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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: S6W-10181

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 August 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 22 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-09562 by Shona Robison on 13 July 2022, whether it will address the issue raised in the question regarding what action it is taking to improve public perception of the affordable housing supply programme, in light of Shelter Scotland's recent survey findings, conducted by YouGov, which reportedly found that 60% of adults in Scotland think that it is unlikely that the Scottish Government will deliver on its target of providing 110,000 affordable homes by 2032; what its response is to Shelter’s reported findings; whether it conducts its own polling and public perception research regarding the affordable housing supply programme, and (a) in what way and (b) how frequently it reviews the outcomes and deliverables of this programme.

The Scottish Government appreciates the spotlight that Shelter Scotland shines on our shared vision of a safe, secure, affordable home for everyone in Scotland.

Having delivered our previous 50,000 affordable homes target, we have now started to deliver against our commitment to 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, 70% of which will be for social rent and 10% in remote, rural and island areas.

We do not conduct our own polling and public perception research. However, we do publish quarterly Official Statistics and annual Outturn Reports that focus on how the Affordable Housing Supply Programme resources were spent and what they delivered, in line with priorities and outcomes identified within local authority Strategic Housing Investment Plans which set out the key strategic affordable housing investment priorities.

Question reference: S6W-10184

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 August 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 22 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many properties (a) built in each of the last five years and (b) under construction in 2022-23, under the affordable housing supply programme, (i) have zero carbon heating systems installed, (ii) received the greener subsidy and (iii) attained (A) bronze (B) bronze active (C) silver (D) silver active (E) gold or (F) platinum levels of sustainability.

With regard to (a) and (b) (i), we do not currently, but do plan to shortly collect this information. For (a) and (b) (ii), information on RSL and council house social rent approvals which qualified for higher greener subsidy is published within our annual Outturn Reports.

For easy reference, the following table shows the information that we hold for homes which have or have not been approved to the higher greener standard:

Financial Year	Yes	No	Total Homes
2016-17	3,162	3,948	7,110
2017-18	4,606	2,715	7,321
2018-19	6,878	859	7,737
2019-20	9,258	798	10,056
2020-21	4,502	1,034	5,536
Total Homes	28,406	9,354	37,760

With regard to (a) and (b) (iii), we do not collect this information.

Question reference: S6W-10170

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 August 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 22 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-09182 by Shona Robison on 24 June 2022, whether it will set out the part of the (a) Homelessness etc. (Scotland) Act 2003 and (b) Notice to Local Authorities (Scotland) Regulations 2008 that (i) allows local authorities to amend and (ii) places a duty on local authorities to provide the section 11 notice form.

(a) – The relevant part of the Homelessness etc (Scotland) Act 2003 can be found under Section 11 of the Homelessness etc (S) Act 2003 at Homelessness etc. (Scotland) Act 2003 (legislation.gov.uk)

(b) – Schedule 1 of the Notice to Local Authorities (Scotland) Regulations sets out the form of notice that must be provided to the LA under section 11 of the 2003 Act at The Notice to Local Authorities (Scotland) Regulations 2008 (legislation.gov.uk) . As this is a statutory notice, local authorities must require notice to be provided in this form.

Question reference: S6W-10165

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, whether it will prepare a medium-rise inventory, in light of the Building (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022, which ban combustible cladding on buildings with any storey at a height of more than 11 metres above the ground.

Question reference: S6W-10194

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-08297 by Shona Robison on 12 May 2022, whether it will provide an update on how many properties are at each stage of assessment, how many single building assessments have been supplied to building owners, and what the average amount of time is that each phase has taken.

Single Building Assessment applicants are supported through the process to complete the application form and commission professional services ahead of receiving the final survey report. 10 pilot blocks are within the Application Phase and 15 pilot blocks are within the Delivery Phase. The Single Building Assessment provides an individualised process therefore timescales vary on a building by building basis.

Question reference: S6W-10199

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-09252 by Shona Robison on 21 July 2022, whether these sums of money are included in the Single Building Assessment programme: spending information, which was released on 12 May 2022, and how much has been spent on contractors (a) prior to July 2021 and (b) in July and August 2022.

Question reference: S6W-10164

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 16 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the draft Bill regarding tenement maintenance will not be introduced until 2026, and whether it will ask the Scottish Law Commission to review its timetable.

Question reference: S6W-09620

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many times and (b) on what dates it has met with stakeholders that are concerned with cladding remediation, including (i) insurers, (ii) mortgage lenders, (iii) the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and (iv) homeowners, regarding the cladding remediation programme, since the Single Building Assessment pilot began.

Since the start of the pilot in June 2021 Scottish Government has met individually with:

Association of British Insurers 5 times

on 13 August 2021, 19 August 2021, 6 October 2021, 11 November 2021,
‎ 3 March 2022,

UK Finance 6 times

on 13 July 2021, 18 August 2021, 19 August 2021, 22 February 2022, 6 April 2022, 21 April 2022

‎ SFRS 2 times

on 9 July 2021, 15 September 2021

High Rise Scotland Action Group

15 times on 30 July 2021, 13 August 2021, 16 August 2021, 19 August 2021, 2 December 2021, 10 December 2021, 17 January 2022, 11 February 2022, 18 February 2022, 4 March 2022, 25 April 2022, 26 April 2022, 9 May 2022, 11 May 2022, 6 July 2022.

‎ Pilot building homeowners association representatives

23 June 2022

The Scottish Government has met with all stakeholders collectively at meetings of the Cladding Stakeholder Group. It has met on these dates:

‎2021

30 June, 19 August, 15 September, 20 October, 17 November, 15 December.
‎

2022

19 January, 16 February, 16 March, 20 April, 18 May.

Officials have also met with the SFRS regularly, at times daily, and likewise for homeowners affected by the cladding crisis. It is impossible to attach a figure to these meetings.

Question reference: S6W-09622

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many times it has met with Homes for Scotland regarding the development of the Scottish Safer Buildings Accord; what progress has been made with the Accord, and whether it will publish minutes and papers relating to the development of the Accord.

The Scottish Government has met 8 times with Homes for Scotland directly related to the development of the Scottish Safer Buildings Accord workshops.

We are making significant progress, to date focused around collaborative service design of the high level principles and scope. We are working at pace with our design cohort to refine specific technical criteria and build up granularity to the Accord.

Officials, in keeping with good collaborative working and Service Design, continue to meet regularly with Homes for Scotland out with design workshops and it is impracticable to attach a figure to these.

Discussions are sensitive and of a commercial, financial and legal nature. These will understandably not be published due to the confidential nature of discussions.

Question reference: S6W-09628

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 27 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many community-run retrofit organisations does it fund.

Scottish Government funding schemes, in the main, do not fund community-run retrofit organisations directly.

However, a number of our schemes do support retrofitting. For example, our flagship Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES), delivered by Local Energy Scotland, has offered advice to over 900 organisations and supported over 600 community and locally owned renewable projects throughout Scotland, offering funding of over £58 million since its inception in 2010. CARES has supported 119 organisations to retrofit decarbonised heat and/or install renewable generation into their buildings.

The following schemes also provide support to households, businesses and other eligible organisations for retrofitting, though not exclusively:

Warmer Homes Scotland – more than £176 million has been invested through the scheme since its launch in September 2015 helping over 27,000 households throughout Scotland.
Area Based Schemes – up until the end of the 2020-2021 programme, £400 million has been invested delivering 110,000 measures to homes since 2013.
Home Energy Scotland loans and cashback – since 2017, the scheme has issued 6808 loans, valued at over £37 million, and 4097 cashback offers, valued at over £11 million, to existing homes.
SME loans and cashback – since 2008, the scheme has paid close to £40 million in loans and cashback, funding more than 1627 projects.
Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund – since August 2020, the fund has committed over £14 million to the retrofit of 1800 social homes across Scotland.
Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme – this programme has provided grant support for the retrofitting of over 1000 homes to decarbonise their energy consumption.