The Scottish Parliament

Question reference: S6W-04516

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Friday, 19 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much it allocated in 2020-21 to the Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland (HEEPS) elements, (a) Area-based Schemes, (b) Loans and Cashback, (c) Warmer Homes Scotland and (d) Fuel Poverty and Energy Efficiency Advice and Support.

Question reference: S6W-04473

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether the cut-off date for payments made under the Tenant Hardship Loan Fund is a matter for each local authority to decide.

The Tenant Hardship Loan Fund has not been administered by local authorities so I have assumed that you are referring to the £10m Tenant Grant Fund announced in June and have responded to your question on that basis.

The purpose of the Tenant Grant Fund is to mitigate the short to medium term financial challenges being experienced by tenants adversely impacted by restrictions and regulations introduced since March 2020, to control the spread of Covid-19.

The fund enables local authorities to prevent homelessness and sustain tenancies by directly reducing, alleviating or paying off rent arrears altogether where a tenant is in either the social or private rented sectors, and has faced difficulties due to Covid-19.

On timings, the non-statutory guidance issued to support local authorities in their administration of the grant fund sets out that it is to be used specifically to help repay rent arrears that have arisen due to the Covid-19 pandemic between 23 March 2020 and 9 August 2021; and that arrears before 23 March 2020 cannot be covered.

However, local authorities have discretion as to payment in individual cases and should consider whether the payment is a necessary or justified action to avoid the tenant becoming homeless. This recognises the experience that local authorities have in supporting people in a housing crisis, and will help identify where funding would be most effectively provided.

The Tenant Hardship Loan Fund and the PRS Landlord (non-business) Covid-19 Loan will close to new applications at the end of December allowing final loans to be paid before the end of 31 March 2022, in line with the allocation of the Tenant Grant Fund.

Question reference: S6W-04472

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been allocated to each local authority to operate the Tenant Hardship Loan Fund.

The Tenant Hardship Loan Fund has not been administered by local authorities so I have assumed that you are referring to the £10m Tenant Grant Fund announced in June and have responded to your question on that basis.

The following table sets out the allocation each local authority has received from the Tenant Grant Fund:

	2021-22 Allocation
	Grant Fund	Admin
	£000s	£000s
Aberdeen City	393	21
Aberdeenshire	278	15
Angus	156	8
Argyll & Bute	93	5
City of Edinburgh	1,499	79
Clackmannanshire	138	7
Dumfries & Galloway	207	11
Dundee City	358	19
East Ayrshire	190	10
East Dunbartonshire	105	6
East Lothian	175	9
East Renfrewshire	82	4
Falkirk	218	11
Fife	615	32
Glasgow City	1,542	81
Highland	296	16
Inverclyde	93	5
Midlothian	158	8
Moray	87	5
Na h-Eileanan Siar	22	1
North Ayrshire	298	16
North Lanarkshire	562	30
Orkney Islands	21	1
Perth & Kinross	179	9
Renfrewshire	214	11
Scottish Borders	175	9
Shetland Islands	24	1
South Ayrshire	189	10
South Lanarkshire	439	23
Stirling	105	6
West Dunbartonshire	263	14
West Lothian	326	17
All	9,500	500

Question reference: S6W-04475

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether loans provided under the previous tenant loan fund will be converted to grants.

Question reference: S6W-04309

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how it will support funded early learning and childcare providers in the private, voluntary and childminding sectors to deliver on its aim of building a system of wraparound school-age childcare and the ambition to provide funded early learning to one-year-olds from low-income households, in light of the reported recruitment and retention challenges facing the sectors.

We work closely with the childcare sector representative bodies and appreciate the challenges faced by settings in relation to recruitment and retention. We are already providing support to all parts of the childcare sector with regard to recruitment and retention challenges. For example, we have invited those whose registrations to work in childcare have lapsed in recent years to re-join the sector; we are providing work experience in the sector via the National Transitional Training Fund; and our national recruitment campaign provides resources to assist with local recruitment. We continue to support the childminding sector as set out in Our Commitment to Childminding Report, which can be found at: Our commitment to childminding: report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

We will work in partnership with all parts of the childcare sector to develop delivery plans for school-aged childcare and funded early learning for one year olds and to ensure that the appropriate support is in place. We have also committed to developing a new, five-year Workforce Strategy for the childcare sector. The strategy will address recruitment and retention challenges to build on the support already available, taking into account our commitments to build a system of wraparound childcare and further extend early learning.

Question reference: S6W-04476

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether applications to the Tenant Hardship Loan Fund can be made by tenants directly, or whether this is restricted to registered landlords only.

The Tenant Hardship Loan Fund provides loans to tenants who are having difficulty paying rent because of the impacts of COVID-19. A loan may be paid to tenants or to landlords directly if authorised by the tenant but landlords are not eligible to apply for this loan directly.

The PRS Landlord (non-business) Covid-19 Loan is available to assist certain registered social landlords experiencing loss of income as a result of COVID 19 restrictions. Landlords may apply directly for this loan.

Question reference: S6W-04497

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many loans have been provided to customers through the Low Carbon Transport Loan scheme to cover the purchase of new electric vehicles in the Scottish Borders area, and what the total value is of these loans.

The Scottish Government since 2010 has provided funding to the Energy Saving Trust to deliver the Low Carbon Transport Loan, this interest free loan has supported individuals and businesses across Scotland purchase new electric vehicles.

As of the 23 rd November 2021, 141 loans have been provided to individuals and businesses across the Scottish Borders to support the purchase of new electric vehicles to the value of £3,946,087.

Question reference: S6W-04543

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ash Regan on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when it will next review the impact of the sections in the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 regarding occasional licences.

The Scottish Government consulted in 2019 on a number of areas associated with the legislative regime for occasional licences. This included the level of fees and whether or not there should be a limit on the number and duration of occasional licences for premises/personal licence holders. The views offered in response will help inform further consideration of issues in this area in due course.

Decisions about the granting of occasional licences are for independent licensing boards within the framework of the 2005 Act. Each licensing board is required to produce a licensing policy statement explaining how they will approach the operation of licensing within their area in line with the five licencing objectives. This can include details about policy on the granting of occasional licences.

Question reference: S6W-04510

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications to the Women in Agriculture Practical Training Fund there have been, and of those how many (a) were approved, (b) were not approved and (c) following appeal, were (i) approved and (ii) not approved.

In total 585 applications for the Women in Agriculture Practical Training Fund were received. Of this:

- 460 applications were approved.

- Where an application was not approved (125 applications), there was always a reason provided, specific to the application and if sought clarification and discussion on this reasoning was provided.

- There have been no appeals. A number of applications were asked to provide additional information, and where provided the application was reviewed in light of the additional information.

Question reference: S6W-04665

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 29 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-04126 by Ivan McKee on 12 November 2021, whether it will list the members of the Aerospace and Defence Industry Group.

As indicated in the response provided in answer S6W-04126 on 12 November 2021, the Aerospace and Defence Industry Group (ADIG) is the industry-led successor body to the Ministerial-led Aerospace Response Group (ARG) and membership of ADIG was extended to all members of the previous group.

Secretariat to the ADIG is provided by the industry body ADS Scotland, therefore information regarding membership of ADIG is a matter for them.

Parliament dissolved ahead of election

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