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All new policy commitments or changes to existing policy, that have a financial cost for local government, must be approved through the formal financial governance process which requires agreed recommendations from the joint Scottish Government and COSLA Officers’ Settlement and Distribution Group and political agreement from Scottish Ministers and COSLA political Leaders.

The latest Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service monthly statistics, published on 19 July, show that there were 37,174 scheduled trials at the end of June. It is not possible to state how many of these trials relate to sexual offence cases, due to the data being held on a live case management system that is designed to meet operational needs, rather than provide statistical breakdowns by offence type.

The Scottish Government continues to support justice agencies to address the backlog to ensure cases can be progressed, including sexual offence cases. In 2021-22 we committed an additional £50m to support our ‘Recover, Renew, Transform’ programme for the Criminal Justice System. This included setting up 16 additional solemn and summary courts from September 2021, increasing the system’s capacity to progress cases, including for the most serious offences. We have committed a further £53.2m in 2022-23 for recovery, renewal and transformation activity across the justice system. Recent statistics published by the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service demonstrate that measures introduced to address the backlog, including the additional trial courts, are having a positive impact on court throughput, and the total number of scheduled trials outstanding has reduced each month in 2022.

We recognise that sexual offence cases can be particularly distressing to those involved, and we are committed to improving victims’ experiences of the justice system. We understand the value that criminal justice advocacy services offer to victims navigating the system, and that is why - following a competitive bidding process - we are providing Rape Crisis Scotland’s National Advocacy Project with more than £6 million over the next three years, through the Victim Centred Approach Fund. The National Advocacy Project provides invaluable practical and emotional support to victims of sexual crimes throughout the court process.

Recognising that standard bank lending is often not available to support self-build projects, the Scottish Government acts as lender of last resort through the Self Build Loan Fund, supporting successful applicants to build their own home through short-term funding, normally around one year to 18 months. Up to £175,000 is available to eligible borrowers to assist with construction and professional fees costs resulting from their self-build project. The loan is intended to bridge the gap in construction funding and must be repaid in full once building is complete either from mainstream mortgage finance or from equity from the sale of the home.

The Scottish Government has not prepared a comparison between the Self Build Loan Fund and the UK Government’s Help to Build Scheme, which operates on different terms and administrative arrangements and is a matter for the UK Government.

Officials have engaged in conversations with a number of suppliers to look into the utilisation of digital twin surveys to enable assessment and assurance.

Since the launch of the Young Person’s Guarantee in November 2020, we have provided additional funding, with the aim of supporting new and enhanced opportunities for young people, through Local Employability Partnerships (LEPs). In 2022-23, Local Employability Partnerships will receive almost £113 million in funding for local employability services through the No One Left Behind approach, which includes the Young Person’s Guarantee, to provide support that meets both individual and labour market needs in each area. This is crucial to achieving shared aims around tackling poverty and inequalities.

As part of funding arrangements, Local Authorities are required to complete Equality Impact Assessments for the funding provided through the Guarantee, outlining how their plans and policies will support young people with protected characteristics, including disabled young people, and where they will target supported education, employment and training projects.

Recently published experimental statistics show that between January 2021-December 2021, 1189 disabled young people received employability support via LEPs, which included Young Person’s Guarantee funding. This data cannot be further disaggregated by type of disability.

The Scottish Government has no functions in relation to Kickstart, which is reserved to the UK Government. Data relating to the Kickstart Scheme is collated by the UK Government and is not currently shared with the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government remains committed to answering all correspondence as quickly as possible and within agreed timescales. This question has been interpreted to be seeking figures from the start of session 6 to date.

a) The Scottish Government responded to 2750 freedom of information requests within the statutory 20 working day deadline during this period. The time limit was exceeded 470 times. FOI performance figures are published on monthly basis on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/freedom-of-information-foi-reporting/ .

b) The Scottish Government produces statistics, available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, which show how many written parliamentary questions were answered after the substantive date.

c) A high volume of Ministerial correspondence was received by the Scottish Government during this period. Of the 44991 pieces of correspondence received, 77% were answered on time with 10370 exceeding the response deadline.

The information requested can be found here: Housing statistics: Empty properties and second homes - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . Please note the figures provided for each local authority area do not differentiate between the different types of empty property.

We have logged correspondence from numerous homeowners and factors across Scotland and invite all to follow the progress of the pilot. Additionally we regularly work with local authorities to understand any developer led remediation in their area.

Officials have discussed the site with East Lothian Council in relation to the development of the Draft National Planning Framework 4. The site was last discussed with East Lothian Council in July 2021.

We have regular ongoing discussion with the Welsh Government on matters relating to cladding remediation, including the recently launched buy-out scheme.