Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government recognises that living in temporary accommodation, particularly for prolonged periods, can have a negative impact on people's health and wellbeing. Through the work of the Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group and engagement with local authorities and stakeholders, we have considered evidence on the impact of extended stays in temporary accommodation, including impacts on mental health.

To minimise harm, the Scottish Government’s focus is on reducing the need for temporary accommodation and the length of time households spend there. The best way to achieve that is by preventing homelessness in the first place and by increasing the supply of social and affordable homes. We are making available a record £926 million for affordable housing in 2026-27 as part of four years of funding certainty.

New homelessness prevention duties in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 will ensure named bodies (including health services) and local authorities intervene earlier to prevent homelessness. Our £50 million homelessness prevention fund over 10 years will help support this move to early intervention, including for people facing mental health challenges, before they reach crisis.

Where councils have reason to believe that people experiencing or at risk of homelessness need housing support services, including support with their mental health, they are required to conduct a housing support assessment.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W – 04056 on 22 October 2026. As part of continuous improvement, we will continue to monitor whether compulsory sale and lease powers could provide any additional powers beyond a reformed compulsory purchase system.

The Scottish Government’s Compulsory Purchase Reform in Scotland consultation demonstrated support for reforming and modernising Scotland's compulsory purchase system. The consultation also included questions on compulsory sale and lease orders. The majority of respondents expressed support in principle for compulsory sale powers, however some questioned whether these could offer additional advantages beyond a reformed compulsory purchase process. Support for compulsory lease is less clear, with concerns about the complexity involved and any added value.

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

On 16 October, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and I visited Police Scotland in Aberdeen to hear from the team who delivered Operation Armour, and the technology Police Scotland is using to tackle the issue of the illegal use of e-bikes and e-scooters. We also discussed how to roll out best practice across Scotland, and the importance of prevention and diversionary activities in reducing crime.

Road Policing and local police divisions across Scotland are carrying out a week of dedicated action targeting the illegal use of e-bikes and e-scooters across Scotland from Monday 19 October as part of Operation Overlap. We continue to work with Police Scotland to ensure that it has the powers it needs to tackle the antisocial and criminal use of e-bikes and e-scooters in our communities.

The Scottish Government is committed to a rapid rehousing or housing-led approach, which aims to ensure that people experiencing homelessness move into settled accommodation as quickly as possible, with any time spent in temporary accommodation kept to a minimum.

Since 2018, we have committed £84.5 million to support local authorities to implement rapid rehousing approaches across Scotland. This includes the delivery of Housing First for people with multiple and complex needs. Housing First provides settled accommodation alongside intensive, person-centred support to help people sustain permanent tenancies and achieve positive long-term outcomes.

Ensuring people receive the support they need continues to be a priority for the Scottish Government. That is why, in the Programme for Government 2026-31, we committed to supporting the delivery of a further 1,500 Housing First tenancies over the next five years.

Local authorities can, and are, using existing compulsory purchase powers to bring empty homes back into use. The Scottish Government is also reforming and modernising Scotland's compulsory purchase system to make it simpler, more streamlined and fairer, and have committed to legislate for the proposed reforms during this Parliament, as set out in the Programme for Government.

Not all action on empty homes requires legislative reform and in 2026-27, we are investing £2 million to continue to drive down the number of empty homes.

As part of continuous improvement, we will continue to monitor whether compulsory sale or lease powers could provide any additional benefits beyond a reformed compulsory purchase system.

The Programme for Government committed to developing a strategic partnership between More Homes Scotland and the Bank to help leverage additional private investment into housing. While the Bank seeks to attract third-party capital alongside its investments, the level of co-investment achieved will depend on the individual investments made.

The £135 million additional capitalisation of the Scottish National Investment Bank is welcome investment in housing-related activity.

As with all future funding decisions, any additional capitalisation will be considered as part of budget and spending review processes

The Scottish Government recognises the important contribution of employer-supported volunteering to increase participation in volunteering across Scotland.

The Scottish Government has worked with Volunteer Scotland and third sector partners to support the development of the National Employer Supported Volunteering (ESV) Framework, launched in March 2026. The framework provides guidance, resources and good practice examples to help employers. It provides information on paid volunteering leave, team volunteering and skills-based volunteering.

Decisions on whether to provide paid volunteering leave are matters for individual employers. However, the Scottish Government encourages employers to consider the benefits of employer-supported volunteering for employees, businesses and communities.

In terms of impact, Volunteer Scotland's research suggests that expanding employer-supported volunteering could enable between 161,000 and 287,000 additional people to volunteer across Scotland. The Scottish Government continues to work with Volunteer Scotland and other partners to monitor participation in volunteering. There has been no separate assessment on the impact of paid volunteering leave or individual employer-supported volunteering schemes on national volunteering rates.

The Scottish Government recognises the preventative value of good quality affordable housing, including community-led housing, in supporting health, wellbeing and independent living.

While we have not specifically quantified the impact of investment in community-led housing on future demand for health and social care services, we recognise that it can help meet locally identified housing needs and enable people to remain within their communities. Individual schemes can also deliver wider benefits. At Staffin on Skye, for example, a community-led development delivered six affordable homes alongside business space and a new community-owned health centre, improving local access to healthcare services.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of the joint Volunteer Charter, developed by Volunteer Scotland and the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC), in promoting good practice in volunteering and ensuring that volunteers complement, rather than replace, paid workers. The Charter sets out ten key principles to support positive relationships between volunteers and paid staff and help prevent the exploitation of either group.

We promote awareness of the Charter through our ongoing engagement with Volunteer Scotland, Third Sector Interfaces, public bodies and volunteer-involving organisations.

The Charter is also promoted through Volunteer Scotland's training, events, knowledge-sharing platforms and Charter Champion programme, which encourages organisations and individuals to publicly commit to its principles.

We endorse the Charter and encourage organisations to sign up to it. However, we recognise that it is a voluntary framework rather than a legal requirement. While the Charter is not a condition of Scottish Government funding, we expect organisations that receive public funding to comply with relevant legislation, follow good volunteering practice and consider its principles when involving volunteers.