Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-03935

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 5 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the status of the HPV vaccination programme, and how many young people, who missed their vaccinations in 2020, have still to be vaccinated.

The Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland (PHS) continue to work with health boards to support their planning and the safe delivery of immunisation services during the pandemic.

The latest HPV immunisation statistics published by Public Health Scotland (PHS) for academic year 2019/20 show that uptake for the HPV vaccine remains high. Further information is available online on the PHS website: HPV Immunisation Statistics Scotland 22 December 2020 - Data & intelligence from PHS (isdscotland.org).

Public Health Scotland collate data on the HPV vaccination programme for the previous school year every autumn. Data for school year 2020-21 will be collated in autumn 2021 and published in December 2021. Therefore, we cannot provide information on the most recent school year.

Question reference: S6W-03816

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to FOI request FOI/202100240457, whether it will consider revisiting its decision to withhold information on the locations of tower blocks with combustible cladding.

Question reference: S6W-03641

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to continue its Help to Buy and Low-cost Initiative for First Time Buyers (LIFT) schemes.

The Help to Buy (Scotland) Smaller Developers scheme continues to be available to help people purchase a new build home throughout 2021/22. The scheme will close on 31 March 2022.

The Low-cost Initiative for First Time Buyers, which includes the Open Market Shared Equity and New Supply Shared Equity schemes will continue to be available. These schemes are aimed at first time buyers and priority access groups and count towards the Affordable Housing Supply Programme commitment to deliver a further 110,000 affordable homes by 2032.

Question reference: S6W-03626

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of properties have interlinked fire alarms installed.

Question reference: S6W-03699

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 October 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many affordable housing supply programme approvals in each year since 2016-17 were given an estimated completion date at tender stage.

When affordable housing supply programme projects are submitted to the Scottish Government for approval an estimated completion date will have been provided. Details on approvals by financial year can be found in our published statistics at the following link, in the table ‘Affordable Housing Supply Programme Summary Tables – new style’ .

https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-for-scotland-new-house-building/

Question reference: S6W-03654

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to promote debt (a) advice and (b) management services across public services.

The Scottish Government will shortly commence a national marketing campaign to increase awareness of the support available to people and their families, including financial support, and encourage them to take it up. This campaign will ensure that information on the availability of, and access to, free debt advice will be available, planned to begin in January 2022. We will signpost to free debt advice providers which offer a full range of support with problem debt – from budgeting through to statutory solutions – and to services across the public sector.

Question reference: S6W-03624

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much it will contribute to housing associations, on average, in the current financial year for the construction of each new house that they build, and what the range of funding support is per house based on their size and type.

It is for individual housing associations to determine the amount of grant that they require to apply for in order for a project to be financially viable. We are therefore unable to say how much the Scottish Government will contribute to housing associations – on average – in the current financial year for each new house that they build, and what the range of funding support will be per house based on their size and type.

However, Annual Out-turn Reports relating to the Affordable Housing Supply Programme are published around the end of each calendar year and, as well as providing background information on the planning, delivery and scope of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme, these include various out-turn tables in respect of spend, along with the number of approvals, site starts and completions, broken down by local authority, in the preceding financial year. The Out-turn Reports also include a table showing the average total cost per home and the average grant per home. These are the actual costs relating to the delivery of the projects within the Affordable Housing Supply Programme, calculated at tender approval stage.

The information to be included within the AHSP Out-turn Report for 2020-21 is currently being collated, but the Out-turn Report in respect of 2019-20 is available on the Scottish Government website.

Question reference: S6W-03628

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has taken, or plans to take, any steps to regulate the sale and installation of interlinked fire alarms to avoid the fraudulent sale and installation of such alarms.

The Scottish Government has no plans to regulate the sale or installation of interlinked fire alarms. The best way to avoid scams is to use trusted sources of information, to not deal with cold callers, and to be wary of any company that says their products or services have been endorsed by the Scottish Government. We have included messages on the importance of using reputable tradespeople including signposting to local government Trading Standards in our awareness campaign for the new fire alarms standard.

Question reference: S6W-03634

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support it has provided to each local authority in each of the last five years to tackle rough sleeping.

Local authorities are responsible for a range of public services, including housing, and the vast majority of funding for these services is provided to local authorities by means of a block grant from the Scottish Government. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available on the basis of local needs and priorities.

In addition to the block grant, outlined below is the additional financial support the Scottish Government has provided to local authorities in the last five years to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.

Rapid rehousing transition plans – Ending Homelessness Together fund

Since 2018, the Scottish Government has provided funding from the Ending Homelessness Together fund to local authorities to develop and implement rapid rehousing transition plans (RRTPs). RRTPs are the planning framework for local authorities’ housing-led approach to prevent and address all forms of homelessness, including rough sleeping. Funding for the development of the RRTPs was granted in 2018/19 and subsequent funding was granted for the implementation of the plans. The breakdown of funding by year and local authority can be found in the following table:

