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We have reached an agreement with social landlords on below-inflation rent increases for the next financial year.

Organisations representing social landlords have announced their members’ plans for average rent increases for 2023-24, which will keep rents significantly below private market levels.

Under the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) Act 2022, rents are effectively frozen in the social rented sectors until 31 March 2023. Decisions on future plans for the private sector rent freeze, as well as other measures contained in the Act, will be announced in the coming weeks.

The Scottish Government regularly publishes data relating to the number of completed matches, where a displaced person from Ukraine has arrived at their hosted and longer term accommodation in Scotland, under the Homes for Ukraine scheme. The number of completed matches by Local Authority can be found in Table 1 in a supporting document called Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland: December statistics tables as follows - Supporting documents - Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland: statistics - December 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

An accompanying report is published alongside the tables and can be found at the following link: Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland: statistics - December 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Additionally, the UK Government regularly publishes data relating to visas and arrivals under the Homes for Ukraine scheme: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ukraine-family-scheme-application-data/ukraine-family-scheme-and-ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-homes-for-ukraine-visa-data--2 .

Displaced people with visas are free to enter the country and live and work where they want. Not everyone entering the UK through the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme (including those sponsored by the Scottish Government) will need accommodation provided to them. They may make their own arrangements, including renting their own accommodation or staying with friends and family. Some arrivals may have also self-matched with a volunteer host, assisted by a charity or support network. Those arrivals may never be in contact with a welcome hub or local authority seeking accommodation.

The analysis of responses to the consultation on Review of Part 1 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 and creation of a Family Justice Modernisation Strategy was carried out by KSO Research Limited following a public tendering exercise.

Future maintenance and any refit work is the responsibility of CalMac. The maintenance contracts for these vessels will be undertaken in line with the wider contracts that the operator has in place at point they enter service.

Currently the majority of the CalMac Fleet (owned by CMAL) has repairs, maintenance and dry docking carried out in Scotland. Due to capacity constraints a small number of vessels are drydocked in Birkenhead, NW England.

We have met the manifesto commitment to provide more than 80 additional counsellors in Further and Higher Education over four years as set out in our 2018-19 Programme for Government and reiterated in our 2021-22 Programme for Government. The commitment was achieved ahead of time, with an investment of £11.5 million to date and a further £2 million committed in this Academic Year to March 2023. We are also committed to provide further funding for the remainder of the Academic Year (April to July 2023), which falls into the Government’s next financial year.

We have also invested in the NUS Think Positive Initiative which has led to the creation of institution led Student Mental Health Agreements to improve student mental health support in colleges and universities. In addition, the launch of the Think Positive hub, in spring 2022, provides students with extra clarity on how to access student mental health services in colleges and universities.

At the same time we have invested in a comprehensive package of support for mental wellbeing through NHS Scotland and in communities, including an investment of £21 million for adult community based initiatives.

This is the final year of our four year commitment to support over 80 additional counsellors in Further and Higher Education which we set out in our Programme for Government in 2018 and reiterated in 2021. We have exceeded that target, with 89 additional counsellors now working to support students across our institutions.

This has been delivered with investment of £11.5 million to date, with a further £2 million provided to March 2023. We have also confirmed that we remain committed to provide further funding in the remainder of Academic Year 22-23 (April – July 2023), which falls into the first four months of our FY 23-24. Funds have been earmarked within the final 2023-24 Scottish Budget process and final allocations will be confirmed as soon as possible as part of the Scottish Government budget setting exercise.

Social Landlords are required to meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS), which is monitored by The Scottish Housing Regulator(SHR). SHR wrote to all Social Landlords on 1 December 2022 on the importance of having appropriate, proactive systems to identify and deal with any reported cases of mould and damp timeously and effectively. The Regulator will also be working with the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) and the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers (ALACHO) to identify and promote good practice in the management of mould and dampness. Scottish Government officials will keep in close touch with the progress of this work.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12852 on 10 January 2023. 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 .

The Scottish Government has not allocated funding to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to undertake fire safety checks, as part of the short-term let licence application process.

Licensing schemes are administered by licensing authorities on a cost recovery basis through the collection of application fees. Schedule 1, Paragraph 2 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 requires licensing authorities to send copies of licence applications to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

During this year the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has developed a fire safety checklist for licensing authorities and applicants to complete, which helps the Service to effectively target their resources using a risk based approach.

I refer the member to the answer to question to S6W-12299 on 1 December 2022, the Scottish Government will publish its response to the Asylum Inquiry Scotland’s final report in due course.

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 .