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We are making available at least £60 million for the National Acquisition Programme. Spend will be reliant on suitable properties being available to purchase that align with local authorities’ strategic housing priorities. We are working closely with partners to identify and support projects to be brought forward.

We have published resource planning assumptions covering 2021-2026. When annual financial year expenditure is concluded and finalised we publish an annual out-turn report which illustrates actual spend compared to original resource planning assumptions at the start of the financial year. The report for 2022-23 is currently being finalised but the report for 2021-22 can be found here – Affordable Housing Supply Programme: out-turn report 2021-22 - ( )

Workforce numbers are reviewed regularly to make sure the Scottish Government is delivering its policy priorities efficiently and effectively. Enhanced recruitment controls are in place to ensure best value for taxpayers’ money, however these operate at the level of the Scottish Government, and there is no specific recruitment cap set centrally with workforce decisions managed across directorates and their divisions.

The Scottish Government collects information on the composition of households making homelessness applications through the HL1 data collection. This includes information on the number of children in the household. The HL3 data collection collects information about temporary accommodation placements connected to homelessness applications.

An additional question was added to the HL3 data collection in 2019 to ask if a child is in the temporary accommodation placement. Although all local authorities have been able to provide this data from April 2022, as this is the first time a full set of data has been available, this is subject to on-going quality assurance. Therefore, information relating to the presence of children 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 households may sometimes make alternative arrangements for children when entering temporary accommodation and therefore it is not always the case that children included in the HL1 return are present in associated temporary accommodation placements. It can also be the case that children are present for only part of the stay in temporary accommodation e.g. as part of shared custody arrangements.

Data on temporary accommodation taken from the HL3 data collection is only available for all local authorities from 2017-18, however, this includes temporary accommodation placements which commenced prior to 2017-18. In addition, some local authorities have provided data prior to 2017-18 and, where this is available it has been included.

Information at individual (person or household) level cannot be provided due to data confidentiality.

The following table shows the distribution of time spent in temporary accommodation for households with children included in homelessness applications for each local authority. The figures are based on homelessness applications made since 1 January 2016 that closed on, or prior to, 31 March 2023 with at least one associated temporary accommodation placement. Note that figures may be based on the total duration of multiple temporary accommodation placements taken up by a household.

Figures have been rounded to the nearest 5 due to small numbers in some categories.

These figures may include households who have turned down multiple offers of settled accommodation by the local authority and chosen to stay in temporary accommodation instead.

Time spent in temporary accommodation for households with children included in the homelessness application (number of households)

Households with an open homelessness application from 1 January 2016 which was closed at, or prior to 31 March 2023 with at least one associated temporary accommodation placement*

The quarterly statistics covering the period to end June 2023 are planned to be published on 12 September. The quarterly statistics for the period including to end August are expected to be published in December.

The following table shows the number of homes approved from applications received from (a) registered social landlords (b) local authorities since the National Acquisition Plan was announced on 19 July 2023. This information is to 24 August 2023:

The Scottish Government is required to deliver a balanced budget and outturn in each year. This has been consistently delivered through prudent and effective financial management, balancing fiscal constraints with priorities. In July 2021 Scottish Government launched the Young Patients Family Fund (YPFF), which subsumed the Neonatal Expenses Fund (NEF) to create a single unified fund. These funds are demand led and the Scottish Government has ensured full funding against demand in each year since 2018/19.

Following the testing period the Early Implementer Boards noted that no negative feedback was received from families about the process. However, due to only a small number of babies being transferred this made it difficult to achieve the depth of parent feedback hoped for.

In order to capture parent representation in the Options Appraisal and Best Start Programme Board decision making process, the Chief Executive of Bliss sits on our Best Start Programme Board and was a participant in the options appraisal process, representing the views of neonatal families.

As part of the next phase, Scottish Government will be consulting with families in the affected areas on implementation of the proposals, so that we can take account of their concerns when the pathways and processes for the new model of care are designed. This will affect a very small number of families however it is important that we hear the voices of those families to input into design of service delivery.

The Best Start emphasises parents as key partners in caring for their baby and aims to keep mothers and babies, and families together as much as possible in the crucial early weeks, with services designed around them. We have a number of measures already in place to support families with babies in neonatal care:

• Providing accommodation for parents to stay on or near neonatal units and facilities within the unit to encourage kangaroo skin to skin care and early support for breastfeeding;
• Roll out of the Young Patients Family Fund (formerly the Neonatal Expenses Fund) to support families with the costs of travel, accommodation and food whilst their baby is in neonatal care; and
• Repatriating babies to their local neonatal units as soon as clinically possible

Neonatal units have agreed to continue to seek parent feedback to ensure opportunities to improve the experiences of families are identified on an ongoing basis.

The Scottish Government asks NHS Boards to report on the number of travel claims, accommodation claims and meals reimbursed. The data held by the Scottish Government, as reported by NHS Boards, is set out in the following table.

The Neonatal Expenses Fund (NEF) ran from April 2018 to July 2021. The Young Patients Family Fund (YPFF) was launched on 26 July 2021 and the new fund subsumed the NEF to create a single unified fund.

Part (a) With regard to the budget to date for NEF/YPFF I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18481 on 14 June 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/written-questions-and-answers

Part (b)