- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many offences the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator has recorded in each year since 2021.
Answer
This is a matter for the Scottish Charity Regulator. It is a non-ministerial office and its operations are independent of Scottish Ministers. The information requested is not held centrally and questions about any operational matters should be put directly to the Scottish Charity Regulator.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 9 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what schools it has earmarked to offer its Bright Start Breakfast programme to in the (a) Argyll and Bute, (b) Highland, (c) Western Isles, (d) Orkney Islands, (e) Shetland Islands and (f) Moray local authority area.
Answer
The Draft Scottish Budget on 4th December 2024, announced plans to invest £3 million in 2025-26, through a new Bright Start Breakfasts Fund which aims to expand access to free breakfast club places across Scotland, providing a healthy breakfast for children and supporting early drop off for working parents.
At this stage the Budget remains subject to Parliamentary approval, and more detail about how a new Bright Start Breakfasts fund will be administered and managed will be provided in due course.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many penalties has the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator issued to charities for each year since 2021.
Answer
This is a matter for the Scottish Charity Regulator. It is a non-ministerial office and its operations are independent of Scottish Ministers. The information requested is not held centrally and questions about any operational matters should be put directly to the Scottish Charity Regulator.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 9 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many new houses have been built as a direct result of funding from the Islands Programme Capital Funding Scheme in the (a) Argyll and Bute, (b) Highland, (c) Western Isles, (d) Orkney Islands, (e) Shetland Islands and (f) Moray local authority area in each year since 2021.
Answer
Housing developments are not commonly the focus of proposals submitted for Islands Programme funding.
Since 2021-22, four awards made through the Islands Programme have had the development of housing units among their deliverables. For some of these projects, the Islands Programme supported the delivery of enabling infrastructure, survey or other work required to proceed with the construction of housing units.
The following table provides a summary of housing projects that have received funding through the Islands Programme since 2021-22.
Local authority | Financial year | Number of housing units expected as part of projects receiving Islands Programme funding |
Argyll and Bute Council | 2021-2022 2022-2023 2023-2024 2024-2025 | 9 (completed) 0 12 (completion expected between 2025-2027) 0 |
Highland Council | 2021-2022 2022-2023 2023-2024 2024-2025 | 1 (completed) 2 (completion expected summer 2025) 0 0 |
Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar | 2021-2022 2022-2023 2023-2024 2024-2025 | 0 0 0 0 |
Orkney Islands Council | 2021-2022 2022-2023 2023-2024 2024-2025 | 0 0 0 0 |
Shetland Islands Council | 2021-2022 2022-2023 2023-2024 2024-2025 | 0 0 0 0 |
Moray Council is not an island local authority and is not eligible for Islands Programme funding.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 9 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many school breakfast clubs there are in the (a) Argyll and Bute, (b) Highland, (c) Western Isles, (d) Orkney Islands, (e) Shetland Islands and (f) Moray local authority area.
Answer
In 2024, the Scottish Government commissioned the Improvement Service with support from Assist FM, to map breakfast provision across Scotland. The results of this survey indicate that almost half of all primary and special schools in Scotland currently provide breakfasts in some form.
Existing breakfast club provision is delivered through a mixed model of delivery via a range of service providers including public, private and third sector. Therefore, we do not hold a data set or register of breakfast club delivery at individual local authority level, although this data may be available locally.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 9 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on building new houses using the Islands Programme Capital Funding Scheme in each year since 2021.
Answer
The Islands Programme awarded £120,000 in 2021-22, £72,000 in 2022-23 and £700,000 in 2023-24 to infrastructure projects supporting the delivery of housing units on islands.
Housing developments are not commonly the focus of proposals submitted for Islands Programme funding.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 9 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what is the maximum amount of grant funding per property that a local authority can apply for from the Rural Affordable Homes for Key Workers Fund.
Answer
The Rural Affordable Homes for Key Workers Fund forms part of the broader Affordable Housing Supply Programme which is based on flexible grant funding arrangements to ensure that affordable housing projects across Scotland, which are identified by local authorities as a priority, can be supported. Local authorities should engage with a range of organisations in their localities, including public sector employers, key agencies, including Highlands and Islands Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise, as well as local businesses and registered social landlords to develop proposals for use of the fund for consideration by the relevant More Homes Division area team.
Local authorities and registered social landlords are expected to agree the level of grant required for property acquisitions through the Rural Affordable Homes for Key Workers Fund with the relevant More Homes Division area team. This should reflect the types and valuations of properties being targeted for purchase, as well as likely required investment to ensure quality standards are met.
Further information on acquisitions through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme, including those through the fund, is available on the Scottish Government website.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many penalties that have been issued by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator remain outstanding for each year since 2021.
Answer
This is a matter for the Scottish Charity Regulator. It is a non-ministerial office and its operations are independent of Scottish Ministers. The information requested is not held centrally and questions about any operational matters should be put directly to the Scottish Charity Regulator.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 8 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many croft houses have been built using the Croft House Grant Scheme in each year since 2016, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The Scottish Government has a track record of investment to improve croft housing. 186 croft houses have been built and recorded with Registers of Scotland.
County Area * | Number of Croft Houses Built |
Argyll | 8 |
Caithness | 9 |
Orkney & Zetland | 22 |
Inverness | 82 |
Ross & Cromarty | 50 |
Sutherland | 15 |
*Notice of Grants are registered by county rather than by local authority area.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 8 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many croft houses are unoccupied, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The information as requested is not available.
In 2024, the Commission introduced a system of investigating crofters who appear to be non-resident and in breach of at least one of their duties. The project had positive results and has been well-received throughout the crofting counties. Allied to this, through Crofting Reform, we will look to strengthen residency and land use, creating a faster and more extensive enforcement process that will result in more active crofts and create opportunities for new entrants.
This Government recognises the importance of crofting to the sustainability of our rural and island communities and is committed to continuing to support crofters to live on and work their land.