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: S6O-03861

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6O-03868

Asked by: James Dornan, MSP for Glasgow Cathcart, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 October 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many journeys in Glasgow have been taken by under-22s using a free bus pass in the last year.

Question reference: S6O-03852

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 October 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made towards securing a long-term future for Ferguson Marine.

Question reference: S6O-03864

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 October 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is committed to fully dualling the A96 from Inverness to Aberdeen.

Question reference: S6W-30374

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 23 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many children are in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment in each local authority area in the West Scotland parliamentary region.

Social Security Scotland routinely publishes information on Scottish Child Payment applications, payments and the number of children actively in receipt of the payment by local authority area.

As of 30 June 2024, the number of children aged 0-15 years actively benefitting from Scottish Child Payment in each local authority area relevant to the West Scotland parliamentary region were as follows:

Argyll and Bute – 4,100;
East Dunbartonshire – 3,770;
East Renfrewshire – 3,575;
Inverclyde – 5,375;
North Ayrshire – 10,395;
Renfrewshire – 10,545;
West Dunbartonshire – 7,165.

This information along with other local authority areas can be found in the latest Scottish Child Payment Official Statistics publication:

https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/publications/statistics.

The next edition of the Scottish Child Payment publication which will cover the period to the end of September 2024, is due to be published on 26 November 2024.

Question reference: S6W-30269

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 September 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 23 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the legal status is of seasonal agricultural workers housed in caravan accommodation on agricultural land, with regards to that accommodation.

The rights that a worker has in tied accommodation will depend on the type of tenancy or occupancy agreement in place. If an employer gives an employee accommodation as part of the job and the employee has to live there to be able to do the job, they may have a Service Occupancy agreement. Rights will depend on what is written in the employment contract and will depend on the individual circumstances of the case. However, if an employee has a Private Residential Tenancy, then they will have the same rights as a private tenant.

Question reference: S6W-30690

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 23 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many households it estimates currently have at least one person with a drug addiction.

Public Health Scotland published Estimated Prevalence of Opioid Dependence in Scotland 2014/15 to 2019/20 - Estimated Prevalence of Opioid Dependence in Scotland - Publications - Public Health Scotland earlier this year, based on Bayesian analysis of linked healthcare data. However, those estimate do not include problematic use of other substances, nor do they provide information about the living and family circumstances of people experiencing problematic drug use.

The Scottish Government also published Child protection - Children's Social Work Statistics Scotland: 2021 to 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) which showed that there were 2,358 new registrations onto the Child Protection Register during 2022 where parental drug misuse or parental substance misuse was identified as a concern at the Case Conference. Similar to the Public Health Scotland source, however, this does not provide a full picture of problematic drug use in households.

Question reference: S6W-30396

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 23 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support registered social landlords to maintain their wider remit investment in prevention services for people with wider care and support needs, such as welfare rights, tenancy sustainment and housing support.

The Scottish Government fully recognises the role of Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) in prevention and the importance of tenancy sustainment and housing support. That is why we are supporting this work in a variety of ways.

The Scottish Government continues to provide funding to help RSLs deliver adaptations for older and disabled people. The Adaptations Programme budget for 2024-25 is £8.245 million. Individual funding awards have now been issued to RSLs to support the delivery of housing adaptations for disabled tenants. My officials are in contact with RSLs directly to support them through this process.

Through our Investing in Communities Fund, we are providing £3,671,900 between 2023-26 to 16 RSLs to support the delivery of projects that include activities such as family support, food insecurity support, training and skills development and financial capability support.

Welfare and Debt advice services are critical for supporting communities across Scotland. That is why in 2024-25 the Scottish Government has allocated £12 million to support welfare, debt and income maximisation advice services. This investment includes support for the Advice in Accessible Settings Fund, which delivers advice within or alongside a range of other services. This year the fund is supporting a wide range of organisations, including 20 RSLs, to provide advice to their tenants and clients.

Housing support enables tenants to live as independently as possible in their communities and is a key part of the work delivered by RSLs. These services are commissioned locally through Health and Social Care Partnerships and Local Authorities, as they are best placed to assess and respond to local needs.

We are also widening responsibility for homelessness prevention through the Housing (Scotland) Bill. Services such as tenancy sustainment, welfare rights and housing support are already key features of the work RSLs do with their tenants. We want to build on this so there is a consistent, robust and sector wide approach across Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-30378

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 23 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many eviction order applications from private landlords were (a) submitted to and (b) granted by the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland in each year since 2019, broken down by the local authority area in which the property was located, for each local authority area in the West Scotland parliamentary region.

(a) The First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber) has published the number of applications for eviction received in their Scottish Tribunals Annual Reports. For ease of reference, this is set out in the following table.

Financial year	Received
2019 - 2020	1742
2020 - 2021	767
2021 – 2022	1251
2022 – 2023	2252
2023 - 2024	2687

(b) The First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber) are the relevant body in relation to processing eviction applications and determinations in Scotland. They are, therefore, best placed to answer how many eviction orders were granted in each year since 2019.

Question reference: S6W-30426

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 23 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to help mitigate Glasgow's reported affordable housing supply shortage, in light of the £78.7 million reduction in the funding being provided to the city through the national affordable housing programme.

The Scottish Government Affordable Housing Supply Programme allocation for Glasgow City Council for this year is £90.231m. This comprises the original allocation of £78.687m and the additional £11.544m made available as part of efforts to boost affordable housing supply by acquiring properties to bring into use for affordable housing and to help reduce homelessness. The funding made available to Glasgow City Council last year through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme was £103.683m, so this years funding represents a decrease of £13.452m. As well as the additional £11.544m made available to Glasgow City Council this year, the Council and Scottish Government officials meet regularly and will continue to work closely in order to maximise affordable housing delivery in the city.