Graham Simpson

16 Jun 2020 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what actions it is taking in response to the High Rise Inventory 2020.

19 May 2020 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what new targets it has set for its affordable homes programme.

3 May 2020 · Topical Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it will pass on £155 million in Barnett consequentials to councils.

16 Apr 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the current waiting period is between an application being made to the Council Tax Reduction Scheme and a claimant receiving confirmation of its success.

Answer · Ben Macpherson: The Scottish Government does not hold data on the length of time between an application being made under the Council Tax Reduction scheme and the local authority communicating the outcome of that application. Local authorities are responsible for the administ…

16 Apr 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have applied for the Scottish Welfare Fund since the announcement of the additional funding to it on 18 March 2020.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: This information is not held centrally. Applications to the Scottish Welfare Fund are administered by each of Scotland’s 32 local authorities. Data on the number of applications received, number of awards made and expenditure on awards are collected from each…

16 Apr 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the additional £45 million funding allocated to the Scottish Welfare Fund as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak was allocated to each local authority and when each received their allocation.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-28039 on 3 April 2020. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/2…

16 Apr 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the current waiting period is between an application being made to the Scottish Welfare Fund and a claimant receiving a payment.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: This information is not held centrally. Applications to the Scottish Welfare Fund are administered by each of Scotland’s 32 local authorities. Data on the time taken to process applications and to make payments are collected from each authority and published …

16 Apr 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the average payment received by each successful claimant was from the Scottish Welfare Fund’s (a) crisis and (b) community care grant, since 18 March 2020.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: This information is not held centrally. Applications to the Scottish Welfare Fund are administered by each of Scotland’s 32 local authorities. Data on the number of applications received, number of awards made and expenditure on awards are collected from each…

16 Apr 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government which organisations (a) have received and (b) will receive additional volunteers through the Ready Scotland scheme.

Answer · Aileen Campbell: The ‘Scotland Cares’ Campaign has been a huge success and it is testament to the generosity and compassion of the people of Scotland that there are now over 77,000 sign-ups, from all across the country, to support the NHS, other public services and our local …

16 Apr 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support the Ready Scotland volunteer scheme has received.

Answer · Aileen Campbell: The Scotland Cares marketing campaign directs potential volunteers to the Ready Scotland website to sign-up to volunteer in a number of ways. The scheme used existing systems and resources and received no additional financial support.  

16 Apr 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £30 million of Barnett consequentials announced on 8 April 2020 will be put into reserves.

Answer · Kate Forbes: All COVID-19 related consequentials will be fully committed to funding the Scottish Government’s emergency response and therefore no amounts received will be placed in the Scotland Reserve. Scottish Ministers plan to publish a Budget Revision at the end of Ma…

16 Apr 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will use the £30 million of Barnett consequentials announced on 8 April 2020 to provide additional funding to charities.

Answer · Kate Forbes: The Scottish Government announced its support for charities via the £50 million Community Wellbeing Fund and £20 million Third Sector Resilience Fund on 18 March, more than 3 weeks before the UK Government announcement. These Funds provide support for chariti…

16 Apr 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many volunteers have been assigned to directly assist the NHS through the Ready Scotland volunteer scheme.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: 23,101 applicants have offered to support the Health and Social Care response to COVID-19 (May 1). Of these applicants 18,373 returners and students have registered through the Health and Social Care COVID-19 Accelerated Recruitment Portal, hosted through the…

16 Apr 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when the £30 million of Barnett consequentials announced on 8 April 2020 will be available to each department, fund, local authority or public service.

Answer · Kate Forbes: I refer the member to my answer to question S5W-28456 on 30 April 2020. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/…

16 Apr 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the processing time is from individuals signing up to be a volunteer through the Ready Scotland scheme to them becoming an active volunteer for an organisation.

Answer · Aileen Campbell: The ‘Scotland Cares’ Campaign has been a huge success and it is testament to the generosity and compassion of the people of Scotland that there are now over 77,000 sign-ups, from all across the country, to support the NHS, other public services and our local …

16 Apr 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the process is for assigning a Ready Scotland volunteer to a specific volunteering role, and how many people have been assigned specific roles since signing up to the scheme, broken down by the number of people assigned to each type of work.

