Chamber and committees

I met with the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Use and Islands on 27 June to discuss a number of issues which are of mutual interest. We have agreed to take forward further work with officials over the summer.

The total amount of funding that was allocated to support the work of the National Youth Arts Advisory Group in each year since it was established is as follows:

As set out in our response , published today, to the report of the Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group, we will begin by prioritising a number of actions to reduce the number of households in temporary accommodation by 2026. We will:

• invest at least £60 million this year through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme to support a national acquisition plan
• maintain momentum in delivering our Affordable Housing Supply Programme
• work with social landlords to deliver a new programme of stock management
• implement targeted partnership plans with the local authorities facing greatest pressure.

These actions build on the clear commitment in the Policy Prospectus to respond to the Task and Finish Group’s recommendations to support more people more quickly to a settled home and progress our work to end homelessness in Scotland. Work to set the conditions for effective delivery has been progressing in parallel to preparing our response and we are ready to hit the ground running in implementing these actions.

We will build on engagement undertaken in the lead up to the publication of our response which has helped inform the detail of these actions. We call on our partners in local government and across the housing sector to work with us to respond to the housing pressures we are seeing across the sector and to deliver on our shared public responsibility to both prevent homelessness and support more households to a settled home.

The creation of data sets relevant to planning performance and housing need and demand has been discussed recently with COSLA and Homes for Scotland in the context of the following:

• Housing to 2040 Strategic Board – the role of data in the housing sector was discussed. Both COSLA and Homes for Scotland are represented on the Board.
• Housing Review Group – the group is using data to inform responses to pressures on affordable housing availability. COSLA is represented on this group.
• Meetings with Ministers and/or officials – the Minister for Local Government Empowerment and Planning and the Minister for Housing met jointly with Homes for Scotland in June 2023 and discussed data sets in the context of additional data to supplement existing Housing Need and Demand Assessments (HNDAs). Scottish Government officials have also met with Homes for Scotland to discuss the HNDA process.
• Digital Planning Data Strategy – this aims to unlock the value of planning data. COSLA is engaged in the future implementation of the strategy.
• Developing research proposals for a Gypsy / Traveller Accommodation Needs Toolkit – COSLA has been involved in the development of the research bid.

The National Youth Arts Advisory Group has met 37 times and it is next due to meet in August or September 2023. The exact date is yet to be set.

We are aware of the global issues affecting construction which are impacting housing delivery so are working closely with the construction industry and housing partners to mitigate this where possible. For example, the Scottish Government is a member of the Cost Pressures in Construction Working Group, which brings together a number of stakeholders, including the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, Homes for Scotland and Glasgow and West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations and their member organisations, to explore a range of solutions to overcome the cost barriers to housing development.

We continue to collaborate with all our partners to achieve our shared goal of delivering more affordable homes for Scotland, and we are committed to delivering our target of 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, of which at least 70% will be available for social rent and 10% will be in our remote, rural and island communities.

Recently published quarterly statistics show that in the year to end March 2023, a total of 10,458 affordable homes were completed, an increase of 7% (701 homes) on the previous year and 61% (3,979 homes) higher than in the year to end March 2021. This is the highest annual completions figure since the start of the series in 2000.

The Scottish Government continue to engage with public sector and private sector bodies, and we have also received a request for financial support from another local authority.

Forecasts for the Scottish economy are produced by the independent Scottish Fiscal Commission. They published their most recent forecast in May 2023.

The Scottish Government has not made any formal assessment of the impact of increased mortgage rates on the Scottish economy. However, the Scottish Government regularly monitors trends in mortgage rates and the level of mortgage lending through the quarterly Scottish Housing Market Review , and also monitors trends in economic activity, which is affected by mortgage and other interest rates, through the monthly Economic Brief .

The Scottish Government has recently conducted an evidence review on the impact of the wider cost of living crisis on low income households with children. A part of the report includes a section on housing which briefly summarises the impact of higher mortgage costs for families on low incomes.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19827 on 17 July 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

The Forest Research National Forest Inventory (NFI) provides ecological data on all types of woodland using data drawn from the Woodland Ecological Condition (WEC) assessment. This is a systematic and statistically robust evaluation of ecological condition in all types of woodlands.

The Woodland Ecological Assessment is based on 15 measures of ecological condition, including the amount of deadwood, proportion of favourable land cover around woodland, vegetation and ground flora, herbivore grazing, and invasive non-native species which all provide an indication of biodiversity value. Measures that relate to habitat connectivity, such as proportion of favourable land cover around woodland are also measured. A WEC score is produced against each of the indicators and aggregated to produce an overall score. The benchmark is an Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland in good condition. Results are produced approximately every five years, with next cycle of reporting is due in 2024-25.