Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. 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

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. 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 Scottish Government is aware that passengers, ScotRail staff and other stakeholders hold a wide range of views about alcohol on trains.

Ministers continue to consider this wide range of diverging views in line with the broad range of recommendations made in our report on women and girls’ safety on public transport and in the context of ongoing initiatives to tackle antisocial behaviour on public transport.

The Scottish Government is aware that the regeneration masterplan is being developed for North Laurieston although there has been limited engagement to date.

The Scottish Government is a partner in Transforming Communities: Glasgow (TC:G) along with Glasgow City Council and Wheatley Homes Glasgow to oversee the delivery of a regeneration and development programme across 8 Transformational Regeneration Areas (TRA). The North Laurieston area falls within the Laurieston TRA. The masterplan development is being led by New Gorbals Housing Association and Glasgow City Council planning department, but it is anticipated that TC:G partners will be a consultee in the masterplan going forward.

The Scottish Government is aware of the regulations set out in the UK Social Housing Regulation Act 2023 and the plans to introduce Awaab’s Law by setting out specified timeframes for addressing health hazards. This reflects similar rights already in place for social housing tenants in Scotland.

Under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001, Scottish secure tenants and short Scottish secure tenants currently have the right to have certain urgent repairs carried out by their landlord within a given timescale. The Right to Repair scheme applies to all tenants of local authorities and housing associations. The list of qualifying repairs is set out in The Scottish Secure Tenants (Right to Repair) Regulations 2002, which also sets out the maximum permissible period for completing repairs, and the compensation that is due to tenants where these timescales are not met.

This sits alongside existing requirements for social landlords in Scotland as part of the Scottish Social Housing Charter, monitored by the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR). The Charter includes expected outcomes on the customer/landlord relationship and on the quality of housing. Landlords need to meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard, which requires that homes are healthy, safe and free from serious disrepair.

As part of their review of the Annual Return on the Scottish Social Housing Charter (ARC), SHR are engaging with the sector to develop updated indicators for tenant and resident safety.

SHR aim to confirm the revised ARC indicators by January 2025, with the new ARC being in place for collection year 2025/26. In the meantime, SHR will use Annual Assurance Statements to require landlords to provide specific assurance on their compliance with their tenant and resident safety obligations, including their performance in dealing with instances of damp and mould.

Scottish building regulations already set requirements for new buildings and new building work, including entertainment venues, that are intended to provide safe, unassisted and convenient access to and within buildings. However, building regulations are not applied retrospectively to existing buildings.

Attention should be drawn to the Scottish Government's response to S6W-28573 on 12 August 2024 noting that the Scottish Government expects building owners and managers to be familiar with their duties under equalities legislation and where necessary make reasonable adjustments following the relevant codes of practice published by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

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 Scottish Government recognises the need to increase the supply of affordable homes, including larger properties suitable for households with children. The Scottish Government has allocated additional capital of £40 million in each of the next two financial years to support acquisitions and, where appropriate, to help bring long term empty social homes back into use. This builds on the success of last year’s National Acquisition Programme, which invested more than £83 million in 2023-24 and helped deliver almost 1,500 affordable homes. This additional £40 million takes our total investment in affordable housing to almost £600 million in 2024-25.

The Scottish Government’s ambition is to prevent homelessness, where possible, to avoid the need for temporary accommodation. We understand, however, that there is a need for more suitable temporary accommodation, which would include accommodation suitable for the needs of women with children.

The Scottish Government has taken action to increase the supply of suitable accommodation, in particular, larger properties suitable for households with children. Scottish Government investment of more than £83 million in our National Acquisition Programme in 2023-24 delivered almost 1,500 affordable homes. This assisted local authorities’ efforts to ensure households with children who have been living in temporary accommodation for longer periods are supported into suitable settled housing.

The Scottish Government has allocated additional capital of £40 million to the Affordable Housing Supply Programme in each of the next two financial years. As women make up the majority (74%) of single parent households assessed as homeless, this will benefit them most.

In our engagement with local authorities to date, we have been clear that increasing the supply of social housing suitable for families is needed to reduce the number of children in temporary accommodation, a key Scottish Government objective in tackling child poverty.

Whilst services on the main Edinburgh to Glasgow via Falkirk High route ran every 15 minutes prior to the Covid pandemic, ScotRail reported an underutilisation of resources, which was addressed with ScotRail’s ‘Fit for Future’ timetable re-shuffle in 2022.

With 4 services per hour in peak times, and 2 services per hour off peak on week days, this route is currently served well and provides the required capacity at the times people need it.

ScotRail monitors the passenger demand closely and wherever possible, increases capacity where it is required. As part of May 2023 timetable change ScotRail increased the number of services on Saturdays, which is now the busiest day on this route. As a result, passengers enjoy 4 services per hour on Saturdays during the day.

Scottish Forestry is reviewing its approach to assessing Forestry Grant Scheme applications for grey squirrel control. This has been necessary because the Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrel project is no longer able to provide assistance with the assessment of grant applications. This process will be concluded shortly and we hope to be able to continue the processing of grant applications. An evaluation of the effectiveness of the FGS grey squirrel control grant has been undertaken will be shared as part of an overall FGS evaluation report when finalised.