Miles Briggs

3 Aug 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-00986 by Ivan McKee on 23 June 2021, whether it will provide an update on what progress has been made on (a) developing and (b) the opening of the applications process for green ports.

Answer · Ivan McKee: The Scottish Government has been ready since March to proceed with the process to establish green ports. We are in an on-going dialogue with the UK Government with the aim of working together to ensure that green ports drive fair work practices and contribute…

3 Aug 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on removing parking charges at all hospitals.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Tayside have concluded agreements to buyout the PFI car park contracts for the Glasgow Royal Infirmary and Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, respectively. As a result, these car parks have now come under the direct control of t…

3 Aug 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will reconsider plans for the workplace parking levy, in light of concerns that it may place financial pressure on businesses as they recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Answer · Graeme Dey: The Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 provides local authorities with a discretionary power to set up workplace parking licensing (WPL) schemes. As set out in our Climate Change Plan Update, we remain committed to plans to take forward policy consultation in adv…

27 Jul 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-01062 by Graeme Dey on 15 July 2021, when it anticipates proposals for a new developer funded station at Winchburgh will be completed.

Answer · Graeme Dey: As per the Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance, it is the responsibility of the developer to submit a business case to Transport Scotland for consideration. This will ensure the evidenced based transport challenges are appropriately addressed for the villag…

22 Jul 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many breaches of the Homeless Persons (Unsuitable Accommodation) (Scotland) Order 2014 have been recorded in each year since its commencement, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Shona Robison: The following table shows a breakdown of breaches of the Unsuitable Accommodation Order from 2017-18 to 2020-21 by local authority. Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 5 for disclosure purposes. Data on temporary accommodation taken from the HL3 data co…

22 Jul 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the workforce requirements in the construction industry.

Answer · Ivan McKee: We regularly assess workforce requirements across the whole of the Scottish economy, including in construction. The construction industry is a core sector of the Scottish economy, providing infrastructure to businesses across all sectors of the economy. We a…

22 Jul 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people recorded as being homeless have died in each year since 1999.

Answer · Shona Robison: The exact information is not available, as National Records of Scotland only began collecting this data from 2017 onwards. The latest report, ‘Deaths of People Experiencing Homelessness in Scotland’, can be found here: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//st…

22 Jul 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many affordable homes are projected to be built in each local authority area over the next five years.

Answer · Shona Robison: Housing to 2040 is Scotland’s first ever long-term national housing strategy and makes clear our ambition to deliver 100,000 affordable homes by ? 2031-32, 70% of which will be for social rent. Local authorities have a statutory function to assess local hous…

22 Jul 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on the establishment of Social Security Scotland in each year since its inception.

Answer · Ben Macpherson: The Programme Business Case which was published in February 2020 provides a full breakdown of implementation costs each year since Social Security Scotland was established. The link to the Executive Summary of the PBC can be found at the following link: http…

22 Jul 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have presented with alcohol addiction issues in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Maree Todd: The information requested is publically available from PHS. This release provides information on alcohol-related inpatient and day case activity within general acute and psychiatric hospitals in Scotland. The release covers general acute hospital activity for…

22 Jul 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been employed within Social Security Scotland in each year since its inception.

Answer · Ben Macpherson: Information on the numbers of people employed by Social Security Scotland is published quarterly and can be accessed using the following link: Social Security Scotland - Social Security Scotland Workforce Information to March 2021 .

22 Jul 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many public contracts have been awarded by (a) it and (b) other bodies, to third sector organisations, in each year since 2007, and what the total value is of third sector contracts awarded each year for the same time period.

Answer · Ivan McKee: The Scottish Government is able to provide details of contracts awarded by itself to third sector organisations however, without disproportionate time, cost and extensive review of many thousands of individual contractual agreements we are unable to provide d…

22 Jul 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many sheltered housing places have been available in each year since 1999, also broken down by local authority.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Housing Regulator collects comprehensive data on sheltered housing provided by Local Authorities and other Social Housing Landlords. The latest published data, as at 31 March 2019, broken down by local authority, is available at: https://www.hou…

22 Jul 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been supported through Housing First in each year since its introduction, broken down by local authority.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Housing First Pathfinder programme started in August 2018 across six local authority areas with Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire working in partnership. Up until the 30 June 2021, a total of 531 people have received Housing First support through the pathfinder …

22 Jul 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to review the methadone programme.

Answer · Angela Constance: The Scottish Government has no plans to review the arrangements currently in place through which qualified clinicians, taking on board the patients’ medical history and lifestyle, agree with their patients, on a case-by-case basis, whether they would benefit …

22 Jul 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many playing fields have been sold by local authorities in each year since 1999.

