Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6W-15113

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how (a) much has been paid out and (b) many households have received funding from the Fuel Insecurity Fund since it was established.

Since being established in the winter of 2020, as part of the wider Winter Support Fund, a total of £33.595 million in support has been distributed from the Fuel Insecurity Fund (FIF) through our third sector delivery partners, namely Advice Direct Scotland, the Fuel Bank Foundation and the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations. This includes the full £20 million budgeted for in 2022-23, all of which has been drawn down by delivery partners.

We have agreed an approach to monitoring and evaluation of support provided by delivery partners which seeks to avoid excessive demands for data gathering and reporting, in order to ensure the FIF can be distributed to those most in need. As such, the Scottish Government does not hold this information, although we are aware of the unprecedented demand for support from the Fuel Insecurity Fund, which our partners are providing to households. Based on evaluation reports received to date and ongoing monitoring, we estimate over 100,000 households will have received some form of support.

Further information, including FIF partner publications and evaluations, can be accessed directly on their respective websites linked to below.

The Fuel Bank Foundation - Fuel-Bank-Fuel-Crisis-Report-2023.pdf (fuelbankfoundation.org)

Scottish Federation of Housing Associations – 92717.pdf (sfha.co.uk)

Advice Direct Scotland - Publications – Advice Direct Scotland

Question reference: S6W-15115

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many (a) houses and (b) flats in Scotland have been demolished in each year since 1999.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information at this level of detail. Latest published Scottish Government annual estimates on demolitions from 1999-00 up to the year 2020-21 are available on the Housing statistics: Conversions and demolitions webpage. This information is provided by local authorities but does not include a breakdown by houses or flats.

Note that these estimates are not considered comprehensive. Estimates of demolitions of local authority housing are thought to be generally accurate, however local authorities differ in their ability to provide comprehensive estimates of demolitions of private sector and housing association homes. As such, these estimates should be considered as the minimum level of demolition activity in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-15127

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how much has been spent on providing people with temporary accommodation in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

The Scottish Government does not collect data on local authority expenditure on the provision of temporary accommodation to households experiencing homelessness. This information would need to be requested from each local authority directly.

The majority of homelessness funding since 1999 has been provided to local authorities through the annual local government finance settlement, which is £13.2 billion in 2023-24. Local authorities decide how best to use this resource to prevent and respond to homelessness on the basis of local needs and priorities, including the provision of temporary accommodation. This has been supplemented in recent years by £5.5 million from the Scottish Government’s health and housing budgets for the Housing First pathfinder and identifiable resource as follows:

Financial Year	Rapid Rehousing Transition Plans	Homelessness Support
2017-18	£0m	£22.5m
2018-19	£2m	£23.5m
2019-20	£8m	£23.5m
2020-21	£13m [1]	£23.5m
2021-22	£8m	£23.5m
2022-23	£8m	£23.5m
Total	£39m	£140.0m

Looking ahead, a new distribution formula for the £30.5 million Homelessness Prevention Fund has been agreed with COSLA leaders for 2023-24 onwards. The revised formula focuses on local authority activity on homelessness prevention and earlier intervention to better support delivery in advance of the introduction of the new homelessness prevention duties through the 2023 Housing Bill. This will be supplemented by a further £8m support for Rapid Rehousing Transition Plans in 2023-24.

[1] The Scottish Government provided an additional £5 million to local authorities for rapid rehousing transition plans in December 2020 as part of its Winter Plan for Social Protection.

Question reference: S6W-15129

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much public funding has been provided to third sector organisations in each year since 1999, broken down by organisation.

Question reference: S6W-15090

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a more detailed breakdown of where funding will be allocated from the budget line "Climate Action and Just Transition Fund" in the Scottish Budget 2023-24, which is set at £79.5 million.

The Scottish Government is investing £79.5 million, an increase of almost 60% from 2022-23, to deliver climate action through an updated climate change plan and Scottish adaptation programme, a public engagement strategy and community action.

The Scottish Government will provide £50 million in capital and financial transactions to support the Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray to accelerate the development of a transformed and decarbonised economy in the region. This increase from 2022-23 is part of the Scottish Government's commitment to spend £500 million over ten years.

The Scottish Government will also continue to influence positive and progressive international climate action investing at least £6m in the Climate Justice Fund.

Question reference: S6W-15133

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many children currently living in temporary accommodation, who are of relevant age, are not enrolled and attending (a) primary and (b) secondary school.

Question reference: S6W-15135

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many school libraries have closed in each local authority area in each year since 1999.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Provision of school libraries, which deliver a wide range of benefits and access to learning materials and resources for pupils, is a matter for local decision making in each local authority area.

We support the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) to deliver the School Library Improvement Fund and support Vibrant Libraries, Thriving Schools – A National Strategy for School Libraries in Scotland 2018-23 .

Question reference: S6W-14988

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether Marine Scotland will have sufficient capacity to process applications for offshore windfarms through the ScotWind process.

Over the last 12 months Marine Scotland Directorate has recruited a significant number of new staff across Marine Scotland Licensing Operations Team, Marine Scotland Planning and Policy Division and the science function within Marine Scotland to address increased demands expected from processing ScotWind applications. Resources will be kept under review in light of the number of lease options awarded for ScotWind and applicants’ proposed timelines. In addition, the Marine Scotland Directorate has established a streamlining team to identify and implement efficiencies in consenting processes.

Question reference: S6W-14759

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many Protecting Vulnerable Group (PVG) checks have been undertaken in each year since 1999.

The PVG Scheme was established on 28 February 2011. The number of PVG disclosures completed in each financial year since that date is set out in the following table.

Financial Year	PVG Disclosures Completed
2010-11	5,738
2011-12	205,453
2012-13	248,273
2013-14	336,469
2014-15	343,331
2015-16	322,487
2016-17	282,900
2017-18	281,700
2018-19	280,000
2019-20	288,000
2020-21	211,100
2021-22	293,000
2022-23 (to 6 Feb 2023)	263,608

Disclosure Scotland’s Annual Report and Accounts, which includes figures about PVG disclosures, is laid in the Parliament each year and published on the MyGov.Scot website: Disclosure Scotland Annual Report and Accounts 2021-22

Question reference: S6W-15323

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to establishing the post of an Older People’s Commissioner.

We do not have plans to introduce legislation to establish an Older People’s Commissioner. There are existing commissions that protect the rights of older people. The Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) and the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) already play a role in relation to the rights of older people in respect of age as a protected equality characteristic. In addition, we continue to work closely with the Older People’s Strategic Action Forum on a range of priorities for advancing age equality.

We are committed to promoting the rights of older people and ensuring that they benefit from all that we are doing to improve people’s lives. That is why we provide over £2.2million to support older people's organisations to tackle inequality and discrimination and support our aim to promote the rights of older people.