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No assessment has been made on the impact of local housing allowance changes to investment. The Scottish Government made clear it was concerned about the potential impact, and welcomed the announcement that funding for supported accommodation would be maintained at current levels.

The Scottish Government intends to use devolved funding to ensure that the supported accommodation sector is put onto a secure and sustainable footing. We will work with a broad range of stakeholders to achieve this.

The UK Government has not begun discussions with the Scottish Government on the calculation of funding which will be devolved. We expect the UK Government to provide overall funding sufficient to fund supported accommodation at current levels, and we will work with the sector to ensure that the devolved funding reflects this.

Such discussions will be informed by the DWPs own research. When it is published we will consider this research carefully, and consider whether the Scottish Government needs to undertake further research or analysis to support our discussions with the UK Government.

No assessment has been made on the impact of local housing allowance changes to groups of recipients in supported accommodation. The UK Government has undertaken a substantial body of research on the provision of supported accommodation across Great Britain which we understand will shortly be published along with a consultation paper. When it is published we will consider this research carefully, and consider whether the Scottish Government needs to undertake further research or analysis.

The Scottish Government does not currently collect data on people in supported accommodation, however Scottish Government are currently in the process of implementing a data collection which will provide some data on this.

We expect the UK Government to publish research on the provision of supported accommodation and a consultation paper with more detail on their proposed approach shortly, it would be premature to make any plans without this information.

The Scottish Government intends to use devolved funding to ensure that the supported accommodation sector is put onto a secure and sustainable footing and we will work with a broad range of stakeholders to achieve this.

The Scottish Government meets with housing providers and other stakeholders with an interest in supported accommodation through the temporary accommodation and supported accommodation sub group, which has met since 2013. This group has discussed the plans to extend local housing allowance (LHA) to the social sector, and its members, including Scottish Women’s Aid have been among those groups calling on the UK Government to take a different approach for supported accommodation.

This group last met on 19 September, and discussed the Secretary of State for Work and Pension’s written statement on applying LHA to the social rented sector, and the funding for supported accommodation. The group agreed to meet again shortly after the DWP research and consultation had been published.

This group also consulted with the Scottish Housing Best Value Network (Now known as the Scottish Housing Network) on guidance to support landlords and local authority housing benefit teams in defining supported exempt accommodation for the purpose of ensuring unintended consequences of UK Government welfare reform were avoided and to prepare for any measures to localise support for this sector.

Local Authority Strategic Housing Investment Plans (SHIPs) are produced every two years by local authorities. These are the key documents which identify the strategic housing projects to assist the achievement of the 50,000 target. SHIPs will be directly informed by the councils Local Housing Strategy and developed in consultation with key stakeholders.

Funding decisions are therefore based on the priorities of local authorities as identified in their Housing Need and Demand Assessments, Local Housing Strategies and Strategic Housing Investment Plans.

The Scottish Government does not currently collect data on people in supported accommodation, however Scottish Government are currently in the process of implementing a data collection which will provide some data on this. As rents in supported accommodation generally exceed local housing allowance rates we would expect a significant number of those in supported accommodation receiving support for housing costs to be affected.

The Department for Work and Pensions are responsible for collecting and publishing data on housing benefit and local housing allowance (LHA). LHA rates are published at . The Scottish Government has not made any assessment on the current shortfall between awards of LHA and rents. LHA rates currently only apply to the private sector.

The Audiology Services Advisory Group (ASAG) was established by the Scottish Government in 2003 to take forward the audiology modernisation programme. Following the successful completion of the work in December 2011, it was agreed that the Group’s functions would be best served operationally at NHS board level through the Heads of Audiology Services Group, which meets quarterly and is due to next meet in February 2017. The Scottish Government is currently considering the recommendation from Action on Hearing Loss Scotland’s report, 'Time to raise the standards', on reconvening ASAG - see the answer to question S5W-04433 on 9 November 2016.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the services, support and care available to people with hearing loss through its national strategy ‘See Hear’. The strategy was jointly endorsed by COSLA and the Scottish Government allocated £2 million of funding, over two years, to support its implementation. The strategy is being delivered through local partnerships. Local leads are in place to identify priority areas and drive progress locally. In addition, the Scottish Government allocated a further £200,000 to the Scottish Lip Reading Strategy Group, between 2012-2015, to improve access to lip reading classes for adults with hearing loss in Scotland.