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The management of piping in hospitals is managed by the local NHS Board and any risk assessment would not routinely be submitted to the Scottish Government.

We are in discussions with the Scottish Housing Regulator, the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, the Glasgow West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations, COSLA and Shelter Scotland to agree how to increase the number of allocations to homeless households in the next two to three years to support our commitment to reduce the number of households living in temporary accommodation. We welcome this positive engagement and we will report on the outcomes in due course.

As stated in the answer to S6W-20375 on 16 August 2023, the national acquisition programme will be run as part of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme which aligns with the Scottish Government’s Principles for Programme and Project Management.

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 eligibility criteria of the Tenant Grant Fund was extended in September 2022 to enable local authorities to use the fund to prevent homelessness for households who had built up more recent arrears, including as a result of the cost of living crisis. National monitoring of this fund was completed in June of this year.

Any local authorities with remaining funds are no longer limited to the criteria of the fund, and can use any remaining monies in ways that best meet the needs of tenants in their area.

The national acquisition programme will be part of the overall Affordable Housing Supply Programme and will be managed and co-ordinated on the same basis through continued close working with delivery partners and reporting and monitoring of progress.

The national acquisition programme will be funded from existing Resource Planning Assumptions (RPAs) and it will be for local authorities to consider and assess how much of their 2023-24 RPAs they target towards property acquisitions.

We have not yet set key performance indicators for the national acquisition programme.

The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 gives the lead management role for access to local and National Park Authorities (“access authorities”). Access authorities have a statutory duty to uphold access rights and have various powers with which to do this, such as serving written notices requiring remedial action where a land owner puts in place an obstruction to access. The Scottish Government attends as an observer of the National Access Forum which is a national body that provides advice and develops guidance on access rights and access management as well as facilitating national liaison about access rights.

All access authorities have now adopted core paths plans. The access authority may take appropriate action to maintain a core path and keep it free from obstruction. Access authorities may review and amend their core paths plan.

The 2023-24 Local Government Finance Settlement of nearly £13.5 billion provides a cash increase of over £793 million, which represents a real terms increase of £376 million or 3 per cent. The Scottish Government’s policy is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to allocate the financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities.

The National Park Authorities’ budget allocation of £20.9 million in 2023-24 will enable them to continue to deliver the statutory aims of both National Parks and undertake their statutory functions and duties, including as access authorities. The allocation represents a 13% increase on the budget for 2022-23.

The national acquisition programme is expected to be informed by local authority Local Housing Strategies and Strategic Housing Investment Plans. In preparing their Local Housing Strategies, local authorities should ensure that equality is central to housing and housing service delivery and be underpinned by an Equalities Impact Assessment which should inform the priorities and objectives set out in the Local Housing Strategy, including local housing investment priorities. In preparing their Strategic Housing Investment Plans, local authorities should draw on the finding from their Equalities Impact Assessment when considering the implications flowing from the translation of strategic aims into housing priorities.

In July 2023, in accordance with Regulation 17(1)(c) of the Deposit and Return Scheme Regulations 2020, Scottish Ministers decided to withdraw scheme administrator approval for Circularity Scotland Ltd (CSL) following notification that they had entered administration. If CSL's representatives do not ask for a review of this decision, the company ceases to be scheme administrator with effect from 17 August 2023.