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: S6W-23034

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-20632 by Shona Robison on 11 September 2023, whether the (a) stage 1 desktop and (b) stage 2 visual inspection of the Scottish Government Estate has been competed, and, if so, what the outcome of each of these inspections was.

Question reference: S6W-22916

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by George Adam on 29 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government on what date the First Minister reportedly found an old mobile phone that he had been using during the COVID-19 pandemic for government business.

Question reference: S6W-22943

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 29 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many temporary accommodation facilities have been in breach of the standards and outcomes that social landlords should aim to achieve when performing housing activities, as set out in the Temporary Accommodation Standards Framework, which was published in April 2023.

As compliance with the Temporary Accommodation Standards Framework is not yet mandatory, no formal data collection has been established to gather information on breaches.

The Temporary Accommodation Standards Framework was published in April 2023 and replaced the advisory standards [1] published in the Homelessness Code of Guidance in 2019. The new standards for temporary accommodation were produced by a short term working group, which also considered how the standards could be regulated and legally enforced.

Although the framework has been agreed, the route of legal enforcement remains under consideration. Before the standards can be legally enforceable, they will first have to be formally consulted on.

In the meantime, before the framework becomes legally enforceable, local authorities and social landlords are expected to work towards meeting the standards. Social landlords are already voluntarily complying by making improvements to their temporary accommodation supply, providing the necessary training for their staff and ensuring new processes are implemented in line with the revised standards

[1] The advisory standards were based on the Guidance on Standards for Temporary Accommodation published in 2011 by the Chartered Institute of Housing Scotland and Shelter Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-22923

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by George Adam on 29 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports of the First Minister finding an old mobile phone with WhatsApp messages on it, (a) for what reason and (b) on what date the First Minister was issued a replacement mobile phone.

Question reference: S6W-22941

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 29 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many council houses that are currently unoccupied have been assessed to establish the cost of bringing them back into use.

Question reference: S6W-22948

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 29 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how much each local authority has spent on people living in temporary accommodation, in each year since 1999.

The vast majority of homelessness funding provided to Scottish local authorities since 1999 has been included in the block grant of annual local government finance settlements [1] .

In February 2017, the ‘temporary accommodation management fee’ funding from the UK Government was devolved to the Scottish Government. In 2017-18, the Scottish Government allocated the full amount of £22.5 million provided through this arrangement to Scottish local authorities. Since 2018-19, Scottish local authorities have received an annual share of £23.5 million.

In 2023-24, this budget was augmented by a £7 million former Hostels Grant to create the new £30.5 million Homelessness Prevention Fund. Each local authority receives their annual share of this settlement through an in-year transfer.

It is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the financial resources available to it on the basis of local needs and priorities having first fulfilled its statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities. It is therefore not possible for the Scottish Government to ascertain how much each local authority spends each year on temporary accommodation.

[1] Local government finance circulars - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Question reference: S6W-22942

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 29 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the cost of bringing back into use council houses that are currently unoccupied.

Question reference: S6W-22940

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 29 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what audit of public land has been undertaken to identify potential sites that are currently available for affordable housing development.

There has been no audit carried out of public land to identify sites to deliver affordable homes. The Scottish Public Finance Manual and the NHS Scotland Property Transactions Handbook provide guidance on the procedures and safeguards required when handling the disposal of surplus land, buildings and other rights in property. Prior to advertising on the open market, bodies must notify the Scottish Government in order that the surplus asset can be advertised internally via the trawl process. While most surplus assets advertised through the trawl are not deemed suitable for affordable housing, some have been purchased for this purpose.

Question reference: S6W-23110

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 28 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-21873 by Fiona Hyslop on 13 October 2023, whether recent poor weather, including the impact of Storm Babet, has had any impact on how it will allocate funding towards the aims of its Weather Resilience and Climate Change Adaption strategy.

As the Member is aware, the Scottish Government has committed to invest £4.2 billion in the Scottish rail infrastructure which investments will focus on climate change adaptation and resilience of the rail network. Network Rail is leading on the delivery of the Weather Resilience and Climate Change Adaption strategy and advises that it has a clear plan to deliver its objectives and is confident in doing so.

Question reference: S6W-23069

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 28 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the 310,000 potential jobs in Scottish domestic hydrogen production highlighted in its 2020 report, Scottish Hydrogen Assessment, how many of these jobs it estimates would be based in the north east.