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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.

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Question reference: S6W-00615

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 11 June 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 21 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with relevant public bodies about placing a legal duty on them to prevent homelessness.

In our Ending Homelessness Together action plan we committed to developing a new legislative duty on local authorities and wider public bodies for the prevention of homelessness. We commissioned an expert group – the Prevention Review Group - in October 2019 to make recommendations.

On 18 February 2021, the Prevention Review Group published its recommendations, which were developed in consultation with relevant organisations from across the public sector and third sector, frontline workers and people with lived experience of homelessness.

The recommendations highlight the importance of a whole-system, person-centred approach to preventing homelessness, for example through the work of health, education and justice services. We are now working with COSLA and our partners across the public and third sectors to discuss how we can put these recommendations into action and create the significant legislative change required. A key early stage will be a comprehensive programme of engagement across the public sector, including a public consultation, to inform the way forward.

Question reference: S6W-00619

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 11 June 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 21 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to introduce legislation to place a duty on public bodies to prevent homelessness in its proposed Housing Bill, and whether that bill will be Introduced in 2021-22.

The recommendations we received from the Prevention Review Group are comprehensive and are likely to require significant updates to existing legislation as well as the development of new duties for the public sector. We are currently considering the most appropriate vehicles for implementing these changes which we will confirm in due course.

No decision on timings has yet been taken in relation to a new housing bill within this Parliament.

Question reference: S6W-00620

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 11 June 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 21 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to each of the recommendations made by the Scotland Prevention Review Group.

We commissioned this work in response to the recommendations the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group made for ending homelessness. We very much welcome the Prevention Review Group recommendations and we are grateful for the commitment Crisis and other partners have shown in delivering their report, in particular the vital role people with lived experience of homelessness had in shaping the recommendations.

We accepted the recommendations in principle earlier this year and will now consult with our partners across public services, people with experience of homelessness and the wider public as we fully consider the detail of the suite of recommendations, to ensure that their introduction leads to stronger housing rights for people in Scotland. Shifting the balance of services and response towards prevention is more important than ever as we work to recover from the public health crisis.

Question reference: S6W-00575

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 June 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 21 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what is its response to the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers’ report, The Right To Adequate Housing: Are We Focusing On What Matters?, which estimates that 547,000 households fall short of being adequately housed for two or more reasons

We welcome this report and will review its findings in detail. We are absolutely committed to working with local government to support the realisation of the right to adequate housing.

In March 2021, the National Taskforce for Human Rights Leadership published its recommendations for a new human rights framework in Scotland that brings internationally recognised human rights into domestic law. The report contains 30 progressive and ambitious recommendations for a new human rights framework that will ensure the human rights of every member of Scottish society are protected.

The Scottish Government has accepted the recommendations and a Human Rights Bill will be introduced to parliament during this parliamentary session. The involvement of the public and further consultation with stakeholders will be crucial in developing this framework. An executive board will be established comprising of senior decision makers from public authorities to ensure there is capacity across the public sector to implement the Bill.

We are also committed to introducing a new housing standard for all homes in Scotland which will include improved energy efficiency requirements. It will go beyond traditional models of fitness for human habitation to a new model that meets expectations for housing as a human right and delivers homes that underpin health and wellbeing. We will consult on the new standard this year, publish a draft standard in 2023 and introduce legislation in 2024/25, for phased introduction from 2025 to 2030.

Question reference: S6W-00608

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5W-35118

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 29 April 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will make further emergency funding available until the end of the financial year 2020-21 to support hospices throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, in light of reports of the Welsh Government making an additional £3 million available for this purpose on top of previously announced emergency funding.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the vital role of Scottish Hospices. In June 2020, we provided £10.1m in emergency funding to hospices to meet in full their funding requests for loss of income during the first lockdown period.

