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The Scottish Government has collated Scotland level data on the number of enforcement notices since 2010. Information about notices should be available from individual local authorities via their online building standards registers on their websites. These have been publicly available since 2016. The number of notices issued under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 is provided in the following table.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13803 on 25 January 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/questions-and-answers

For this response families have been interpreted as households with children.

There have been 447 households with children included in the homelessness application that have spent three years or more in temporary accommodation. This is based on available temporary accommodation placement data, where placements closed on or before 31 March 2022. Source: HL1 and HL3 data collections up to 31 March 2022, data as published on 18 August 2022.

Notes on data

The total duration of stay in temporary accommodation for households with children has been derived by linking records between the homelessness application (HL1) and temporary accommodation placement (HL3) data collections. The HL1 collects information on the composition of households making homelessness applications (available from 2002-03). The HL3 gathers information about temporary accommodation placements associated with homelessness applications (only available for all local authorities from 2017-18, however, it includes placements which commenced prior, and includes data prior to this for some local authorities).

The total duration is based on the sum of the durations of all temporary accommodation placements associated with the same household. It may be underestimated where households have placements that started and ended before the HL3 data collection began.

The figure includes households who may have turned down multiple offers of settled accommodation by the local authority but have chosen to wait for an offer that fully meets their needs.

It is important to note that households may sometimes make alternative arrangements for children when entering temporary accommodation and therefore children included in the HL1 return are not always present in associated placements. It can also be that children are present for only part of the stay in temporary accommodation, e.g. as part of shared custody arrangements.

The exact information requested is not held centrally or by Public Health Scotland. Detailed below are published information that are available and relevant:

1. Estimates of the number of homeless deaths registered in Scotland during 2021 are published by the National Records of Scotland. These data include breakdowns by sex and age-group, council area and cause of death, but have no information on whether they were receiving NHS treatment. These figures are also based on a wider definition of homelessness than people with no fixed abode. The publication can be found here:

2. Published figures on numbers of patients with “no fixed abode” that have been admitted to hospital can be found within the within the Annual Acute Activity publication. Published data is available for a ten year period, from financial year 2012/13 to financial year 2021/22. Data on patient activity is presented in Table 2 – inpatient and day case activity, and the measure of interest can be found by selecting the NHS board of residence in the indicator drop down and either stays, episodes or patients within the measure drop down. Figures where ‘no fixed abode’ will then be listed in the table. The publication can be found here:

Whilst the Scottish Government continue to reconcile COVID-19 funding allocations in order to ensure transparency in the use of public funds and compliance with the audit framework, the Scottish Government has not recovered and has no plans to recover any COVID-19 related funding from local authorities.

Significant policy review in relation to neurodevelopmental disorders including autism and attention deficit disorder (ADHD) was undertaken through the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Taskforce which reported in 2019. The Taskforce recommended that the Scottish Government should develop a neurodevelopmental service specification for use across services in Scotland. The Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Programme Board and the subsequent Joint Delivery Board took responsibility for developing these principles and standards of care.

In September 2021, the Scottish Government published the National Neurodevelopmental Specification for Children and Young People which sets out seven standards for service providers to ensure that children and young people who have neurodevelopmental profiles with support needs receive the support that they require.

The Specification is purposefully inclusive and includes support for those who may be identified with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

The Specification states that comorbidity and coexistence of a range of neurodevelopmental needs is common and that all children and families should experience joined up support, based on the single child’s plan, with professionals from different agencies working together to provide the range of support the child or young person needs.

The wellbeing of firefighters is a priority set out in the Scottish Government’s Fire and Rescue Framework 2022. The Scottish Government is willing to consider and discuss any emerging issues and proposals from research on this issue with both SFRS and the FBU.

Planning authorities are required to maintain a Register of Enforcement containing details of any enforcement action taken by that authority, including notices issued under s.179 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997. The Register of Enforcement is a public document and is published by the planning authority.

There is no requirement for a planning authority to inform the Scottish Government when any enforcement notice, including a notice under s.179 of the 1997 Act is issued. The Scottish Government therefore does not hold such information.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the level and nature of foreign investment in universities in Scotland as universities are autonomous bodies.