Answer · Aileen Campbell: The Ready Scotland campaign offers individuals three separate ways to offer their services:- 1. To help the NHS, individuals are signposted towards the NHS Health & Social Care recruitment portal, for paid positions; 2. To help Public Services, individuals …

16 Apr 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people are signed up to the Ready Scotland volunteer scheme, and how many are currently in a volunteering role.

Answer · Aileen Campbell: As at the week ending Friday 01 May, there were 77,057 sign-ups to the Ready Scotland volunteer scheme, the breakdown is provided in the following table -   Date NHS Health & Social Care British Red Cross Volunteer Scotland Total Fri 1-05-20 23,101 1…

16 Apr 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government where the £30 million of Barnett consequentials announced on 8 April 2020 has been allocated, broken down by (a) amount and (b) what it is funding.

Answer · Kate Forbes: Decisions on allocations of COVID-19 consequential funding are ongoing. Scottish Ministers plan to publish a Summer Budget Revision at the end of May for consideration by the Scottish Parliament before summer recess. The Budget Revision will detail all fundin…

10 Mar 2020 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to promote fair trade.

2 Mar 2020 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to Citizens Advice Scotland’s statement that council tax is the “number one debt issue” it deals with.

4 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the total cost to local planning authorities of the introduction of short-term let control areas, as set out in Section 17 of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: Section 17 of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 was inserted by a non-Government amendment at stage 3 of the Scottish Parliament’s consideration of the Planning (Scotland) Bill. At this stage no such assessment has been made. The Scottish Government is curren…

4 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact that the introduction of a licensing system for short-term lets will have on the number of such lets in Scotland.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: There is currently a shortage of reliable information on the precise number, location and nature of short-term lets in Scotland. One of the benefits of introducing a licensing scheme will be to gather this information, which will enable us to see how short-te…

4 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its consultation on a regulatory framework for short-term lets, how many local authorities have requested the introduction of a licensing system.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: Sixteen of Scotland’s local authorities responded to the consultation on a regulatory framework for short-term lets in Scotland. Fifteen of those sixteen noted agreement that there should be minimum safety standards for short-term lets, with most agreeing tha…

4 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what estimates it has made of the resource implications for local authorities and related bodies to introduce, administer and monitor a system of licensing for short-term lets.

Answer · Kevin Stewart:  We intend that local authorities will be able to charge a fee to cover the costs of administering the licensing scheme in their area. We will work with stakeholders as we develop the detail of the regulations for the licensing of short-term lets to prepare a…

4 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many house in multiple occupation (HMO) licenses have been granted by each local authority since their introduction, and what the cost of administering this licensing system has been.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) statistics are publicly available at: http://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-houses-in-multiple-occupation/ . The statistics are provided by local authorities each year through the Housing Statistics Annual R…

4 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether people (a) letting out a spare room in their primary residence and (b) occasionally letting out their entire primary residence will be subject to the proposed licensing regime for short-term lets.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: Safety is a concern across all types of short-term lets, whether the host is sharing their own home or renting out one or more entire properties. That is why the safety component of the licensing scheme will be mandatory for all short-term lets in Scotland, r…

4 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the total cost of a licensing system for short-term lets to (a) owners of short-term lets and (b) local authorities.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: We intend that local authorities will be able to charge a fee to cover the costs of administering the licensing scheme in their area. We will work with stakeholders as we develop the detail of the regulations for the licensing of short-term lets to prepare a …

27 Jan 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-22988 by Kevin Stewart on 16 May 2019, in light of the minister's comment that "work to finalise the revised code will take place over the course of 2019", whether it will confirm by what date it will publish the revised code of conduct for property…

Answer · Kevin Stewart: Detailed work and engagement with stakeholders to improve the property factor code of conduct was undertaken in 2019 and has continued into this year. We are continuing work with stakeholders to focus on ensuring that the revised code is effective and proport…

16 Jan 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the current appointment status is for local authority building verification services in (a) Glasgow, (b) Edinburgh and (c) Stirling.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: Glasgow and Stirling were appointed for a period of three years from 1 May 2019 and City of Edinburgh Council for two years from 1 May 2019, with a commitment to review after one year. In all cases the appointment is dependent on the verifier meeting the ver…

15 Jan 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the performance of local authority building verification services.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: An update is provided below on the national performance levels across Scotland. Performance has remained steady for building warrant applications turnaround times over 2017-18 and 2018-19. Scottish Government officials regularly monitor the performance of all…