Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-20107 on 8 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

The Scottish Government published an Island Communities Impact Assessment of the Young Persons’ (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel scheme on 14 December 2021 which concluded that ferry travel should not be included in the scheme, but that issues relating to ferry fares should be considered as part of the Islands Connectivity Plan and the Fair Fares Review, which are underway. The issue of ferry fares for young people is being actively considered as part of this work.

Although the new statutory Young Persons’ Free Bus Scheme is for bus travel only, we are continuing our existing Young Persons Concessionary Travel Scheme which provides 16-18 year old islanders four free ferry journeys to or from the mainland every year, as well as discounted rail travel.

Additionally, significant fare reductions have been implemented on the Northern Isles and Clyde & Hebrides ferry networks, including a fares freeze until the end of March 2024.

The following table details the number of hate crimes that included a religion aggravator in Scotland, by police division.

Table 1: Religious hate crimes by police division: 2016-17 to 2021-22

Scottish Government engages with local authorities about depopulation across multiple fronts including: the SG/COSLA population roundtable; the Convention of the Highlands and Islands population working group; learning from Community Settlement Officers based in local authorities. This ensures we understand local-level population challenges, to enable development of a place-based approach to tackling them. Engagement will continue prior to publication and into the first phase of delivery.

We also engaged extensively through the Islands Bond consultation with the six local authorities with islands. Lessons from this led to a range of community-based projects to inform the Action Plan’s development.

We remain committed to bringing forward housing legislation to deliver the new deal for tenants and homelessness prevention duties. The majority of the measures being considered for inclusion in the legislation have already been subject to consultation, and we continue to engage directly with stakeholders as more detailed work progresses.

The Government’s legislative programme for the coming parliamentary year will be announced in the autumn Programme for Government in the normal way.

Specifically on the regulatory regime for property factors, the Code of Conduct (the Code) is key to encouraging transparency and setting minimum standards of practice for registered property factors to comply with. Following a full public consultation, a revised Code was introduced in August 2021. The changes ensured that the Code remains up to date and responds to concerns raised by homeowners.

The Scottish Government revised the Code of Conduct for Property Factors in August 2021 to make it clearer, to drive up standards and to improve transparency and consistency.

There is evidence that the Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 is working as intended. However. officials will be taking a wider look at the operation of the property factor sector to see what more can be done to promote an ongoing improvement in standards in line with the requirements currently set out in legislation.

The Managed Service Network for Children and Young People with Cancer (MSN CYPC) works with local Health Boards to ensure specialist age-appropriate care is delivered to children and young people with cancer across Scotland.

This includes the delivery of a national Teenage and Young Adult (TYA) Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) weekly meeting, where all young people should be presented at least once to ensure a holistic and coordinated approach to their treatment and care. This meeting includes a discussion of psychosocial needs, and the TYA specialist Clinical Psychologists are core members of the MDT.

The Grampian service supports around 15 referrals per year. This includes some patients from other Health Boards. The Greater Glasgow & Clyde service reviews around 96 referrals per year. 42% of the outpatients in the 2020-22 service report resided outside of the NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde Health Board area.

The Scottish Government will provide general advice to support homeowners, but it cannot provide legal advice and it cannot become involved in disputes between parties.

All registered property factors must adhere to the conditions set out in the statutory Code of Conduct (the Code) which sets minimum standards of practice. The Scottish Government prepared a revised Code in August 2021, which was designed to be clearer, to drive up standards, and to help homeowners to understand what they should reasonably expect from their property factor and how to hold them to account.

A homeowner who is dissatisfied with their property factor should make a complaint to their property factor. If the issue remains unresolved, the complaint can be taken to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber) which can issue a legally binding property factor enforcement order, if appropriate. There is no fee to make an application to the Tribunal.

The Code highlights that homeowners have a choice in who they appoint and, ultimately, they can change their property factor if they remain dissatisfied with the service they are receiving.

This is a matter for the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration. Information regarding the outcome of appeals is included in their annual statistics which can be found here: Official Statistics - SCRA .

Page 29 of the Statistical Analysis for 2022-23 includes the following table on appeals:

This information is available in the Infrastructure Investment Plan 2021-22 to 2025-26: major capital projects progress update - March 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) the Scottish Government published on 20 June 2023. The plan outlines the progress and current projected costs of NTC Fife as well NTC Golden Jubilee Phase 2, NTC Grampian, NTC Lothian, NTC Highland, NTC Forth Valley and NTC Ayrshire and Arran.