Questions and answers

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 ��˿�� 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: S5W-09054

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 9 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many homeless people have been housed by a local authority in accommodation outside of its area in each of the last three years, also broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S5W-09056

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 9 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-07226 by Kevin Stewart on 1 March 2017, what actions it has taken following such recommendations.

The Scottish Government has taken a number of actions as a result of delivering the workplan and recommendations of the Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group:

We are working with local authorities to identify models of temporary accommodation which can improve outcomes for homeless households. This is against the background of a reduction of funding made available for temporary accommodation as a result of UK Government welfare reform. A formula for distribution of funding for 2017-18, which was transferred from UK Government to the Scottish Government for temporary accommodation to local authorities, was agreed with COSLA in March 2017.
A number of steps have also been taken to strengthen links between homelessness and health services, including work to link data to improve understanding and inform policy responses. This has been alongside supporting the promotion of innovative approaches to addressing homelessness amongst those with more complex needs such as the Housing First approach and the need for Psychologically Informed Environments.
All of this is also linked to our continued promotion of the Housing Options approach and financial support for local authorities, including providing additional funding for the development of a training toolkit which will involve a number of different policy areas beyond housing. The toolkit will assist to ensure a consistent response on Housing Options across Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-09062

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 9 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how it measures the success of its Housing Options Approach.

Statistical information on the operation of housing options approaches is collected by local authorities (Prevent 1) and published by the Scottish Government. This and the HL1 statistics on homelessness applications provide ways that the operation of the approach can be measured.

However, we also ensure that statistical information is underpinned by regular engagement and sharing of best practice on homelessness prevention between the Scottish Government, Housing Option Hubs, other partners and homeless people themselves to help measure progress.

Question reference: S5W-09033

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 3 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on what should happen to rental deposits held in secure schemes that are unclaimed after the cessation of the let.

Question reference: S5W-08526

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 18 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will include a question in its next Household Survey questionnaire, which asks whether someone would consider downsizing to a home designed to meet their needs as they become older.

The Scottish Household Survey (SHS) team is currently assessing all the bids received for the SHS 2018 and 2019 questionnaires. This includes a bid for a question on the willingness for older people to downsize their home. The SHS steering group will consider the SHS questionnaire at their next meeting in June at which final decisions on content will be made. The Scottish Government will publish a report in July which details the outcomes of the review and which questions will be included in SHS 2018 and 2019.

Question reference: S5O-00855

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 30 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the report to the UK Government, Each Home Counts.

The Scottish Government has long held the view that the UK Government should look to strengthen their consumer protection frameworks and industry standards in the energy efficiency market and therefore we welcomed the review when first announced.

Now that it is published we will carefully consider the review’s recommendations as part of the development of Scotland Energy Efficiency Programme (SEEP). We are currently consulting on programme and policy options for SEEP until 30 May 2017. As part of this consultation we are asking how best the programme can build consumer confidence, ensure quality delivery and how it can integrate with the findings of the Each Home Counts review.

Question reference: S5F-01073

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 March 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 March 2017

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to reports that, in 2015, around one-in-five referrals to child and adolescent mental health services were rejected and, over the last three years, approximately 17,000 children and young people have been affected.

Question reference: S5O-00820

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the comments by the divisional commander of British Transport Police in Scotland that its proposed merger with Police Scotland risks reducing the effectiveness of railway policing.

Question reference: S5W-07225

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 2 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many B&Bs in each local authority have been used as emergency accommodation for homeless people in the last year.

Question reference: S5W-07224

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 2 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many families are in temporary accommodation in each local authority as a result of homelessness.

The Scottish Government collect data on the number of households with dependent children and pregnant women in temporary accommodation, this is published on a bi-annual basis. The most recent published data is from 30 September 2016.

Households with dependent children and pregnant women in temporary accommodation as at 30 September 2016.

Scotland	3,174
Aberdeen City	64
Aberdeenshire	127
Angus	6
Argyll & Bute	32
Clackmannanshire	12
Dumfries & Galloway	37
Dundee City	59
East Ayrshire	16
East Dunbartonshire	68
East Lothian	148
East Renfrewshire	16
Edinburgh	315
Eilean Siar	12
Falkirk	48
Fife	191
Glasgow City	765
Highland	141
Inverclyde	6
Midlothian	190
Moray	45
North Ayrshire	31
North Lanarkshire	152
Orkney	7
Perth & Kinross	30
Renfrewshire	22
Scottish Borders	20
Shetland	29
South Ayrshire	40
South Lanarkshire	296
Stirling	38
West Dunbartonshire	42
West Lothian	169

Source: HL2 dataset as at 25-11-16