Chamber and committees

The Scottish House Condition Survey provides a snapshot of the Scottish housing stock in each survey year including the construction age and built form of Scottish domestic buildings. Within this it provides estimates of the number of dwellings with a prepayment meter for gas or electricity.

The most recent estimates of households with a prepayment meter are from 2019, and are presented in the following table.

Table 1: Number of households with prepayment meters.

The total funding for the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championship is in the process of being finalised and will be confirmed in due course. It includes contributions from the Scottish Government, UK Sport, British Cycling, Glasgow City Council and a number of other local authorities, as well as from commercial revenue streams. Any additional funding that may be required will be managed centrally by the Scottish Government and will not be derived from the Culture portfolio’s budget.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-22375 on 3 November 2023 . 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 .

Who Cares? Scotland was established in 1978. It provides independent advocacy for children and young people in care across Scotland, and campaign on behalf of and with children and young people with care experience. The organisation’s vision is ‘a lifetime of equality, respect and love for care experienced people’.

Who Cares? Scotland also offer a range of groups, activities and events to care experienced people, specifically to those that become members.

The Scottish Government provides grants to Who Cares? Scotland to provide a Helpline Service, Corporate Parenting Training and Children's Advocacy for Children's Hearings as part of a national scheme.

The objectives on these topics for the financial year 2022 to 2023 were:

Helpline Service

1. To provide a helpline service that will act as the main point of contact for people with care experience which will allow them to:
‎ •access support and advice; and
‎ •receive sign-posting to other support networks as required

2. To work with Scottish Government officials to report on key themes that are highlighted through calls to the helpline to allow Scottish Government colleagues to work across policy areas to address emerging or ongoing issues.

3. To work with Scottish Government officials to evolve and align this current grant funded activity with the Scottish Government’s strategic priorities including work to Keep the Promise, particularly around the development of a future advocacy support model and any future and consequential implications for the helpline.

Corporate Parenting Training

1. To provide a Training Programme for Corporate Parents - with a focus on Health Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs), will proactively receive offers of bespoke training to upskill their workforce and embed The Promise and UNCRC within their practices. The promotion and protection of the rights of people with Care Experience amongst Corporate Parents will be enhanced.

2. To provide a Training Programme - A programme of themed training events, including health specific themes, will be available to all Corporate Parents. These are to be designed to help Corporate Parents understand how to collaborate for maximum impact to improve outcomes for people with Care Experience.

3. To provide on-Going Support - Provide on-going advice and concentrated support to Corporate Parents to encourage positive change in internal structures, policies and practice. Health Boards and HSCPs will be specifically targeted to offer support.

4. To establish Corporate Parent Champions – A Corporate Parent Champions network is established to champion change within their own organisation, share practice across Corporate Parents and influence nationally.

5. To develop Digital Communications - Develop, maintain and promote online learning and training resources available to Corporate Parents.

6. To Engage with Young People - Provide opportunities for Corporate Parents to access the voice of Care Experienced people in a meaningful way in order to support ongoing policy development and public understanding.

7. To tackle Stigma – Throughout all activities, communications and support provided, the Grantee should ensure that all efforts to reduce stigma faced by people with Care Experience are in line with the wider sectoral commitment - The Each and Every Child Initiative.

Children's Advocacy for Children's Hearings

1. To support the Scottish Government with the development, delivery and promotion of the national children’s advocacy in children’s hearings scheme as part of the implementation of section 122 of the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 and The Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 (Children’s Advocacy Services) Regulations 2020, in a manner which gives cognisance to the:

o Scottish Government’s Children’s Advocacy Guidance (published in 2014), https://www.gov.scot/publications/childrens-advocacy-guidance/; and

o National Practice Model for Advocacy in the Children’s Hearings System (published in March 2020), Advocacy in the children's hearings system - national practice model: guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

2. To promote high quality independent advocacy services to children and young people, to support them to exercise their rights to be heard within their Hearings and contributing to the recovery of children’s hearings from Covid 19 impacts towards stable service.

