Chamber and committees

Deposit Unlock, is an industry led mortgage indemnity scheme which enables buyers of new build properties to purchase with a 5% deposit. Homes for Scotland have kept the Scottish Government informed about the scheme throughout its development.

The UK Mortgage Guarantee Scheme also helps to increase the supply of 5% deposit mortgages by supporting lenders to offer these products through a government backed guarantee on new 95% mortgages until 31 December 2022.

The Low-cost Initiative for First Time Buyers (LIFT) will continue to be available in Scotland next financial year.

My officials are working closely with the homeowners of the 25 buildings within the pilot phase of the Single Building Assessment. Our approach is to understand the fire safety of those buildings and particularly the external cladding. The programme will be concluded once buildings with unsafe cladding are remediated. We have committed to spending £97.1 million on cladding assessment and remediation and I have recently written to the UK Government to seek clarification on further funding for this work.

This information is in the public domain and can be found on the Scottish Government’s website within the Budget Bill documents covering the last ten years. This information can also be obtained and found on the Scottish Legal Board’s website from their published Annual Accounts.

No, the Scottish Government did not have any discussion with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office in relation to increasing Scottish Government’s Climate Justice Fund.

To clarify the figures for Scottish Government's Climate Justice Fund, we announced a doubling of it in our Programme for Government; increasing from £12 million to £24 million over the course of this Parliament. During COP, we announced a further 50% rise – from £24 million to £36 million, over the course of the Parliament.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04578 on 10 December 2021. 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.

Scotland’s next census will be held on Sunday 20 March 2022. This will be the 22nd census to take place since the first in 1801, and the 17th to be managed independently here in Scotland.

Future transport investment by the Scottish Government will be set out in the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2).

The South West Scotland Transport Study, which included Dumfries and Galloway, cited improving rest area provision for all road users, including hauliers, as one of its 23 recommendations.

Development of a strategy for improving rest and welfare facilities for hauliers across Scotland is a recommendation from Phase 1 of STPR2, published in February 2021. Transport Scotland will scope out a study to undertake baseline review, identify locations, options for intervention, consultation and develop business cases for investment.

The current priority for STPR2 is finalising the Phase 2 appraisal and reporting which builds upon Phase 1. Work on scoping, planning and procurement of this study has just commenced with work due to progress in earnest following publication of Phase 2.

We intend to publish the STPR2 Phase 2 recommendations this winter, thereafter decisions on priorities will be agreed with Ministers.

The Scottish Government’s delivery plan to advance disability equality and rights, ‘ A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People’ , was published in December 2016 and covered the period 2016-2021.

We published a report on progress on 22 March 2021, which outlined that the delivery plan laid the groundwork for further progress towards equality. We reported that over the past 5 years, in many different areas, good work that promotes and progresses the rights of disabled people has been taken forward. The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly had a disproportionate impact on disabled people and has halted some of the gains made towards equality. However, it has in some situations seen positive progress made at a rapid pace and has brought about a wider public awareness of inequality. To achieve equality will take more time, but the work undertaken is a good start.

The Programme for Government included a commitment that we will work in partnership with disabled people to draw up a new Disability Equality Plan, which we will publish in 2022.

The next phase of development in relation to this commitment is now underway. The new Disability Equality Plan will consider the Social Renewal Advisory Board recommendations; the Independent Review of Adult Social Care; the decision to incorporate the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities into Scots Law to the extent possible within devolved competence; and the content of discussions with Disabled People’s Organisations, including those held at the Disability Summit in December 2020.

In developing the next phase of this work, we are clear that disabled people should have freedom, dignity, choice and control over their lives. We want to remove the barriers that stop people from enjoying equal access to full citizenship.

The Scottish Government is currently working with the UK Government and other governments of the UK to gather and review the lessons of COP26 and to discuss implications for the UK Presidency of COP. As part of its Presidency role, the UK Government will be working with the Government of Egypt who are responsible for hosting COP27 and with the UNFCCC.

Grants of legal assistance are recorded against a primary case category code and not by individual subject matters of a grant. SLAB have provided the information requested using category codes, which is the most accurate reflection of numbers of case types available.

Between January 2020 and November 2021, the number of entities submitting these types of intimation or application except where otherwise noted.

i) Claims against public authorities

{includes relevant cases of reparation, judicial review, interdict, breach of contract}

87 firms, 135 practitioners

2 CLAO offices, 1 CLAO practitioner

0 PDSO Offices

ii) Community Care

{includes cases at the Additional Support Needs Tribunal and assessment of need, eligibility / charging for services and direct payments}

13 firms, 23 practitioners

1 CLAO office, 1 CLAO practitioner

0 PDSO offices

iii) Discrimination,

24 firms, 37 practitioners.

0 CLAO offices

0 PDSO offices

iv) Education,

26 firms, 28 practitioners.

0 CLAO Offices

0 PDSO Offices

v) Housing and debt,

247 firms, 447 practitioners

3 CLAO offices, 15 CLAO practitioners

0 PDSO offices

vi) Immigration and asylum and

71 firms, 174 practitioners

1 CLAO office, 1 CLAO practitioner

0 PDSO offices

vii) Family

429 firms, 871 practitioners

3 CLAO offices, 10 CLAO practitioners

0 PDSO offices