Chamber and committees

Available evidence on the level of rent arrears in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic is included in the two-monthly reports on the Coronavirus Acts, in which the Scottish Government sets out the status and operation of the necessary legislation to respond to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

The latest published report (at the time of writing) can be found at Coronavirus Acts: seventh report to Scottish Parliament - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

The report outlines that information published by the Scottish Housing Regulator shows that the total value of rent arrears in the social sector increased substantially from £150.0m to £165.0m in the four months between the end of April 2020 and the end of August 2020, an increase of £15.0m (10.0%). The value of arrears has subsequently stabilised across most months since then, and has decreased in the most recent month to stand at £160.7m as of the end of March 2021.

The report also outlines that in terms of evidence on rent arrears, research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that, as of June 2020, no sharp increase in rent arrears for private renters was identified, with fewer than one in ten private tenants in Scotland estimated to be in arrears as of June 2020.

A separate analysis carried out by PayProp, based on the data that it holds from the processing of rent payments from tenants in Scotland, shows that the percentage of tenants in arrears increased at the start of the pandemic period from 5% in the quarter January to March 2020 up to 9% in April to June 2020. Since then this proportion has remained relatively steady, although it has increased slightly in the latest quarter from 9% in October to December 2020 up to 10% in January to March 2021.

As per the Scottish Government statement in May 2021, we will take action to ban single-use plastic cutlery (forks, knives, spoons, and chopsticks), as well as other problematic single-use plastic items such as plates, straws, balloon sticks, stirrers and expanded polystyrene food and beverage containers and cups for beverages.

The Scottish Government is committed to matching or exceeding the standards set out by the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive and recently concluded a public consultation on our draft Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products and Oxo-degradable Plastic Products) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 . The draft regulations will now be made available to the World Trade Organisation for comments, in compliance with our commitments under the Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement. Final regulations will be laid before Parliament later this year.

The Scottish Government plan for its first 100 days includes the commitment to agree the first allocation of funding to councils for refurbishment of play parks. We are currently working with COSLA to confirm how the funding will be allocated and to set the parameters and principles of this work.

The ransomware attack on SEPA at Christmas Eve last year was very serious and has had a significant impact upon SEPA’s IT infrastructure and networks. It was a striking reminder of the threat posed by cyber criminals and the need for everyone in Scotland – businesses, the public sector and individuals – to take that threat seriously.

In the days following, SEPA worked with Police Scotland and the National Cyber Security Centre as well as Scottish Government officials to respond to what was complex and sophisticated criminal conduct and took steps to share the indicators of the compromise to ensure that measures were put in place to mitigate any broader attack across the public sector.

The Scottish Government continuously reviews its cyber security protocols following any cyber incidents, in collaboration with the UK National Cyber Security Centre and did so on this occasion. In addition, the reports of a number of reviews into the incident are awaited and we will consider these fully and use them to inform our wider public sector cyber resilience work programme and to review our own cyber security protocols again.

The exact information requested is not held centrally. The most relevant and latest information available is provided below.

The Quarterly Monitoring Return, from which data on community care assessments is derived, was paused last year to reduce pressure on Local Authorities as they dealt with the Covid-19 pandemic. The Scottish Government is currently reviewing its paused social care collections and considering how best to move them forward.

Data on people receiving social care support is collected and published by Public Health Scotland (PHS). The latest publication available covers data for 2018-19. PHS have collected data for 2019-20 and data for 2020-21 is currently being collected. These data will be published in due course.

(a) how many people have been assessed for free personal care in the last 12 months

The information requested is not held centrally. The Scottish Government collects information on the number of people who have a completed community care assessment through its Quarterly Monitoring Return. The latest information shows that in January to March 2018, there were 7,326 people aged 65+ with a completed community care assessment. However, this number includes all community care assessments and does not break down to personal care assessments only. The full figures can be viewed on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/eligibility-criteria-and-waiting-times/ .

(b) how many people have been given a care package in the last 12 months

The exact information requested is not held centrally. Public Health Scotland collects social care information directly from Health and Social Care Partnerships. This covers care at home, self-directed support, telecare and care homes. The latest available data covers 2018-19.

The following table shows the available information on people receiving care packages and personal care, new and existing in 2018-19. A full account for Scotland is unavailable (as detailed in the footnotes) and the actual numbers may be higher. A ‘care package’ includes anyone receiving care at home, all care home residents 5 and/or receiving care through self-directed support. It is from this same cohort of people personal care has been counted.

On 23 July 2021, the Scottish Government set out the catch limits that would apply in the various management areas for the North Sea handline mackerel fishery. The notifications took effect on 0001 hours on 25 July 2021.

This change was a routine adjustment for these longstanding fisheries and did not constitute a new activity or change in policy in Scottish seas. No new licences were issued.

Catch limits for the handline mackerel fishery and the other 10 metre and under non-sector fisheries are managed in line with the strategic objectives of the Scotland’s Future Fisheries Management Strategy (Scotland’s Future Fisheries Management Strategy 2020-2030) and the National Marine Plan.

The handline mackerel fishery is a distinct pool fishery. Due to the nature of the fishery, including the migratory nature of the species, Marine Scotland allocates and manages this stock by four separate geographic areas to take account of variation in the pattern of the fishery and the level of uptake. The fishery is an important income source for many hundreds of inshore vessels across the east coast and Northern Isles of Scotland.

Our long-standing policy intention in the management of the 10 metre and under handline mackerel fishery is to balance the requirement to ensure that we do not fish outwith sustainable limits with maximising socio-economic return in the fishery. The Scottish Government attempts to ensure that the fishing opportunity is utilised while seeking to ensure the opportunity extends as long as possible throughout the year and maximise market conditions for the fishery.

To deliver this, the Scottish Government analyses the uptake for the various areas and where necessary seeks to engage with local stakeholders.

The following tables show a breakdown of the number of children in households reassessed as homeless within one year, between one and two years, between two and three years, between three and four years and between four and five years for the years 2015-16 to 2020-21.

In order for a household with children to be reassessed as homeless all adults on the application must be the same as a previous application and children (any number of) must also have been present on the previous application. It is possible for the number of children to have changed between applications.

Information at individual household level cannot be provided due to data confidentiality.

Data on the number of cases of child abuse reported to social services are not collected centrally by the Scottish Government.

You may wish to note that Children’s Social Work Statistics are published annually, and although these do not give the information you have asked for, they do show the number of children on the child protection register and the number of concerns at the case conferences at which they were registered.

To date the Scottish Government has made no formal assessment on the possible welfare consequences for animals that have been stolen.

We are aware that Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Development International, the Scottish National Investment Bank and Screen Scotland have each had some engagement with PSL Land and Scottish Government officials attended a small number of meetings. According to Companies House records, PSL Land Ltd (SC491629) was dissolved on 29 Dec 2020.

The Scottish Government welcomes private and public sector projects to develop film studio infrastructure in Scotland. With our enterprise and development agencies, we will continue to offer support with various aspects of business planning, including to secure financing, land and specialist advice, while respecting commercial confidentiality.