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: S6F-00720

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 January 2022

To ask the First Minister how much has been spent on private sector contracts in the preparation of the proposed national care service.

Question reference: S6F-00715

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 January 2022

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the findings of a recent report by the Virtual Trials National Project Board, which states that specialist online courts should be set up to deal with domestic abuse cases.

Question reference: S6F-00713

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 24 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 January 2022

To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet.

Question reference: S6F-00711

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 January 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-00712

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 January 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-05416

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 24 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it (a) has considered and (b) will consider using its power of veto on plans to designate all of Edinburgh a short-term let control zone.

Question reference: S6W-05415

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 24 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with local authorities regarding its plans to regulate short-term lets.

Question reference: S6W-05421

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 24 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what role it has planned for VisitScotland regarding the implementation and management of planned short-term let restrictions.

Question reference: S6W-05290

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 24 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) individuals and (b) families are living in accommodation that is subject to an Unsuitable Accommodation Order, broken down by local authority area.

Scotland’s strong homelessness rights mean households are placed in temporary accommodation as a legal right, with three quarters of families with children in temporary accommodation housed in social housing. Temporary accommodation should always be a short term option, and local authorities are working hard to ensure people have the appropriate support and move as rapidly as possible into settled accommodation.

The Scottish Government collects information on individual temporary accommodation placements and whether or not they are unsuitable, as defined by the Homeless Persons (Unsuitable Accommodation) (Scotland) Order 2014.

Temporary exceptions were put in place to allow local authorities to provide households with accommodation in response to COVID-19. The legislation noted that a placement was not considered unsuitable if:

a person in the household has symptoms of coronavirus and the household requires to isolate; or
the accommodation is required to provide temporary accommodation to ensure that a distance of 2 metres can be maintained between a member of the household and a person who is not a member of the household; or
the local authority is unable to place the household in suitable accommodation as a result of the impacts of coronavirus on temporary accommodation supply in the area, provided that where a household includes a child or a pregnant woman the household is not placed in unsuitable accommodation for more than 7 days.

(To note: the first two of these were introduced in May 2020 and the third in September 2020.)

It is possible that local authorities applied the COVID-19 exceptions in different ways, which may impact upon comparability in data reporting and the figures in the below table.

A household placed in unsuitable accommodation where an exception did not apply must still be recorded as an unsuitable accommodation placement.

The most recent data available is up to 31 March 2021. The following table shows snapshot data of the number of individuals and households in unsuitable temporary accommodation as at 31 March 2021, defined as above.

In the absence of a definition of ‘families’, this has been taken to mean any household with children.

The Scottish Government collects information on the composition of households making homelessness applications through the HL1 data collection. The HL3 data collection gathers information about temporary accommodation placements connected to homelessness applications.

Therefore, information relating to the number of individuals and household composition of those within temporary accommodation placements has been derived by linking household records between the HL1 and HL3 data collections. However, it is important to note that the household composition included in the HL1 return may not be a true reflection of those who are present in the associated temporary accommodation placement(s). This can be particularly the case for children e.g. where households make alternative arrangements for children when entering temporary accommodation.

Households and individuals in unsuitable temporary accommodation as at 31st March 2021

	Households without children in unsuitable TA		Households with children in unsuitable TA		All households in unsuitable TA
LA	Number of households	Number of individuals	Number of households	Number of individuals	Number of households	Number of individuals
Scotland	95	100	30	90	125	185
Aberdeen City	0	0	0	0	0	0
Aberdeenshire	10	10	<5	5	10	15
Angus	<5	<5	0	0	<5	<5
Argyll & Bute	0	0	0	0	0	0
Clackmannanshire	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dumfries & Galloway	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dundee City	0	0	<5	5	<5	5
East Ayrshire	0	0	0	0	0	0
East Dunbartonshire	0	0	<5	<5	<5	<5
East Lothian	50	50	<5	<5	50	50
East Renfrewshire	<5	<5	<5	<5	<5	5
Edinburgh	<5	<5	<5	10	<5	10
Eilean Siar	0	0	0	0	0	0
Falkirk	0	0	0	0	0	0
Fife	<5	<5	0	0	<5	<5
Glasgow City	<5	<5	10	35	10	35
Highland	30	30	<5	10	35	40
Inverclyde	0	0	0	0	0	0
Midlothian	0	0	0	0	0	0
Moray	0	0	0	0	0	0
North Ayrshire	0	0	0	0	0	0
North Lanarkshire	0	0	0	0	0	0
Orkney	0	0	0	0	0	0
Perth & Kinross	0	0	0	0	0	0
Renfrewshire	0	0	0	0	0	0
Scottish Borders	0	0	0	0	0	0
Shetland	0	0	0	0	0	0
South Ayrshire	0	0	0	0	0	0
South Lanarkshire	0	0	0	0	0	0
Stirling	0	0	<5	15	<5	15
West Dunbartonshire	0	0	0	0	0	0
West Lothian	0	0	<5	<5	<5	<5

Source: HL1 & HL3

Note 1: The number of individuals refers to the number of adults and children in the household
‎ Note 2: Figures have been rounded to the nearest 5 for confidentiality purposes. Values of 1, 2, 3 or 4 are denoted by ‘<5’.

Question reference: S6W-05407

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 24 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what impact it expects new regulations on short-term lets to have on (a) the supply of affordable homes and (b) tackling Scotland’s reported housing crisis.

Our regulatory proposals will give local authorities powers to strike a balance between the needs and concerns of their local communities, with the wider economic and tourism benefits of short-term lets. In certain areas, achieving this balance may require a reduction in numbers of whole homes offered for short-term lets and local authorities have been given powers through the planning control area regulations to help manage activity in their area.

We do not have an estimate of how many short-term lets will return to the long-term housing market as this depends on how local authorities use the powers they are being given.

Parliament dissolved ahead of election

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