Chamber and committees

When affordable housing supply programme projects are submitted to the Scottish Government for approval an estimated completion date will have been provided. Details on approvals by financial year can be found in our published statistics at the following link, in the table ‘Affordable Housing Supply Programme Summary Tables – new style’ .

https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-for-scotland-new-house-building/

The Scottish Government has stopped collecting statistical information on section 11 notifications.

The decision to cease the collection of this information was implemented in 2013, in agreement with the Homelessness Statistics User Group . The last national statistics publication which held data on Section 11 notifications was “Operation of the Homeless Persons legislation in Scotland: 2012-13” which can be found in our archived web page here .

Collection of this information was ceased due to data quality concerns. These included issues such as double reporting and inconsistencies in how information was reported across local authorities and amongst lenders.

The on-going homelessness data review is considering the strength of demand for, and feasibility of collecting, data related to homelessness and homelessness prevention. Data related to section 11 notifications will be considered as part of this review.

In relation to the EIR request 202100240457, the information was collected via a portal that included a privacy notice where applicants were made aware that the information they provided would not be shared outwith the Scottish Government.

Completions dates for housing projects change on a regular basis for a variety of reasons and overwrite previous estimated dates. We are therefore unable to advise on the exact number of approvals where completion dates have been revised.

Due to the pandemic, construction was paused for three months in 2020-21 followed by a phased re-opening of sites in compliance with COVID guidance and restrictions. That impact has now been compounded by the current difficulties with the rising cost of materials and shortages in supplies and labour.

As a result and, based on management information, at the end of 2020-21 there were 9,017 less affordable homes delivered than were originally estimated to be completed at the start of 2020-21 and the estimated completions for 2021-22 have decreased by 267 since the start of this financial year.

The Scottish Government will shortly commence a national marketing campaign to increase awareness of the support available to people and their families, including financial support, and encourage them to take it up. This campaign will ensure that information on the availability of, and access to, free debt advice will be available, planned to begin in January 2022. We will signpost to free debt advice providers which offer a full range of support with problem debt – from budgeting through to statutory solutions – and to services across the public sector.

It is for individual local authorities to determine the amount of grant that they require to apply for in order for a project to be financially viable. We are therefore unable to say how much the Scottish Government will contribute to local authorities – on average – in the current financial year for each council house that is built, and what the range of funding support will be per house based on their size and type.

However, Annual Out-turn Reports relating to the Affordable Housing Supply Programme are published around the end of each calendar year and, as well as providing background information on the planning, delivery and scope of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme, these include various out-turn tables in respect of spend, along with the number of approvals, site starts and completions, broken down by local authority, in the preceding financial year. The Out-turn Reports also include a table showing the average total cost per home and the average grant per home. These are the actual costs relating to the delivery of the projects within the Affordable Housing Supply Programme, calculated at tender approval stage.

The information to be included within the AHSP Out-turn Report for 2020-21 is currently being collated, but the Out-turn Report in respect of 2019-20 is available on the Scottish Government website.

Tackling child poverty is a national mission for this government and we are making considerable investment to increase family incomes and reduce household costs. In 2020-21 we spent £2.5 billion in targeted support for low-income households, including nearly £1 billion to support low income families with children.

This year, through our Scottish Child Payment and Bridging Payments, we will put around £130 million directly in the pockets of low income families across Scotland. By the end of June over £351,000 was awarded to families in South Ayrshire through the Scottish Child Payment, and over £645,000 was awarded through Bridging Payments by the end of August. We will further increase the support available to families by doubling the Scottish Child Payment to £20 per week as early as possible and will set out how we will do this as part of the budget bill process.

We also made a £130 Low Income Pandemic Support Payment by the end of October for every household who received Council Tax Reduction in the month of April – an investment of up to £65 million, expected to benefit over 500,000 households across Scotland, including an estimated 10,600 in South Ayrshire.

To help raise educational attainment, to date, we have made more than £15 million available to South Ayrshire Council through the Attainment Scotland Fund, of which £3.5 million is available this year. And to help parents with the cost of the school day we have further increased the value of school clothing grants, and also started expansion of universal Free School Meals and school holiday provision, for which South Ayrshire Council will receive around £1 million.

In 2021-22, South Ayrshire Council will receive a total funding package of £232.7 million to support local services, which includes an extra £6.3 million to support vital day to day services, equivalent to an increase of 2.9 per cent compared to 2020-21.

To date, the council have been allocated an additional £30 million to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, through the local government settlement - over and above their regular grant payments.

However, the Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. As such, the vast majority of funding is provided by means of a block grant. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

We will continue to work closely with local authorities to deliver the action required on child poverty and will publish our next Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan in March 2022 which will set us on a critical path to achieve our shared child poverty targets.

By contrast, the UK Government’s decision to cut Universal Credit from the start of October could remove over £460 million in social security spending from Scotland by 2023-24. Based on the latest data available (May 2021), the Scottish Government estimate that around 4,800 children in South Ayrshire will be affected by the cut from the start of October.

The Scottish Government does not have information of the rate of manufacture of interlinked fire alarms. We are aware that, following our successful public awareness campaign, there is significant public interest in carrying out work to comply with the new standard for fire alarms in all Scottish homes. It is, therefore, possible, that some retailers will have short term supply issues. We are also aware that some manufacturers are dependent on import of components, and that has been affected by Brexit, and this may also have affected their production. However, we have been assured by manufacturers that there is a sufficient supply of alarms available to meet the expected demand by 1 February 2022, when the new standard comes into force.

The Help to Buy (Scotland) Smaller Developers scheme continues to be available to help people purchase a new build home throughout 2021/22. The scheme will close on 31 March 2022.

The Low-cost Initiative for First Time Buyers, which includes the Open Market Shared Equity and New Supply Shared Equity schemes will continue to be available. These schemes are aimed at first time buyers and priority access groups and count towards the Affordable Housing Supply Programme commitment to deliver a further 110,000 affordable homes by 2032.

Local authorities are responsible for a range of public services, including housing, and the vast majority of funding for these services is provided to local authorities by means of a block grant from the Scottish Government. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available on the basis of local needs and priorities.

In addition to the block grant, outlined below is the additional financial support the Scottish Government has provided to local authorities in the last five years to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.

Rapid rehousing transition plans – Ending Homelessness Together fund

Since 2018, the Scottish Government has provided funding from the Ending Homelessness Together fund to local authorities to develop and implement rapid rehousing transition plans (RRTPs). RRTPs are the planning framework for local authorities’ housing-led approach to prevent and address all forms of homelessness, including rough sleeping. Funding for the development of the RRTPs was granted in 2018/19 and subsequent funding was granted for the implementation of the plans. The breakdown of funding by year and local authority can be found in the following table: