Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-13253

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 12 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how communities are included in consultations about planned road closures on the trunk road network.

Transport Scotland, through its Operating Companies, consider local communities and affected businesses during the works planning and consultation process. For planned closures, consultation with the community and business groups is undertaken as part of the planning process, to consider the specific concerns and needs of those parties. Where possible, works are scheduled to avoid busier periods and times. This helps to minimise impacts on road users, businesses and local communities, with operating company contracts including specific times on certain routes where planned works are to be avoided.

Question reference: S6W-13254

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 12 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of reported concerns regarding the impact on local communities of repeat closures in a short time frame of the A76 in Upper Nithsdale.

Question reference: S6W-13255

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 12 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how the interests of local communities are taken into consideration when road closures on the trunk road network are planned.

Transport Scotland, through its Operating Companies, consider local communities and affected businesses during the works planning and consultation process. For planned closures, consultation with the community and business groups is undertaken as part of the planning process, to consider the specific concerns and needs of those parties. Where possible, works are scheduled to avoid busier periods and times. This helps to minimise impacts on road users, businesses and local communities, with operating company contracts including specific times on certain routes where planned works are to be avoided .

Question reference: S6W-13264

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 December 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 12 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the median number of days a household spends in temporary accommodation is, broken down by household type.

Homelessness data, which includes information about temporary accommodation placements, is available for all local authorities from 2017-18. The following table shows the median total time in days spent in temporary accommodation for households with homelessness applications that closed in each year from 2017/18 by household type. The figures are based on homelessness applications with at least one associated temporary accommodation placement.

Median total time (days) spent in temporary accommodation, by household type: 2017-18 to 2021-22

Household type	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
All	116	117	116	129	121
Single Person	106	105	106	118	111
Single Parent	134	139	134	160	146
Couple	119	115	117	132	128
Couple with Children	192	194	188	270	211
Other	124	133	129	151	138
Other with Children	166	172	162	190	171

Source: HL1 and HL3 dataset as at 18/08/2022

Notes on tables:

Figures may be based on the total duration of multiple temporary accommodation placements taken up by a household. A complete set of temporary accommodation placement data is not available prior to 2017-18. Figures refer to households with a homeless application that closed in the given year that took up temporary accommodation.

Information on household type is derived from the information on household type as at the time of the original homelessness application, and therefore may not reflect the actual composition of the household whilst in temporary accommodation. "Other" includes households with 2 adults that are not a couple or households with more than 2 adults.

Question reference: S6W-13278

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 12 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has had any discussions with Police Scotland which have resulted in a delay in implementing the short-term lets legislation.

There have been no discussions with Police Scotland which have resulted in a delay to implementing the short-term lets licensing scheme.

During 2022 officials have engaged regularly with licensing authorities and partners, including Police Scotland, to prepare for the start of short-term let licensing on 1 October 2022. Police Scotland is now completing fit and proper person checks as part of the process undertaken by licensing authorities to determine licensing applications from new and existing short-term let hosts. Although resourcing is a matter for Police Scotland to consider, they have been planning this for some time and we remain engaged to support this element of the scheme.

In recognition of the wider cost of living crisis that is placing pressure on existing short-term let hosts and businesses, we have announced that we will introduce legislation in January 2023 to extend the deadline for existing hosts to apply for a licence from 1 April 2023 to 1 October 2023. This is not a pause and we encourage hosts to keep applying throughout this period.

Question reference: S6O-01797

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the role of local government services in improving public health and wellbeing.

Question reference: S6O-01799

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to help recovery from adverse childhood experiences.

Question reference: S6O-01798

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress of the Bairns' Hoose for young people within the justice system.

Question reference: S6O-01803

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address any racial profiling practices in Police Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-01801

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what recent engagement it has had with community housing enablers, such as the Communities Housing Trust in the Highlands and Islands region, to support the delivery of its commitments regarding rural homes.

Chamber and committees