To ask the Scottish Government what funding it provided to East and South Ayrshire councils in 2023-24 for discretionary housing payments. (S6O-03501)

The Scottish Government provided more than £2.6 million to East Ayrshire Council for discretionary housing payments in 2023-24, which supported more than 3,400 households. South Ayrshire Council received more than £1.7 million, which supported more than 2,000 households.

In 2024-25, the Scottish Government has increased the total discretionary housing payment budget by £6.8 million. The extra money that the Scottish Government provided through discretionary housing payments is just one of the actions that we are taking to help households across the country through the cost of living crisis.

Statistics that were released this week show that more than 135,000 awards were delivered across Scotland for discretionary housing payments in 2023-24, with more than 4,000 in East Ayrshire and more than 3,300 in South Ayrshire. As they are our main tool for mitigating harmful United Kingdom Government welfare policies, such as the bedroom tax, can the Minister comment on the importance of discretionary housing payments as a means to prevent vulnerable households being driven into homelessness in Scotland? How can we promote their uptake?

Discretionary housing payments are a vital tool in reducing poverty, safeguarding tenancies and preventing homelessness. That is why we have invested more than £613 million since 2017. Discretionary housing payments are just one action that we are taking to help households across the country to mitigate more than a decade of austerity from Westminster Governments. We are investing around £3 billion a year in policies that protect people as far as possible in the cost of living crisis. That includes an extra £6.8 million in the budget for discretionary housing payments in 2024-25 to directly mitigate punitive policies such as the bedroom tax.

Question 3 is from Paul O’Kane, who joins us remotely.