Seòmar agus comataidhean

Research has focused on the wider challenges and opportunities associated with rapid localised population growth where it is occurring in parts of Scotland. This was discussed at the October 2023 meeting of the Population Taskforce and is a priority within the Population Balance strand of delivery of the Population Strategy. The minutes of the October meeting are published on the Scottish Government webpages: https://www.gov.scot/publications/population-taskforce-minutes-october-2023/

Our approach to public sector pay has provided support to public sector workers during COVID-19 and the cost of living crisis, balancing fairness, affordability and fiscal sustainability within an extremely difficult fiscal context. We have protected the lowest paid and encourage employers to take a progressive approach to pay. As a result, public sector salaries in Scotland after taxes are 6% higher on average than the rest of the UK, with median full-time pay around £1,500 higher, up from around £430 prior to the pandemic.

A short briefing note will be prepared on how the London weighting allowance is calculated and applied, which can be shared with Mr Briggs in due course.

In most cases, permitted development rights (PDR) allow certain developments to be carried out without reference to the planning authority – provided the relevant PDR conditions are complied with. Therefore, such developments do not require an application for planning permission to be submitted to and approved by a planning authority and, accordingly, data is not available on those developments carried out under PDR.

However, a small number of PDR are subject to a process known as “prior notification/prior approval”. The planning authority’s determination is limited to the particular matters specified in the relevant PDR class – for example, siting, design or appearance. Although there is no statutory requirement to do so, planning authorities should keep records of prior notification/prior approval cases.

Data on prior notification/approvals form part of the statistics that are submitted by planning authorities and form the basis of the Scottish Government’s Official Statistics available on https://www.gov.scot/collections/planning-statistics/. Most recent figures are available https://www.gov.scot/publications/planning-applications-statistics-2022-23-annual-quarterly-october-2022-march-2023/documents/

The information is broken down into certain development types. However, the figures are not broken down by local authority area.

The First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government met with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, via a Microsoft Teams call, on Wednesday 17 July 2024. Discussion highlighted that the forecast reduction in Capital and Financial Transactions (FTs) funding is causing significant challenges for the Scottish Government’s investment in affordable housing.

The First Minister met with the Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, via a Microsoft Teams call, on Wednesday 31 July 2024. The First Minister raised his close interest in the UK Government’s housing agenda, and reiterated the impact of the reductions to our capital and FTs.

The First Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister met in person at Bute House on Thursday 15 August 2024. The First Minister again raised the issue of reductions to financial transactions funding in relation to affordable housing. The First Minister also restated his commitment to building a constructive and collaborative relationship with the UK Government that delivers for the people of Scotland.

On 28 August, the First Minister and the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government met the Chancellor of the Exchequer in Glasgow and reiterated the concern of the Scottish Government over the damage that has been done to housing investment by the real terms reductions in the overall Capital Budget and the budget for Financial Transactions. The First Minister encouraged the Chancellor to rectify this in her Budget Statement on 30 October.

Single Building Assessment (SBA) is defined by section 32 of the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Act 2024, with SBAs to be carried out in accordance with the standards to be specified by Scottish Ministers. The SBA Technical Specification was published on 21 June 2024 and is expected to form the core of these standards.

The SBA is a risk assessment process rather than a change to existing fire safety. An SBA will culminate in a report on any risk to human life that is (directly or indirectly) created or exacerbated by the building’s external wall cladding system, and what work (if any) is needed to eliminate or mitigate any risk of that kind which is identified.

We launched a new Social Isolation and Loneliness Fund on 8 March 2023. This funding is helping organisations to create opportunities for people to connect with one another in our communities. 53 projects are currently operational across Scotland, delivering projects within communities that are diverse and are responding to local needs. Disabled people are one of the priority groups targeted by the Fund.

Our analysis of the fund informs us that 20 out of the 53 funded projects are targeted at disabled people and to date 1529 disabled people are benefitting from the services provided by these projects.

We will continue to evaluate the fund and learn what further interventions are required for disabled people who experience loneliness.

We recognise loneliness impacts on different demographics as stated in ‘A Connected Scotland’ and we are using this strategy to bring together the different parts of Government that can make a real difference in tackling loneliness. This is evident in approaches delivered by both Creative Scotland and Sport Scotland, both Government funded bodies, who invest and support people to connect by enabling access to inclusive activities.

We recognise the potential impact of the cladding remediation programme on developers and on the building of new homes. These issues will be among those being considered by an in-depth economic analysis, which is in development. 

The information requested is not held centrally by Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government collects information on the types of temporary accommodation provided or arranged by the local authority which a household makes a homelessness application to. Information on the location of this accommodation is not collected. Temporary accommodation data by local authority is released on an biannual basis as part of the Homelessness in Scotland statistics

A table with the information requested has been placed in SPICE bib number 65255.

Financial support for travel to hospital appointments is available to patients and authorised escorts, according to eligibility criteria and medical requirements. The Scottish Government provides the overall guidance to NHS Boards on reimbursement of patient travel costs and Boards are responsible for setting and applying local policy.

Where travel is necessary, Boards are expected to support patients to identify and access support available, taking account individual circumstances and ensuring patient care is at the centre of all decisions made.

Where a patient is eligible for assistance with travel costs, claims should normally be ratified and reimbursed within 1 to 2 weeks, allowing time for the claim and supporting documentation to be reviewed. Where assistance is required with upfront costs, Health Boards can make bookings on behalf of eligible patients and this should be discussed with the relevant Health Board as part of the overall treatment arrangements.

In January 2024 we implemented a national policy for the reimbursement of electricity costs for home dialysis patients to address inconsistencies across Health Boards where some fully reimburse electricity costs, and others provide partial reimbursement or none at all. Boards are expected to proactively identify eligible patients and ensure electricity costs for eligible patients are reimbursed promptly. A review of implementation is currently underway and a further update will be provided in Autumn 2024.