FOI/202300367853 · FOI · unclear
Ukrainian refugees accommodation units: FOI release
Information requested
How many vacant hotel rooms and other types of accommodation units were held by the Scottish Government for Ukrainian refugees from 1 April 2023 to date? The cost of these vacant rooms to the taxpayer per day?
Response
Question 1 –
The Scottish Government regularly publishes data on the Ukraine Resettlement Scheme including data on occupied hotel rooms and other accommodation used as welcome accommodation. As part of this answer the Scottish Government will release data on the number of unoccupied welcome accommodation rooms.
In the regular monthly statistical publication (Ukraine: analysis and statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)), weekly totals of occupied welcome accommodation rooms are presented. We align our answer with these dates. See table below for a weekly breakdown of occupied and vacant welcome accommodation rooms used as welcome accommodation from 28 March 2023 to 10 July 2023:
Table 1: Occupied and unoccupied welcome accommodation rooms excluding cabins on MS Victoria (28 March 2023 to 10 July 2023)
Date Occupied Welcome Accommodation Rooms (Published) Unoccupied Welcome Accommodation Rooms 28/03/2023 2,075 685 04/04/2023 2,040 580 11/04/2023 2,025 595 18/04/2023 1,980 640 25/04/2023 1,860 620 02/05/2023 1,885 570 09/05/2023 1,790 595 16/05/2023 1,780 585 22/05/2023 1,725 605 29/05/2023 1,720 600 05/06/2023 1,675 705 12/06/2023 1,765 615 19/06/2023 1,790 545 26/06/2023 1,805 545 03/07/2023 1,845 500 10/07/2023 1,860 455
Unoccupied hotel rooms were maintained during this time period to provide capacity to house guests disembarking from the MS Victoria in the event no other accommodation types were available such as hosted accommodation or local authority provided social housing.
The MS Victoria cruise ship docked in Leith, Edinburgh was used as a source of additional welcome accommodation. The ship became operational on 26 July 2022 and was fully disembarked on 4 July 2023. We present the following data on cabin occupancy between 28 March 2023 and 10 July 2023.
There were around 740 available cabins on board and the corresponding numbers of unoccupied cabins per week are as follows:
Table 2: Occupied and unoccupied cabins on board MS Victoria (28 March to 11 July 2023)
Date Occupied Cabins (Published) MS Victoria Unoccupied Cabins 28/03/2023 665 75 04/04/2023 660 80 11/04/2023 650 90 18/04/2023 645 95 25/04/2023 640 100 02/05/2023 635 105 09/05/2023 625 115 16/05/2023 605 135 22/05/2023 590 150 29/05/2023 575 165 05/06/2023 505 235 12/06/2023 420 320 19/06/2023 325 415 26/06/2023 245 495 03/07/2023 35 705 10/07/2023 0 740
Note that whilst there were around 740 cabins on board the ship, the utilisation of the cabins varied over time and so the number of unoccupied cabins presented above may not correspond exactly to the number available for guest occupancy.
Question 2 -
The average cost of a vacant room to the Scottish Government is £107 per day. This is the global average to date. The actual number of unoccupied rooms varies from day to day and the associated costs of these rooms will vary. This figure is for welcome accommodation rooms only and not for cabins on MS Victoria. MS Victoria lease costs are for the whole ship and not on a per cabin basis. The cost of occupied hotels on average is higher due to food prices and other associated expenses.
Notes: 1. Please note that in order to disclosure control the data, all figures have been rounded to the nearest 5. ‘0’ denotes that the reported number was zero. 2. Welcome accommodation could include hotels, apartments or aparthotels. This figure does not cover occupied cabins on M/S Victoria. 3. The data are provisional management information from live operational systems and are subject to change. The data are provided both by welcome accommodation team in Scotland and by direct contact with the facilities used for welcome accommodation. 4. Please note that each data point represents a snapshot of information available on the reporting date and cannot be compared to previously published data as a comparison over time. Number of hotel rooms (table 1) continues to change day on day. The change in rooms and the number of people occupying them are dynamic, as new rooms are occupied while other rooms are emptied. Number of cabins (table 2) continues to change day on day. The change in cabins and the number of people occupying them are dynamic, as new cabins are occupied while other rooms are emptied. 5. Please note that there may be delays in reporting from welcome accommodation and facilities used for welcome accommodation that affect data quality, due to operational pressures. This may affect the figures reported. Therefore, caution should be taken when comparing to previous weeks. 6. Total number of occupied rooms (table 1) concerns the number of welcome accommodation rooms or cabins (table 2) occupied by displaced people from Ukraine in Scotland and does not indicate the number of displaced people from Ukraine in each room or cabin. 7. Please note, welcome accommodation occupancy are dynamic data as some individuals leave, while others enter. As such any decrease or increase in occupancy over time does not indicate the total number of individuals that have left or entered welcome accommodation. 8. The reporting cut off day for welcome accommodation changed from every Tuesday to every Monday from the week commencing 22 May 2023 onwards. This may affect the figures presented, as some facilities or partners do not provide weekend returns. Therefore, caution should be taken when interpreting the data. 9. The figures (table 2) cover occupied welcome accommodation on the M/S Victoria. 10. The number of displaced people from Ukraine on the M/S Victoria is reported directly by operational teams. 11. There may be delays in reporting occupied cabins (table 2) that affect data quality in weeks from 12 June 2023 to 26 June 2023, due to operational pressures during the disembarkation period.
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Contact Please quote the FOI reference Central Enquiry Unit Email: ceu@gov.scot Phone: 0300 244 4000 The Scottish Government St Andrews House Regent Road Edinburgh EH1 3DG
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