3. To promote high quality independent advocacy services to brothers and sisters, to support them to exercise their rights to participate in the Hearings of their siblings on staying together/contact arrangements as introduced by section 25 of the Children (Scotland) Act 2020 and related changes in Regulations made under section 177 of the Children (Scotland) Act 2011 - The Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 (Rules of Procedure in Children’s Hearings) Amendment Rules 2021 (legislation.gov.uk)

4. To support planning and future implementation of The Promise by improving experiences and outcomes for care experienced children and young people.

5. To take steps to promote, respect, protect and fulfil the rights of children and young people and increase awareness of the UNCRC amongst staff and stakeholders. You will promote the UNCRC throughout the creation and development of the project, and related policies and procedures in relation to this funding.

The Scottish Law Commission's homicide law project has been continued into their 11th Programme of Law Reform. In 2021, the Commission published their discussion paper on this subject. Scottish Government officials have engaged with the Scottish Law Commission who advise they hope to be in a position to publish their final report during 2024.

We are aware of the pressures in temporary accommodation that many local authorities, including Fife Council, are facing and are working with them on what support is needed to reduce their use of temporary accommodation. The Minister for Housing is due to meet again with Cllr Hamilton, Fife’s Housing Convenor, on 7 November.

We have committed to reducing the use of temporary accommodation by 2026 and are acting on the recommendations of the expert Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group. We will invest at least £60 million for local authorities and social landlords to acquire properties for use as affordable homes, as part of our wider £752 million Affordable Housing Supply Programme investment this year. We are also asking social landlords to increase allocations to homeless households and to bring empty homes and void properties back into use, and are supporting councils to develop targeted plans, supported by an additional £2 million in 2023-24.

The Scottish Government is continuing to meet with the local authorities most under pressure to discuss what is required to help reduce their use of temporary accommodation. The Scottish Government has established a Short Term Housing Supply Group to consider how to address the barriers to increasing housing supply in the short term. We are working with COSLA, ALACHO, the Scottish Housing Regulator, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and the Glasgow West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations to consider what we need to do differently in the next two to three years to reduce the use of temporary accommodation.

The Scottish Government is providing £220,000 of support to the St Andrews Rail Link (StARLink) project through the Local Rail Development Fund (LRDF).

Responsibility for the management and delivery of the project sits with the StARLink Campaign which is required to provide a detailed options appraisal, to the Scottish Government, by the end of March 2024.

To inform the next stages of the project, this appraisal will then be considered against the Scottish Government’s investment priorities for the strategic transport network, a robust business case, affordability and other competing proposals.

Roads can be closed for a variety of reasons and we don’t hold specific data on the frequency or average duration of road closures for the purpose of crime scene investigation. The closure of a road in the aftermath of an accident is a matter for Police Scotland, who liaise with NHS colleagues as appropriate to understand if accident investigation is merited. The decision to reopen a road after an investigation is also a matter for the Police in their operational capacity.

Scotland’s national health information service, NHS Inform aims to provide the people of Scotland with accurate and relevant information to help them make informed decisions about their own health and the health of the people they care for.

NHS Inform provides health information for people living with long COVID, chest, heart and stroke conditions, including advice on management of common symptoms, health-related anxiety and when to seek further information from healthcare professionals.

Studies looking at the impact of respiratory infections on those with lung conditions have often demonstrated that this cohort are at greater risk of hospitalisation. We recognise that people with lung conditions often have pre-existing reduced lung function and if they become infected with COVID-19 or flu, are at a disadvantage from the onset.

As set out in Priority 5 of our Health and social care: winter preparedness plan 2023-2024, “Protecting people who may be most impacted by severe illness, hospitalisation or death from Covid-19 and flu, through vaccination, is a key means of protecting individuals from illness and reducing demand on our health and social care systems.”

Our successful vaccination programme means many people previously considered at highest risk of infection and severe disease, and the wider population, are now far less likely to become seriously ill from Covid-19 or flu.

However, a group of people do remain at high risk – primarily people who have a weakened immune system. These people should continue to follow the advice of their GP or specialist clinician, who best know their health condition and circumstances.