Local authority	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
Aberdeen City	£ 77,072	£ 301,000	£ 358,000	£ 346,000
Aberdeenshire	£ 62,272	£ 261,000	£ 249,000	£ 252,000
Angus	£ 42,279	£ 172,000	£ 161,000	£ 144,000
Argyll & Bute	£ 30,000	£ 95,000	£ 105,000	£ 93,000
Clackmannanshire	£ 30,000	£ 103,000	£ 116,000	£ 111,000
Dumfries & Galloway	£ 33,797	£ 143,000	£ 179,000	£ 181,000
Dundee City	£ 68,049	£ 300,000	£ 282,000	£ 277,000
East Ayrshire	£ 30,000	£ 119,000	£ 143,000	£ 158,000
East Dunbartonshire	£ 30,000	£ 120,000	£ 95,000	£ 88,000
East Lothian	£ 40,224	£ 160,000	£ 169,000	£ 161,000
East Renfrewshire	£ 30,000	£ 76,000	£ 72,000	£ 72,000
Edinburgh, City of	£229,225	£1,005,000	£ 892,000	£ 871,000
Na h-Eileanan Siar	£ 30,000	£ 34,000	£ 29,000	£ 50,000
Falkirk	£ 56,992	£ 211,000	£ 211,000	£ 215,000
Fife	£124,111	£ 524,000	£ 534,000	£ 528,000
Glasgow City	£300,736	£1,332,000	£1,237,000	£1,266,000
Highland	£ 60,671	£ 280,000	£ 297,000	£ 291,000
Inverclyde	£ 30,000	£ 53,000	£ 44,000	£ 50,000
Midlothian	£ 32,218	£ 141,000	£ 137,000	£ 127,000
Moray	£ 30,000	£ 97,000	£ 93,000	£ 90,000
North Ayrshire	£ 44,356	£ 187,000	£ 209,000	£ 224,000
North Lanarkshire	£ 96,242	£ 389,000	£ 465,000	£ 464,000
Orkney Islands	£ 30,000	£ 22,000	£ 27,000	£ 50,000
Perth & Kinross	£ 46,347	£ 203,000	£ 214,000	£ 196,000
Renfrewshire	£ 43,080	£ 186,000	£ 187,000	£ 189,000
Scottish Borders	£ 34,684	£ 153,000	£ 167,000	£ 166,000
Shetland Islands	£ 30,000	£ 31,000	£ 27,000	£ 50,000
South Ayrshire	£ 39,856	£ 173,000	£ 175,000	£ 176,000
South Lanarkshire	£104,465	£ 461,000	£ 453,000	£ 445,000
Stirling	£ 30,000	£ 101,000	£ 111,000	£ 123,000
West Dunbartonshire	£ 62,770	£ 265,000	£ 251,000	£ 234,000
West Lothian	£ 70,970	£ 302,000	£ 311,000	£ 312,000
Total	£2,000,416	£8,000,000	£8,000,000	£8,000,000

Rapid rehousing transition plans – Winter Plan for Social Protection

In 2020-21, an additional £5,000,000 for the implementation of RRTPs was granted to local authorities as part of the Winter Plan for Social Protection. The breakdown of this funding by local authority can be found in the following table:

Local Authority	2020-21
Aberdeen City	£ 223,000
Aberdeenshire	£ 155,000
Angus	£ 100,000
Argyll & Bute	£ 65,000
Clackmannanshire	£ 72,000
Dumfries & Galloway	£ 112,000
Dundee City	£ 175,000
East Ayrshire	£ 89,000
East Dunbartonshire	£ 61,000
East Lothian	£ 105,000
East Renfrewshire	£ 45,000
Edinburgh, City of	£ 563,000
Na h-Eileanan Siar	£ 18,000
Falkirk	£ 132,000
Fife	£ 335,000
Glasgow City	£ 772,000
Highland	£ 187,000
Inverclyde	£ 28,000
Midlothian	£ 85,000
Moray	£ 58,000
North Ayrshire	£ 130,000
North Lanarkshire	£ 290,000
Orkney Islands	£ 17,000
Perth & Kinross	£133,000
Renfrewshire	£ 116,000
Scottish Borders	£ 105,000
Shetland Islands	£ 17,000
South Ayrshire	£ 110,000
South Lanarkshire	£ 282,000
Stirling	£ 69,000
West Dunbartonshire	£156,000
West Lothian	£195,000
Total	£5,000,000

Other

The following table outlines other funding that the Scottish Government has provided to local authorities to tackle rough sleeping. This includes: £90,000 in 2017-18 and £77,500 in 2018-19 for rapid access accommodation in Edinburgh; £29,000 in
‎ 2018-19 and £29,000 in 2019-20 for a homelessness link worker to provide statutory homelessness services in dispersed areas of Edinburgh; and £60,333 contribution to a Rapid Rehousing Welcome Centre in Glasgow in 2020-21.

Local Authority	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
Edinburgh,City of	£90,000	£106,500	£29,000	-	-
Glasgow City	-	-	-	£60,333	-

Funding is also provided directly to a range of third sector organisations who work across Scotland’s local authorities to tackle rough sleeping.

Question reference: S6W-03650

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) older people, (b) financially vulnerable people, (c) people on low incomes and (d) others in the South Ayrshire Council area it estimates will find it difficult to meet the cost of (i) purchasing and (ii) fitting fire alarms to bring them in line with the minimum standard that is being introduced in February 2022; what support it will offer to help them meet this cost, and what assistance the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service will provide.

It is not possible to estimate how many people in South Ayrshire would find it difficult to meet the cost of purchasing or fitting fire alarms, because information about the number of homes that do not have alarms that meet the new standard is not currently collected as part of the Scottish House Condition Survey.

Home owners are responsible for the costs of on-going work needed to protect and preserve their own property, which includes the costs for the fire alarms to meet the new standard. However, we have provided £0.5 million additional funding for Care and Repair Scotland to provide help installing alarms for older and disabled homeowners on low incomes. We have also provided £1 million to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to provide alarms for owners who are considered most vulnerable to the risk of fire.

Chamber and committees