Seòmar agus comataidhean

Local authorities provide information to parents and carers about how they can register their child for early learning and childcare (ELC) and primary school. Parents and carers are encouraged to talk to their local authority to discuss their individual childcare and education needs. The Scottish Government’s Parent Club website has information about starting school and ELC, which is updated regularly. Parent Club also includes links to the individual local authority websites that provide information about how to apply for ELC: What’s your child entitled to? | Parent Club

As set out in the Programme for Government 2022-23, a Local Visitor Levy Bill will be introduced to the Scottish Parliament this parliamentary year.

Under the Mortgage to Rent scheme, the Scottish Government subsidise up to 60% of the property value. The total grant includes the purchase subsidy and the cost of repairs required to bring the property up to the Scottish Housing Quality Standard. Further details on how subsidies are calculated can be found in the linked guidance HOSFGN/005 . The following table shows the total and average subsidy paid by the Scottish Government to Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) for each year of operation of Mortgage to Rent.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10585 on‎ 22 September 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Under current constitutional arrangements in the United Kingdom immigration, including the Afghan resettlement schemes, are reserved to the UK Government and handled by the Home Office.

The UK Government has published statistics on the number of people who have arrived in the UK under the Afghan resettlement schemes since 2021. This does not currently include a breakdown of Afghan refugees in temporary and permanent accommodation by local authority, however, the Home Office have committed to providing more detailed data in their quarterly immigration statistics going forward. Afghan Resettlement Programme: operational data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The latest published data (25 August) shows that across the UK 9,667 people are in temporary accommodation and 7,385 people are in settled accommodation. This does not include people who have made their own accommodation arrangements.

The Scottish Government has had no direct involvement in any scheme to extend the National Cycle Network (NCN) route 73 between Stranraer and Cairnryan. The NCN in Scotland is managed by Sustrans who, as custodians of the NCN, gave intentions to explore improvements to NCN 73 in the south west which are included within Sustrans’ 30 year National Cycle Network Plan. However, the Scottish Government is currently investigating the feasibility of a shared use path south of Cairnryan to the A751 junction from the new Trunk Road active travel budget.

The Scottish Government has funded Sustrans with £10.6 million in 2022-23 (increased from the £4 million award in 2021-22) to undertake National Cycle Network Plan work.

Programme for Government in 2016 and 2017 addressed potential transport issues in South West Scotland and extensive stakeholder engagement was undertaken to inform the South West Scotland Transport Study; the initial appraisal report was published in January 2020, and included 23 recommendations for consideration in Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2), including one to develop the Strategic Active Travel Network in the South West of Scotland and better connect communities to key destinations with cycle paths parallel to trunk roads and improvements to the NCN. This intervention is currently subject to detailed appraisal as part of Phase 2 of STPR2.

There are no local authority commissioned communal night shelters currently operating in Scotland and we are not aware of any congregate night shelters being operated by third sector organisations in Scotland.

We have worked closely with local authorities and third sector partners to end the need for communal night shelters in Scotland by scaling up rapid rehousing and Housing First, which was a key commitment in our Ending Homelessness Together action plan.

Given that some form of emergency accommodation will always be needed, since 2020 we have provided over £690,000 of funding to support local authorities and third sector partners to establish rapid rehousing welcome centres (RRWCs) in Glasgow and Edinburgh as an alternative to night shelter provision. RRWCs provide short-term, safe and self-contained rapid access accommodation alongside multi-agency services, with the aim being to support people at risk of rough sleeping to move on to more settled accommodation.

We have had no discussions with the Sheriffs Principal regarding the Management of Summary Cause Proceedings Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 guidance note prior to its publication on 1 July 2022. The courts and judiciary are independent of Government. As such the Government has no role in the development of guidance issued by Sheriffs Principal. It is up to the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service itself to assess the business case for any changes it makes.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the sustainability of local news publishers as a key part of the public interest news sector in Scotland. We recognise the value that local newspapers bring to their communities, and the important role they play as part of a well-functioning democracy.

In 2021, the Scottish Government set up the Public Interest Journalism Working Group to consider the long-term sustainability of public interest journalism, including local news, in Scotland, and to recommend ways to ensure its ongoing resilience and relevance. We responded to the Group’s recommendations in June 2022. This included a commitment to facilitate a roundtable event this Autumn, to support the creation of a new Scottish Public Interest Journalism Institute.

While it is not for Scottish Government to influence the remit of the Institute, it is likely, in line with the Working Group’s recommendations, that part of its role will be to support local news.

Separately, the Scottish Government spent £258,056.00 on local newspaper advertising in the financial year 2021-22.

The HRI is a central source of information on key aspects of the construction and fire safety features of high rise domestic blocks; this information was not previously collected or published prior to 2020. The second report was published on 8 November 2021 and there were minimal changes to the inventory following a further year of data collection. The frequency of further data collection is currently under review. It is likely that this data will be integrated within a Register of Safe Buildings, which is being created as part of the Cladding Remediation Programme.