On the 24 March 2021, we confirmed that an additional £16.9m will be provided to Scottish Hospices to fully meet their requests for support relating to loss of income during the most recent lockdown. As such, the total funding allocated to hospices to support their work during the pandemic in the financial year 2020-2021 is approximately £27m.

The breakdown of payments can be viewed in the following table.

Hospice	Amount paid in June 2020	Amount paid in March 2021
Accord	£396k	£540k
Ardgowan	£396k	£341k
Ayrshire	£792k	£972k
Bethesda	£99k	£257k
CHAS	£1,287k	£3,236k
Highland	£792k	£1,040k
Kilbryde	£320k	£741k
Marie Curie	£1,584k	£2,116k
P&PW	£1,089k	£544k
St Andrew's	£891k	£1,361k
St Columba's	£792k	£2,574k
St Margaret	£396k	£1,758k
St Vincent's	£297k	£233k
Strathcarron	£990k	£1,188k
Total	£10.1m	£16.9m

Question reference: S5W-35974

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 23 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of procurements for public contracts it has not considered (a) relevant and (b) proportionate to apply Fair Work First criteria.

The Scottish Government include Fair Work criteria wherever it is relevant and proportionate to do so.

A Scottish Procurement Policy Note 03/2021, was published on 15 March 2021 on the implementation of the Fair Work First criteria within procurement processes commencing from 1 April 2021, where relevant and proportionate to do so.

The Scottish Government has updated its internal procedures and processes to include a stronger focus on the Fair Work First criteria and will implement this approach going forward.

Question reference: S5W-36164

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 23 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) have (a) membership of and (b) transitioned to the relaunched Scottish Business Pledge, broken down by (i) public and (ii) private sector status.

Information about the size of businesses which are Scottish Business Pledge members was not recorded prior to May 2018 and the total number of Business Pledge members that are a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) is not available. Since May 2018, 175 SMEs have become a member of the Business Pledge and 42 SMEs have transitioned to the relaunched Scottish Business Pledge.

The deadline for members of the original Scottish Business Pledge to transition to the new criteria has been extended to 1 September 2021 due to the continuous economic impact the Coronavirus is having.

Question reference: S5W-35619

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 01 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 23 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-35095 by Michael Matheson on 25 February 2021, how much has been (a) spent on each operator of last resort contingency plan for both franchises and (b) paid to (i) MacRoberts, (ii) Ove Arup and Partners Ltd and (iii) Bramble Hub.

The Scottish Government has a statutory duty under Section 30 of the Railways Act 1993 to ensure that rail services continue to operate. The cost associated with the contingency planning work for the Operator of Last Resort (OLR) for both franchises has cost, to date £4,212,914 from 2019-20 to 2020-2021.

These OLR costs incurred to date can be broken down as follows:

Arup - £3,333,955

Ernst and Young - £437,243

Bramble Hub - £95,608

MacRoberts - £346,108

Question reference: S5W-35978

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 22 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) score and (b) evaluation was of each the 72 Scottish Enterprise suppliers that were asked to demonstrate fair work practice in line with the Fair Work First criteria and were awarded regulated contracts worth a total of £23.8 million in 2019-20.

Scottish Enterprise undertook a regulated procurement process for 72 separate contracts in FY 2019/2020, resulting in the appointment of 60 unique suppliers. The application of Fair Work First was considered for all tenders, and was applied and scored on 17. Two of these were judged to be ‘Acceptable’, 13 to be ‘Good’, and 2 judged to be ‘Excellent’ following evaluation. It was not appropriate to score Fair Work for the remaining contracts, as these were either for the supply of goods, or would not have been able to be scored in a fair and equitable manner in line with procurement regulation.

Where Fair Work First is not a scored criteria, all bidders are still asked to address Fair Work practices in their tenders, and provide evidence of fair employment practices. This includes paying the real Living Wage and promoting payment of the real Living Wage throughout their supply chain. In 2019-2020, 36 unique suppliers committed to pay the real Living Wage, and 16 unique suppliers were fully accredited real Living Wage employers.