the sites examined. Further, the patterns of introgression detected were not uniform across the country. Rather, signs of introgression were concentrated in areas of marine aquaculture production and freshwater smolt rearing. Outside these areas, little to no genetic changes were detected. The results highlighted how important it is to prevent farmed fish escapes, to protect the integrity of wild salmon populations in areas of aquaculture production.

This was the first report of the National Introgression Programme for Scotland (NIPS), sampling took place between 2018 and 2019. NIPS is an ongoing nationwide project that is researching the link between fish farm escapes and introgression in wild salmon populations. In 2021 a second NIPS survey was conducted across the country with samples and data from this currently being analysed. A further NIPS survey was also initiated in 2023 and sample collection is now underway. Analysis of the NIPS surveys from multiple sampling years will provide a picture of temporal changes in levels of introgression.

A series of meetings, both at a political and official level, are underway to engage with local authorities on the Scottish Government’s response to the recommendations of the Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group. We are aware that there are some areas of the country where this work is less urgent, such as local authorities where registered social landlords (RSLs) have a low supply of stock or the type of stock is not in demand.

We are working with the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and the Glasgow West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations and other partners to identify ways to target action on the local authorities with the greatest temporary accommodation pressures, including some stock transfer authorities. We will report on outcomes from these discussions in due course.

As outlined in the answer to S6W-20375 on 16 August 2023, the national acquisition programme is part of the wider Affordable Housing Supply Programme. No civil servants will be assigned solely to work on the national acquisition programme.

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 recognises that disabled women and girls are at greater risk of violence than non-disabled women and girls, and women with a learning/ intellectual disability are more likely to experience sexual abuse than other disabled people.

Through our Delivering Equally Safe (DES) fund, we are providing £19m per year to support 121 projects that focus on early intervention, prevention. This includes projects that provide advocacy support to disabled women. We have extended the fund till 2025.

We have also, along with our partners, established a Gender Based Violence Steering Group to reduce incidences of violence and empower women with learning/intellectual disabilities and/or autistic women to have safe and loving relationships.

The latest Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) results estimate that 3.4% of females aged 16+ with a disability experienced at least one violent crime in 2019/20, which is above that for all females aged 16+ (2.0%). The survey defines disability as a physical or mental health condition or illness lasting or expected to last at least 12 months, and which reduces a person’s ability to carry out day-to-day activities.

We will continue to gather this evidence, including publication of the next SCJS findings in Autumn 2023. These results will cover a full years’ worth of interviews through to December 2022, with the prolonged gap since 2019/20 due to the earlier suspension of the survey in March 2020 to restrict social contact during the pandemic.

We also recently incorporated updated questions on partner abuse and violence against women and girls into the 2023/24 survey, which were identified as a key priority by survey users.

The Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 (“the Act”) includes the duty to have regard to island communities. This means that a relevant authority as listed in the Schedule of the Act must consider island communities when carrying out its functions.

There are 71 relevant authorities listed in the Schedule of the Act including funding bodies such as Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

A relevant authority can demonstrate compliance with the duty to have regard to island communities by making such arrangements as it considers appropriate to review any policy, strategy or service (as the case may be) which it develops or delivers in carrying out its functions, and either, in the case where the authority must prepare an island communities impact assessment under section 8(1) of the Act, by preparing that assessment, or in any other case, by making such an assessment or taking such other steps as the authority considers appropriate.

The Scottish Government recognises the challenges faced by our rural and island communities and works closely with stakeholders and partners to ensure that those challenges are addressed.

All relevant authorities listed in the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 , must have regard to island communities in carrying out their functions. They must prepare an Island Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA) in relation to a policy, strategy or service, which is likely to have an effect on an island community, which is significantly different from its effect on other communities (including other island communities). The islands team supports colleagues from across the Scottish Government as well as relevant authorities in completing ICIAs. This includes offering island specific knowledge, published ICIA guidance , and providing links to key stakeholders.

As committed to in the Policy Prospectus, we are developing a Rural Delivery Plan, which will provide a platform to prioritise and progress existing work to seize opportunities and address the challenges faced by rural Scotland, as well as drive greater rural mainstreaming and reprioritise action to support our rural communities.

Where Scottish Government has the powers to do so, we have provided funding that responds to rural and island communities’ specific needs through, for example, the Islands Programme and our Community Led Local Development (CLLD) programme.

Over the period 2021-2026, the £25.8 million Islands Programme is providing targeted capital funding to support delivery of the National Islands Plan across a range of areas, including tourism, infrastructure, innovation, energy transition and skills. We have invested over £14.6m of CLLD funding in our rural communities following the end of the LEADER programme in December 2021.

There are many other, independent organisations which provide funding that may benefit rural and island communities. The terms and conditions applied to each open fund are clearly stipulated when a fund is announced. Scottish Government has no locus in setting these terms unless it is a fund which is being distributed on our behalf.