Answer · Ben Macpherson: Local authorities are independent corporate bodies with their own powers and responsibilities, separate from the Scottish Government. As such, the information requested is not held by the Scottish Government and would have to be obtained directly from individ…

22 Jul 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many affordable homes it estimates will be required in each local authority to meet local demand over the next decade.

Answer · Shona Robison: Housing to 2040 is Scotland’s first ever long-term national housing strategy and makes clear our ambition to deliver 100,000 affordable homes by ? 2031-32, 70% of which will be for social rent. Local authorities as the statutory housing authority are respons…

22 Jul 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it will provide further information regarding the grant scheme for rent arrears.

Answer · Shona Robison: Details of the £10 million grant fund scheme - announced by the Deputy First Minister on 22 June to help tenants who have been financially impacted by the pandemic and are facing homelessness - are being developed at pace and we will provide further informati…

22 Jul 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in the last 12 months, how many people have (a) been assessed for free personal care and (b) received a care package and, of these, how many included personal care, also broken down by how many were (i) existing and (ii) new recipients of care packages.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: The exact information requested is not held centrally. The most relevant and latest information available is provided below. The Quarterly Monitoring Return, from which data on community care assessments is derived, was paused last year to reduce pressure on…

22 Jul 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the projected completion dates are for (a) a new eye hospital in Edinburgh and (b) all other new NHS facilities that are planned.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: (a) NHS Lothian recently submitted an updated Outline Business Case for the development of eye care services. This will be reviewed by Scottish Government’s NHS Capital Investment Group at their next meeting. (b) The Scottish Government provided a progress u…

22 Jul 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of each local authority's rapid rehousing transition plan, and whether it has concerns regarding any of them.

Answer · Shona Robison: Rapid rehousing transition plans (RRTPs) are developed and owned by each local authority in Scotland, working with their partners. The Scottish Government asks each local authority to complete an activities and spend template each year, requesting information…

22 Jul 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have accessed residential rehabilitation in each NHS board in the last 24 months.

Answer · Angela Constance: There a number of routes into drug and alcohol residential rehabilitation treatment that do not always involve the Alcohol and Drug Partnerships or NHS services. While the information requested is not currently held centrally, the Scottish Government is work…

22 Jul 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the estimated level of rent arrears accrued during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Answer · Shona Robison: Available evidence on the level of rent arrears in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic is included in the two-monthly reports on the Coronavirus Acts, in which the Scottish Government sets out the status and operation of the necessary legislation to respond to …

19 Jul 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the reported shortage of building supplies, and the impact that this may have on different sectors of the economy.

Answer · Ivan McKee: I am meeting with the industry on a weekly basis to address the supply chain issues, which are due to a number of factors including the COVID-19 pandemic and EU Exit. Data from the fortnightly Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS) provides us with a…

19 Jul 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many cases of child abuse have been reported to social services in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority.

Answer · Clare Haughey: Data on the number of cases of child abuse reported to social services are not collected centrally by the Scottish Government. You may wish to note that Children’s Social Work Statistics are published annually, and although these do not give the informati…

19 Jul 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many two-year-olds have received funded early learning and childcare places in each year since 2007.

Answer · Clare Haughey: The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 (“The 2014 Act”) first introduced and defined the term ‘early learning and childcare’ (ELC). Prior to the 2014 Act, there was no statutory duty to provide pre-school education to 2 year olds. The 2014 Act inc…

19 Jul 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason mandatory "day two" COVID-19 tests for return travellers from a green list country cost £88 each, in light of reports that, in England, these tests can be purchased for between £10 and £15.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Covid-19 test kits are home PCR kits provided by NHS Test & Trace. The cost of the kits is set by the UK Government and the process managed through its contract with the travel management company, so we are unable to influence the cost of these. Currentl…

19 Jul 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many Best Start payments have been made in each local authority area.

Answer · Ben Macpherson: Social Security Scotland routinely publish information as part of the quarterly Official Statistics release ‘Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods’. This includes information on the number of applications authorised for payment and the value of payments issue…

8 Jul 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to develop a boiler scrappage scheme to help households replace gas-fired boiler systems.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The Scottish Government, through the Home Energy Scotland (HES) Loan and Cashback scheme, provides interest-free loans with up to 75% cashback grant funding for homeowners to replace fossil-fuel heating systems such as gas with low or zero emissions heating s…

8 Jul 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many children and young people have been (a) fostered and (b) adopted in each year since 1999.

Answer · Clare Haughey: The number of children who have been fostered has been collected centrally since 2008-09. The following table shows the number of looked after children who have been placed with foster carers, in each year since the data first became available. Data on the nu…