Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-19927

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 1 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to young, single, professional people in order to help them access the housing market for the first time, and what assessment it has made of any impact of recent mortgage rate rises on young single people in Scotland who are trying to access the housing market.

We continue to support home ownership and have interventions in place to help first time buyers through our Low Cost Initiative for First-Time Buyers (LIFT) scheme which helps people on low to moderate incomes to buy their first home.

Our first-time buyer relief for Land and Buildings Transaction Tax has the effect of raising the nil-rate threshold from £145,000 to £175,000, saving first-time buyers up to £600.

No formal assessment has been carried out on the impact of increased mortgage rates on First Time Buyers (FTB’s), however we are aware that an increase in mortgage rates will make it more difficult for many FTB’s to obtain mortgage lending or in fact access it due to a decreased number of products available.

Question reference: S6W-19891

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 1 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the most recent known number of affordable homes per head of population is in Scotland, and what information it has on how this compares with the number in (a) England and (b) Wales.

There are different types of affordable housing programmes and schemes in Scotland and across the UK, and statistics on stock levels for each of these different types are not readily available. Information is published on social sector housing stock levels across each of the countries.

The following table sets out information on the number of social rented dwellings compared to population figures, based on the latest available comparable year of data for 2020 from UK housing stock tables published by the Office for National Statistics.

This shows that the 608,000 social sector dwellings in Scotland in 2020 equates to 1,112 dwellings per 10,000 population, higher than the equivalent per head of population figures of 729 in England and 726 in Wales in the same year.

Table on social rented dwellings compared to population figures, for latest comparable year
Country	Social Sector dwellings, 2020	Mid-year population, 2020	Social Sector dwellings per 10,000 population
Scotland	608,000	5,466,000	1,112
England	4,121,000	56,550,138	729
Wales	230,000	3,169,586	726
Sources:
Dwelling stock by tenure, UK - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)
Estimates of the population for the UK, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)

Question reference: S6O-02393

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it will take account of the views of Ayrshire farmers as part of its proposed Agriculture Bill.

Question reference: S6W-18716

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2023
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Patrick Harvie on 1 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the expected status of the provisions within Part 1 of the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 for the period after 30 September 2023.

The Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 is a response to the impact of the cost crisis on those living in the rented sector. The Act introduced a temporary rent cap and a temporary moratorium on the enforcement of evictions, along with simplifying the process for claiming unlawful eviction damages and increasing the level of damages that can be awarded.

The Act was initially due to expire on 31 March 2023, however Scottish Ministers used the powers available to them to extend Part 1 for a further period of 6 months to 30 September 2023.

In addition to being time limited, the Scottish Government has also made clear it will retain and use the provisions within the Act only for as long as they are necessary and proportionate. As a result, where it has been possible to do so, provisions in the Act have been suspended or expired when they have fulfilled their purpose and the Scottish Government has examined available evidence and views and both supported a change in approach.

The ongoing cost crisis continues to place people across Scotland in a precarious economic position. Renters, in particular, have lower household incomes, higher levels of poverty and are more vulnerable to economic shocks. Over the period from 2018-2020, 63% of social rented households and 40% of private rented households did not have enough savings to cover even a month of income at the poverty line, compared to 24% of households buying with a mortgage and 9% of households owning outright. Thus rented sector households entered the cost of living crisis in a more vulnerable position than owner occupiers.

In carefully considering this wider economic context, the Scottish Government have decided that it is necessary and proportionate for Part 1 of the Act to be extended for a further, and final, 6 month period to 31 March 2024.

Subject to approval by Parliament, regulations have been laid today that would mean:

Most in-tenancy private rent increases would continue to be capped at 3%;
Alternatively, private landlords could apply for increases of up to 6% to help cover certain increases in costs in a specified time period where these costs can be evidenced;
Enforcement of evictions would continue to be paused for six months for most tenants, except in a number of specified circumstances; and
Increased damages for unlawful evictions of up to 36 months’ worth of rent would continue to be applicable.

A Statement of Reasons has been published alongside these regulations, setting out the evidence why the Scottish Government believes it is necessary and proportionate to extend Part 1 of the Act beyond 30 September 2023.

Part 1 of the Act can only be extended in its entirety and not on a provision by provision basis. Any provisions that should not be extended therefore need to be expired or suspended through separate regulations. In addition, throughout the proposed six month extension period, if provisions are deemed to no longer be necessary during that time then they must be suspended or expired early. A suspended provision could subsequently be revived if this was considered necessary and proportionate in connection with the cost of living.

Therefore, proposing that Part 1 of the Act be extended at this time does not guarantee that all provisions covered by the extension would remain in place until 31 March 2024, and we will continue to review – and report on - whether the provisions remain necessary and proportionate in connection with the cost of living.

Question reference: S6O-02311

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce child poverty in Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley.

Question reference: S6O-02279

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it anticipates the impact of the Green Jobs Fund will be on the Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley constituency.

Question reference: S6W-17717

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 16 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Scottish National Party manifesto commitment to spend £275 million via the National Infrastructure Mission on community-led regeneration and town centre revitalisation, whether it will provide a detailed breakdown of how much funding was allocated to (a) associated projects and (b) each local authority.

