Chamber and committees

We are currently considering the evidence for the introduction of national guidance.

This information is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting NHS boards, which is why we have put in place record levels of funding and NHS boards have record numbers of staff.

The Scottish Government’s unscheduled care six essentials programme is supporting NHS boards to carry out effective admission and discharge of patients and includes a focus on emergency readmission indicators.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-30432 on 21 March 2016. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-30432 on 21 March 2016. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

The Scottish House Condition Survey does not record any reduction in the proportion of social sector dwelling that passed the healthy, safe and secure section of the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS) in 2014. The proportion of dwellings in the social sector which failed this criterion was 13% in 2013 and 14% in 2014. The difference between these two figures is within the margin of error.

The Scottish Housing Regulator is responsible for monitoring the performance of social landlords against SHQS, and reported that at April 2015 only 1.19% of social housing was non-compliant with the SHQS. These figures for compliance include social housing that is exempt or in abeyance from part of the standard, for example where the work is not technically possible or where the necessary consent of owners cannot be obtained.

The regulator considers fails as part of its annual risk assessment and where necessary engages with landlords to confirm that plans are in place to ensure stock meets SHQS.

The Scottish Government has provided £1 million of funding over 2014-16 to help combat food poverty in Scotland. This funding supports 26 emergency food aid projects in 17 local authority areas to respond to the immediate demands for emergency food aid and help address the underlying causes of food poverty. Most, but not all of these projects are led by food banks, and are set out in the following table.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of food banks that have ceased operation.

The number and proportion of dwellings in the social sector which failed the healthy, safe and secure section of the Scottish Housing Quality Standard since 2010 according to the Scottish House Condition Survey are as follows: