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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6O-03207

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it is working with North Lanarkshire Council to improve the school estate.

Question reference: S6W-25663

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 6 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many recipient organisations of an Empowering Communities Programme grant award were dissolved before their grant was paid, in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-25661

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 6 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many Empowering Communities Programme grant awards for 2023-24 were paid to organisations in each month since April 2023, also broken down by the (a) recipient organisation and (b) amount of each grant award, and what the total value was of these awards.

The Empowering Communities Programme (ECP) comprises two community funding programmes - the Investing in Communities Fund and Strengthening Communities Programme – as well as grants to strategic delivery partners. In 2023-24 222 organisations within the ECP have been offered grants with a total value of £13,855,118.50.

As grant claims are invited on a quarterly basis in arrears we do not collate information on grant claims paid on a monthly basis at an organisational level and are therefore unable to provide this information in the format requested. Data on the amount of grant paid is currently available from the 1 April 2023 up to the period ending 31 January 2024. The total amount of grant paid for the ECP for this period is £9,030,517.

A table including the list of grant awards made for each organisation within the ECP has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. Number 64909)

Question reference: S6W-25715

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 23 February 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 6 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the competing work priorities are that have resulted in the planned publication of the Scottish Housing Market Review in January 2024 being suspended.

The Scottish Housing Market Review, a quarterly publication which collates a range of previously published statistics, was suspended in January 2024 due to a number of competing work priorities, which included analytical work related to the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act as well as other legislative commitments.

The next edition of the Review is due to be published in April 2024, and will include analysis of data released in both Q4 2023 and Q1 2024.

Question reference: S6W-25660

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 29 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the latest year for which data is available, what the cost was of administering the Empowering Communities Programme, and what the (a) headcount, (b) FTE staff count, (c) total number of staffing hours and (d) total cost of staff salaries was.

We are unable to provide all the information in the form requested. This is because members of staff involved in the administration of the Empowering Communities Programme (ECP) undertake a variety of duties relating to the delivery of Scottish Government business including supporting Ministers. We do not routinely record the time spent or staff costs incurred related to the different elements of our work.

However we can advise that 5 members of staff, with an FTE of 4.6, spend the majority of their time supporting the delivery of the ECP, which includes the administration.

Question reference: S6W-25347

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 February 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 28 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-21426 by Paul McLennan on 2 October 2023, whether it will provide updated tables, based on the latest information available.

The following tables shows applications and homes formally approved since 19 September to 31 January, including grant offered split by registered social landlord and local authority in 2023-24. It should also be noted that discussions have taken place to support additional acquisitions with other providers but formal applications have either not yet been received or are in the process of being approved.

We have not been able to provide purchase price information at this stage as, although approved, all properties have not yet been purchased:

Date Range 19 September 2023 to 31 January 2024
Registered Social Landlords (RSL)	No. of Applications Received	No. of Homes Applied For	No. of Homes Approved	SG Grant Approved (£)	Average Grant per Home (£)
Ark HA	1	1	1	140,000.00	140,000.00
Buidheann Tigheadas Loch Aillse	1	1	1	85,000.00	85,000.00
Castle Rock Edinvar HA	2	30	30	2,601,000.00	86,700.00
Govan HA	1	1	1	101,894.88	101,894.88
Irvine HA	1	7	7	280,000.00	40,000.00
Kingdom HA	1	8	8	602,734.00	75,341.75
Larkfield HA	1	4	4	160,000.00	40,000.00
Lochfield Park HA	1	4	4	345,020.00	86,255.00
Ore Valley HA	1	1	1	100,000.00	100,000.00
Shettleston HA	1	1	1	81,664.00	81,664.00
The Highland Housing Alliance	4	28	28	2,484,000.00	88,714.29
Tollcross HA	1	1	1	201,740.46	201,740.46
West Of Scotland HA	1	1	1	120,012.00	120,012.00
Total RSL	17	88	88	7,303,065.34	82,989.38

Local Authority	No. of Applications Received	No. of Homes Applied For	No. of Homes Approved	SG Grant Approved (£)	Average Grant per Home (£)
Edinburgh	1	20	20	3,286,000.00	164,300.00
Highland	5	11	11	935,405.18	85,036.83
Moray	2	2	2	103,263.00	51,631.50
Shetland Islands	1	1	1	83,000.00	83,000.00
Total LA	9	34	34	4,407,668.18	129,637.30

Total 19 September 2023 to 31 January 2024	26	122	122	11,710,733.52	95,989.62

Question reference: S6W-25365

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 27 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-20844 by Paul McLennan on 13 September 2023, how many applications from (a) registered social landlords and (b) local authorities have been (i) received and (ii) approved for the National Acquisition Plan since its answer.

The following table shows the number of homes approved from applications received from (a) registered social landlords (b) local authorities since the National Acquisition Programme was announced on 19 July 2023. This information is to 31 January 2024:

National Acquisition Programme	Applications for nos. of homes received	No. of homes approved
Registered Social Landlord	184	133
Local Authority	232	83
Total	416	216

The figures above show that there were applications still under active appraisal during January. Some of these homes may now have been approved but information to end February is not yet available. It should also be noted that, in addition, applications were also received and approved prior to the announcement on the 19 July.

Question reference: S6W-25311

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 February 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 26 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-24818 by Angela Constance on 5 February 2024, whether it will provide clarification on whether anyone has been convicted of offences under section 56 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 since it came into force.

Question reference: S6O-03135

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government to where within the education budget it reallocated any unused funds for teaching bursaries in 2023-24.

Question reference: S6W-25346

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 February 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 20 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government who the single point of contact is in (a) the Scottish Government and (b) local government for the National Acquisition Plan.

There is no single point of contact in the Scottish Government for the National Acquisition Programme. The programme is part of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme and managed at a local level by More Homes Division Area Teams who work with local authorities and Registered Social Landlords to plan and progress acquisitions through the programme. The More Homes central Programme Management Team monitors and reports on the progress of the programme. There is no single point of contact in local government for the national acquisition programme. It is for local authorities to agree their policy position and approach to acquisitions as outlined in our published National Acquisition Programme information .