To deliver this commitment, the Scottish Government established the Place Based Investment Programme (PBIP) in 2021 to accelerate ambitions for place, 20-minute neighbourhoods, town centre action, community led regeneration and community wealth building. This includes the continued delivery of the £25 million per annum Regeneration Capital Grant Fund (RCGF), support for Clyde Gateway urban regeneration company to help deliver their 20-year operating plan, and £140 million delivered directly to all local authorities over 5 years.

PBIP funding allocated to each local authority for the first 3 years of the programme 2021- 2023 is provided in the following table: It is up to each local authority how they allocate funding to specific projects, within the terms of the PBIP grant award and related criteria.

Local Authority	Allocation 2021-22 £	Allocation 2022-23 £	Allocation 2023-24 £
Aberdeen City	975,000	847,000	590,000
Aberdeenshire	2,040,000	1,770,000	1,234,000
Angus	720,000	624,000	435,000
Argyll and Bute	821,000	712,000	496,000
City of Edinburgh	1,998,000	1,741,000	1,213,000
Clackmannanshire	512,000	444,000	310,000
Dumfries and Galloway	1,029,000	892,000	622,000
Dundee City	827,000	717,000	500,000
East Ayrshire	1,310,000	1,136,000	792,000
East Dunbartonshire	600,000	522,000	364,000
East Lothian	823,000	717,000	500,000
East Renfrewshire	635,000	553,000	385,000
Falkirk	1,391,000	1,207,000	841,000
Fife	3,163,000	2,748,000	1,915,000
Glasgow City	3,699,000	3,217,000	2,242,000
Highland	1,963,000	1,704,000	1,187,000
Inverclyde	675,000	584,000	407,000
Midlothian	613,000	534,000	372,000
Moray	770,000	668,000	466,000
Na h-Eileanan Siar	134,000	116,000	81,000
North Ayrshire	1,260,000	1,093,000	761,000
North Lanarkshire	2,807,000	2,436,000	1,698,000
Orkney Islands	122,000	106,000	74,000
Perth and Kinross	1,265,000	1,098,000	766,000
Renfrewshire	1,195,000	1,038,000	723,000
Scottish Borders	912,000	791,000	552,000
Shetland Islands	124,000	108,000	75,000
South Ayrshire	797,000	691,000	481,000
South Lanarkshire	2,003,000	1,740,000	1,213,000
Stirling	735,000	638,000	445,000
West Dunbartonshire	780,000	676,000	471,000
West Lothian	1,302,000	1,132,000	789,000
Scotland	38,000,000	33,000,000	23,000,000

Details of the grant awards made to local authorities through the Regeneration Capital Grant Fund (RCGF) over the first 3 years of PBIP are provided in the following table, with details of the individual projects available on the RCGF webpage .

Local Authority	RCGF Award 2021-22 £	RCGF Award 2022-23 £	RCGF Indicative* Award 2023-24 £
Aberdeen City	1,408,965	Nil	1,900,000
Aberdeenshire	2,577,545	1,458,000	Nil
Angus	Nil	Nil	Nil
Argyll and Bute	2,210,223	1,452,590	1,057,500
City of Edinburgh	2,450,258	4,578,123	2,250,000
Clackmannanshire	90,000	Nil	Nil
Comhairle nan Eileanan Siar	550,000	1,700,000	2,150,000
Dumfries and Galloway	Nil	3,413,889	2,623,000
Dundee City	1,059,305	593,403	Nil
East Ayrshire	Nil	1,745,008	3,141,615
East Dunbartonshire	1,100,000	Nil	950,000
East Lothian	150,000	Nil	Nil
East Renfrewshire	200,000	Nil	Nil
Falkirk	Nil	Nil	Nil
Fife	475,000	1,500,000	Nil
Glasgow City **	8,912,600	6,409,008	5,315,354
Highland	2,067,651	257,000	2,510,000
Inverclyde	2,525,804	1,301,000	Nil
Midlothian	Nil	Nil	Nil
Moray	Nil	Nil	270,200
North Ayrshire	2,114,478	788,000	Nil
North Lanarkshire	2,591,270	1,800,000	215,000
Orkney Islands	Nil	985,460	Nil
Perth and Kinross	1,750,000	Nil	Nil
Renfrewshire	Nil	1,084,000	Nil
Scottish Borders	133,710	Nil	Nil
Shetland Islands	Nil	Nil	Nil
South Ayrshire	729,659	400,000	1,197,440
South Lanarkshire	300,000	Nil	1,775,000
Stirling (Including Raploch URC where applicable)	100,000	Nil	Nil
West Dunbartonshire	Nil	Nil	Nil
West Lothian	Nil	Nil	1,400,000
Scotland	33,496,468	29,465,481	26,755,109

* The 2023-24 RCGF award allocations are currently indicative only and may be subject to change.

** includes Clyde Gateway URC where applicable.

Clyde Gateway awards in £

2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
8,500,000	5,000,000	5,000,000

In 2022-2023 funding was awarded to four place based demonstrator projects as described in the following table:

Local Authority	Project	Award £
Argyle and Bute	Rothesay - Transforming services with the Rothesay community	665,000
Argyle & Bute	Oban – 20 minute neighbourhood hub	110,000
Highland	Caithness - A different way of living, working and learning locally	750,000
Highland	Portree - New build multi-agency co-location, enabling service improvement and multi-site enablement	800,000

Question reference: S6O-02179

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6O-02105

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is, regarding agriculture and the food and drink industry in Scotland, to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Question reference: S6O-02074

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether Scotland’s digital economy will benefit from the UK Government’s revised digital strategy.

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