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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6W-06827

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 14 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many registered foster carers there were in each local authority area, in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S6W-06826

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 11 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the legislation that governs the appointment of Lord Provosts and Bailies.

Question reference: S6W-06815

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many housing officers have been employed by each local authority in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S6W-06821

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding (a) local authorities and (b) integration joint boards have received to tackle homelessness in each year since 1999.

The Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. As such, the vast majority of homelessness funding provided to local authorities in the annual local government finance settlements since 1999 has been included in the block grant and is therefore not separately identifiable. It is therefore not possible to determine how much of the local government finance settlement each year supports work to tackle homelessness in any year.

However, the unquantified amounts within the block grant have been supplemented in recent years through identifiable sums added to the block grant, which are enhanced or reduced by the overall annual changes in the local government finance settlement. The additional resource, set out in the table below, was allocated to local authorities for the development and implementation of rapid rehousing transition plans and for preventing and responding to homelessness.

Financial year	Rapid Rehousing Transition Plans	Homelessness Support
2017-18	£0m	£22.5m
2018-19	£2m	£23.5m
2019-20	£8m	£23.5m
2020-21	£8m	£23.5m
2021-22	£8m	£23.5m
2022-23	£8m	£23.5m
Total	£34m	£140.0m

In addition, a £50 million Ending Homelessness Together Fund for 2018-23 was announced in September 2017 to transform homelessness services. In 2021, we agreed to invest a further £50 million in the Ending Homelessness Together Fund over the current parliamentary term, bringing total investment in the Ending Homelessness Together Fund to £100 million to 2025-26. As local authorities are our key partner for delivering our homelessness strategy, to date, a large majority of the Ending Homelessness Together Fund has been allocated to councils.

Decisions as to whether the responsibility for homelessness services are delegated to the local authority or the integration joint boards are made locally, and the Scottish Government does not influence this.

Question reference: S6W-06820

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 10 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many non-disclosure agreements have been signed by it and its agencies in each year since 1999.

Severance arrangements and the scrutiny of severance cases follow the process set out in SPFM . This includes arrangements around voluntary exits and settlement agreements and use of confidentiality clauses.

Data in relation to settlement and the number of confidentiality clauses in Scottish Government and Public bodies, NHSScotland and Scottish Funding Council overseen bodies is held from 2014 and, since then, has been provided to parliament annually – see links to previous reports . 2020-21 data will be published imminently.
We do not hold information prior to 2014, nor do we hold information in respect of local authorities.

SG and public bodies, NHS and SFC Data. - CC = confidentiality clause.

Year	SG and public bodies	SG/PB CC	NHS	NHS CC	SFC	SFC CC
2019 - 2020	24	16	26	0	17	11
2018 - 2019	24	16	33	0	13	10
2017 - 2018	39	28	24	3	46	43
2016 - 2017	23	14	36	2	11	9
2015 - 2016	50	36	25	1	13	10
2014 - 2015	23	21	30	13	14	13

Review of the use of confidentiality clauses will be included in the routine evaluation of the severance policy.

Question reference: S6W-06829

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 10 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many households have received the single person’s council tax discount in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on how many households have received the single person’s council tax discount in each year between 1999 and 2003, broken down by local authority.

The Scottish Government does hold data on how many households have received the single person’s council tax discount in each year between 2004 and 2021, broken down by local authority.

A copy of the table has been placed in SPICE - BIB number 63208.

Question reference: S6W-06925

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ash Regan on 10 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the concerns raised by the Tron Area Business Group to the Policy and Sustainability Committee of the City to Edinburgh Council on 22 February 2022, what support it is providing to businesses and local authorities in urban areas to respond to antisocial and/or violent behaviour against staff and property in city centres.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that police and local authorities, who lead on tackling antisocial behaviour, continue to have the powers and resources they require. We understand there have been problems in the Tron area and that Police Scotland is working with partners to minimise antisocial behaviour and crime.

The Scottish Parliament passed the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-Restricted Products) (Scotland) Act 2021. This came into force on 24 August 2021 and created a new specific statutory offence of threatening, abusing or assaulting a retail worker, adding to the offences that can already be used to prosecute those who abuse retail workers. Everyone should be able to work without fear of abuse and the criminal law should be used to deal with attacks.

Local authorities have the financial freedom to operate independently, with the vast majority of their funding provided by means of a block grant. It is the responsibility of local authorities to manage their budgets and to allocate resources on the basis of local needs and priorities, including responding to antisocial behaviour.

Support has been provided to businesses through a £6 million City Centre Recovery Fund, to boost footfall and visitors to our city centres, the Scotland Loves Local fund and support for Business Improvement Districts. Since the start of the pandemic, businesses have benefitted from £4.5bn in support from the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S6W-06845

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 10 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much each local authority has allocated in kinship care payments in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S6W-06842

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding how many new-build houses have been built by each local authority in each year since 1992, broken down by council tax band.

The Scottish Government publishes figures relating to Local Authority New Build Completions in the ‘Local Authority Starts and Completions’ table found on our website here; https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-for-scotland-new-house-building/ .

Some of these homes will have been supported by Scottish Government funding and some will have been financed through other routes.

We do not hold related council tax band information.

Question reference: S6W-06834

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 10 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to reform the children’s hearing system, in light of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Scottish Government is committed to keeping The Promise. As outlined in the 2021-22 Programme for Government, we are working with The Promise and other partners to redesign the Children’s Hearings System. Sheriff David Mackie has been appointed as Chair of the Hearings System Working Group which has been established to develop more detailed recommendations in the coming year. There will also be reforms to the Children’s Hearings System through children’s care and justice legislation to be introduced in this Parliament.