Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S5W-03373

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 30 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 25 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects to retract the under-occupancy penalty, introduced through the Welfare Reform Act 2012, in Scotland.

The Scottish Government is planning to remove the under-occupancy reduction through Universal Credit (UC), and as such implementation will be dependent on the roll-out of UC, which the UK Government expects to be completed by 2022. Officials are working with the Department for Work and Pensions to consider how best to implement these changes in Scotland and Discretionary Housing Payments will continue to be available for those affected until implementation is complete.

Question reference: S5W-03667

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what penalties can be imposed under the conditions of the ScotRail franchise for the cancellation of a train at (a) peak and (b) off-peak hours, and what service obligations must be followed, including the length of notice required.

Question reference: S5W-03370

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 30 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 19 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to mitigate the impact of the council tax freeze on budgets.

Question reference: S5W-03376

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 30 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 17 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many of its planned 35,000 homes for the social rented sector will be built to wheelchair accessibility standards.

The number of social rented homes built to wheelchair accessibility standard over the current target period will depend on the priorities of local authorities as identified in their Housing Need and Demand Assessments (HNDA), Local Housing Strategies (LHS) and Strategic Housing Investment Plans (SHIPs).

Local authorities are required by law to prepare an LHS, supported by an assessment of housing need and demand. Scottish Government guidance on LHS notes that the strategy has to clearly set out the current need for specialist provision (accommodation and care/support services) that will help to support people to live independently, the likely requirement for this provision over the next 5 years, how current needs are being met using a range of accommodation types, and what more is planned to meet future need.

Strategic Housing Investment Plans (SHIPs) are produced every two years by local authorities. These are the key documents which identify the strategic housing projects to assist the achievement of the 50,000 target. SHIPs will be directly informed by the councils LHS and developed in consultation with key stakeholders. SHIP documents are due to be returned to the Scottish Government at the end of November.

Question reference: S5W-03371

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 30 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 13 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many houses have been (a) built and (b) upgraded using the Rural Housing Fund.

Question reference: S5W-03377

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 30 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 13 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage the private sector to build more homes to alleviate housing shortages.

In every year since 2007 we have maintained higher build rates than England and Wales and in 2015 had the highest all-sector build rate in the UK.

Our assistance for the private sector has included £0.5 billion investment in Help To Buy (Scotland) to support home buyers and the industry with access to lower deposit mortgages.

Alongside this the Low-cost Initiative for First Time Buyers (LIFT) schemes have helped over 22,000 households into home ownership since 2007 and in the Highlands area the two year £4million pilot Self Build Loan Fund is helping households design and build a home of their choice while supporting the SME house building industry.

Scottish Investment Bank have recently agreed to support funding for SME house builders to encourage them to increase supply and the £50million infrastructure fund in 2016-17 has been set up to remove blockages for both private and affordable housing on strategic sites.

Scottish Ministers welcomed the recommendations of the Independent Review of Planning in July 2016 and aim to produce a White Paper by the end of 2016 which will contain proposals to assist housing and infrastructure delivery amongst other issues.

Question reference: S5W-03368

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 13 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many homes have been purchased using its Help to Buy (Scotland) schemes.

The three year Help to Buy (Scotland) scheme which ended on 31 March 2016 assisted in the purchase of 8160 new build homes. The current Help to Buy (Scotland) Affordable New Build Scheme and Smaller Developers Scheme has to date assisted in the purchase of 861 homes.

Help to Buy Scotland in all forms since launch in September 2013 has therefore assisted in the purchase of 9021 new build homes to date

Question reference: S5W-03367

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 13 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how long its Help to Buy (Scotland) schemes are scheduled to run.

Question reference: S5W-03378

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 30 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 12 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on extending the Scottish Housing Quality Standard to (a) the private rented sector and (b) tied housing.

Question reference: S5W-03693

Current Status: Withdrawn