Chamber and committees

The £10 million Tenant Grant Fund, launched last September, is being administered by local authorities who are best placed to target and deliver the funding to vulnerable tenants who are facing potential eviction and homelessness within their local area.

We are aware that local authorities are proactively raising awareness of the Tenant Grant Fund, with many establishing links with local housing advisory services such as Citizens Advice Bureaus and Law Centres. Some local authorities are also raising awareness of the fund directly with private landlords, encouraging them to get in touch if they have a tenant who has fallen into rent arrears as a direct result of the pandemic and requires support.

The Scottish Government also continues to promote the Tenant Grant Fund across social media platforms and we are working with key stakeholders to identify any further opportunities to raise awareness of the fund, particularly amongst private rented tenants.

There are a number of operators that provide ferry services on a commercial basis and their services are a matter for those companies.

The Scottish Government continues to support lifeline ferry services in Scotland and is committed to provide our island and remote rural communities with the services they need whilst achieving value for money.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05425 on 31 January 2022. 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 is committed to ensuring that police and local authorities, who lead on tackling antisocial behaviour, continue to have the powers and resources they require. We understand there have been problems in the Tron area and that Police Scotland is working with partners to minimise antisocial behaviour and crime.

The Scottish Parliament passed the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-Restricted Products) (Scotland) Act 2021. This came into force on 24 August 2021 and created a new specific statutory offence of threatening, abusing or assaulting a retail worker, adding to the offences that can already be used to prosecute those who abuse retail workers. Everyone should be able to work without fear of abuse and the criminal law should be used to deal with attacks.

Local authorities have the financial freedom to operate independently, with the vast majority of their funding provided by means of a block grant. It is the responsibility of local authorities to manage their budgets and to allocate resources on the basis of local needs and priorities, including responding to antisocial behaviour.

Support has been provided to businesses through a £6 million City Centre Recovery Fund, to boost footfall and visitors to our city centres, the Scotland Loves Local fund and support for Business Improvement Districts. Since the start of the pandemic, businesses have benefitted from £4.5bn in support from the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on kinship care payments as local authorities are responsible for deciding levels of care allowance based on local decision making practices and specific needs of individual children or young people.

No assessment has been made of whether and how the conveyancing system may affect house prices.

Conveyancing is the legal process that transfers ownership of a property from one person to another including the completion of the missives.

The Scottish Government currently has no plans to legislate on the model adopted by land-owning land maintenance companies.

We are however, currently working on a non-statutory voluntary Code of Practice in relation to the dismissal and replacement of land-owning land maintenance companies. The Code would introduce guidance on the minimum standards expected from any land-owning land maintenance company following a request from homeowners formally requesting to dismiss and replace them. This would include information that such companies should provide to homeowners, following the transfer of the ownership of the land, and future arrangements for maintaining the land.

Scottish Government, and its forestry agency, Scottish Forestry (SF) has no plans to create an additional emergency fund to support farmers and landowners in the wake of storms, Arwen, Barra and others. SF already provides grants to manage existing woodlands and prepare forest plans. In addition it is supporting effective clear up operations through the fast tracking of felling permissions, new bespoke guidance on clearing and marketing windblown trees, and the establishment of National Windblow Action Group to help shape and guide a collaborative response for the benefit of farmers and landowners.

In this Parliament we will review the role of taxation in supporting our Housing to 2040 vision for both new and existing homes and our communities.

Housing to 2040 commits the Scottish Government to developing options for tax reform. As part of that, we will consider how changes to existing local and devolved taxes could help deliver the Housing to 2040 Vision, within the context of our overall approach to taxation.

Water charges remain linked to the council tax banding of the house occupied. Higher banded houses are usually expected to be occupied by higher income households and so linking water charges to council tax band will frequently reflect ability to pay. But, importantly, the linkage to Council Tax also means that discounts and exemptions which apply to Council Tax are also available for water and sewerage charges. The present range of discounts is worth over £150m per year and helps to reflect an individual’s circumstances and ensure ability to pay.