Chamber and committees

The Housing First Pathfinder programme started in August 2018 across six local authority areas with Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire working in partnership. Up until 30 June 2021, a total of 531 people have accessed Housing First tenancies and support through this programme. Over the course of the final year of the Housing First Pathfinder Programme, which ends on 31 March 2022, each local authority is working on the mainstreaming arrangements to deliver their Housing First programme going forwards.

In line with the objective of upscaling Housing First across Scotland outlined in the 2018 Scottish Government/COSLA Ending Homelessness Together Action Plan (and retained in the 2020 updated Action Plan), local authorities have been asked to consider and implement the Housing First model as a default approach to housing and supporting those with more complex needs as part of their Rapid Rehousing Transition Plans (RRTPs). Information on the delivery of RRTPs, including Housing First, is provided to the Scottish Government by local authorities on an annual basis.

The Scottish Government has also developed a dedicated Housing First monitoring framework to capture progress on Housing First across all 32 local authorities. The monitoring framework will collect information on Housing First tenancies from 1 April 2021 on a quarterly basis. The Scottish Government will publish the first quarterly progress update on Housing First tenancies across Scotland in September 2021.

From the Housing First monitoring framework and RRTP information, the Scottish Government can report that 22 local authorities currently have a Housing First programme in place, and a further 6 local authorities have indicated that they are in the process of developing their programme which will commence during 2021-22.

At 31 March 2021, Scottish Water reported leakage at 463 Megalitres per day – a reduction of over 55% since 2006. Scottish Water continues to invest to maintain and replace assets to further drive down leakage.

Part 7 of the Water Resources (Scotland) Act 2013 allows Scottish Water to make a water shortage order if it believes there is a serious deficiency of water supplies in an area. Scottish Water also encourages customers to use water efficiently year-round and has information on its website at https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/Your-Home/Save-Water/Water-Saving-Advice. In addition, Licensed Providers, such as Business Stream, work with non-domestic customers to promote efficient water use to generate environmental and financial savings. In the last year alone, Business Stream has helped its customers save over £14 million through water efficiency savings. Business stream has also recently launched a £100k water efficiency fund to help public sector bodies deliver water efficiency projects.

The Scottish Government has not received specific reports of scammers exploiting the new fire alarm standard. We are, however, recognise that the risk of people falling victim to a scam remains a possibility The Scottish Government launched a comprehensive awareness raising campaign about the new standard on 19 August 2021. This campaign includes messaging on the importance of using reputable tradespeople, looking out for trademarks that products that comply with the new standard as well as signposting to local government Trading Standards teams for further advice and to report suspicious activities.

We have not made an assessment of this kind. Scottish Ministers’ view, as set out in our Climate Change Plan update, is that renewables, carbon capture technologies, storage, system flexibility and greater energy efficiency comprise a more efficient and economic means of meeting Scotland’s energy needs and emission reduction targets than investment in new large nuclear stations.

I refer the member to the question S6W-02013 on 22 August 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 .

The full-time equivalent of teachers in temporary posts in each year since 2006 is shown in the following table.

Details of the £10 million grant fund scheme - announced by the Deputy First Minister on 22 June to help tenants who have been financially impacted by the pandemic and are facing homelessness - are being developed at pace and we will provide further information on the delivery and applications process for the fund in due course.

Fishing associations with members who are hand-dive operators regularly attend the SSSWG. Our national Regional Inshore Fisheries Group (RIFG) network is also strongly represented at the SSSWG and we continue to welcome the involvement of the hand-dive sector through this network or the fishers’ relevant association.

It is vital that waste is managed responsibly and sustainably, and we want to be able to manage more of our own waste within Scotland. A large majority of Scotland’s waste is managed within Scotland, but around 14% is currently processed elsewhere, representing a lost economic opportunity. Our Deposit Return Scheme will significantly increase the quantity and quality of in-scope materials recycled and reduce litter. It would also create economic opportunities, such as attracting investment into reprocessing capacity in Scotland, on which we are actively working with potential investors on.

While waste export legislation is a matter for the UK Government, we will continue to work closely with them to ensure that all waste is managed responsibly and sustainably. We are working with the other governments of the UK on reform of the packaging producer responsibility system to provide greater incentives for domestic reprocessing.

SEPA routinely carry out proactive inspections at Scottish ports and loading sites to ensure compliance with the strict Waste Shipment Regulations. SEPA will continue to prioritise the regulation of plastic waste exports from Scotland.

I refer the member to the question S6W-02013 on 22 August 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 .