Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-31669

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 5 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Minister for Public Finance on 12 November 2024 that more than 164,000 homes have planning permission but have not yet been built, which organisations it consulted in order to make this estimate.

Question reference: S6W-31667

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 5 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Minister for Public Finance on 12 November 2024 that more than 164,000 homes have planning permission but have not yet been built, when it will publish the (a) methodology it used and (b) calculations it made to arrive at this figure.

The methodology involved analysing the most recently published Housing Land Audit schedules from local authorities across Scotland. The remaining capacity for each site noted as either consented or under construction was totalled. Where the distinction was made, this included Planning Permission in Principle.

This summary statistic gives a broad estimate of the remaining capacity across Scotland of identified housing land with planning consent. It provided contextual information for the development and publication of our Planning and the Housing Emergency Delivery Plan.

Question reference: S6W-31673

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 5 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Minister for Public Finance on 12 November 2024 that more than 164,000 homes have planning permission but have not yet been built, how many of these homes were granted planning permission (a) in the last (i) three years, (ii) three to five years, (iii) five to 10 years and (b) more than 10 years ago.

Question reference: S6W-31675

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 5 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Minister for Public Finance on 12 November 2024 that more than 164,000 homes have planning permission but have not yet been built, how many of these homes are in developments that are owned by homebuilders.

Question reference: S6W-31668

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 5 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Minister for Public Finance on 12 November 2024 that more than 164,000 homes have planning permission but have not yet been built, what source data it used to calculate this figure.

Question reference: S6W-31674

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 5 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Minister for Public Finance on 12 November 2024 that more than 164,000 homes have planning permission but have not yet been built, how many of these homes it considers are (a) viable and (b) undeliverable.

Question reference: S6W-31670

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 5 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Minister for Public Finance on 12 November 2024 that more than 164,000 homes have planning permission but have not yet been built, whether it will provide a breakdown of the number of these homes in each local authority area.

The following data was aggregated to create a broad national picture of the scale of land across Scotland with consent which has not yet been built out. It is not intended for comparison at authority level. The national figure provided contextual information for the development and publication of our Planning and the Housing Emergency Delivery Plan.

We will shortly publish new guidance on Housing Land Audits, to help build a clearer picture of the availability of housing land across Scotland.

Authorities	Remaining capacity (units of housing) of land included in Housing Land Audits with planning consent
City of Edinburgh	20,593
Glasgow	20,388
North Lanarkshire	14,859
Fife	13,181
West Lothian	12,298
Aberdeen City	11,406
Aberdeenshire	10,822
Perth & Kinross	9,724
South Lanarkshire	9,005
East Lothian	7,019
Midlothian	6,886
Renfrewshire	6,569
Stirling	5,562
Dumfries & Galloway	2,499
Dundee	2,154
Falkirk	2,090
West Dunbartonshire	1,896
Argyll & Bute	1,683
Angus	1,527
Clackmannanshire	1,461
East Renfrewshire	1,036
Inverclyde	1,015
East Dunbartonshire	711
Total	164,384

Question reference: S6W-31449

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 3 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of the process that is followed to include a building in its Cladding Remediation Programme (CRP) pilot scheme.

The Scottish Government’s Cladding Remediation Programme Pilot utilised a self-nomination process to identify buildings, of different tenures, that are potentially affected by unsafe cladding. Learning from the pilot supported the development of the Single Building Assessment (SBA) specification, published in June 2024, which will form the core of the standards being set by Ministers in anticipation of the forthcoming commencement of the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Act 2024. The pilot has been instrumental in enabling the creation of these essential foundations for future programme delivery.

Entries on the pilot are being discharged. Where they meet the requirements set out at section 32 of the Act and don’t have a linked developer, the Scottish Government is taking forward assessment and, where necessary, remediation. Other entries will be discharged in accordance with whether or not they are a relevant building, as set out at section 32 of the Act, and whether they have a building owner, and/or linked developer, who we would reasonably ask to take forward assessment in line with the published SBA specification.

New entries are not being added to the pilot. Nevertheless, in any circumstances where the Scottish Government becomes aware of a building with potentially unsafe cladding, we will take appropriate action. This may include asking a building owner to take action or passing the building onto a linked-development for assessment and, where necessary, remediation. It is possible to engage with the Cladding Remediation Programme directly via email at CladdingRemediationProgramme@gov.scot. Pursuant to forthcoming commencement of the Act early next year, we will formally announce new arrangements for people to seek support with the assessment and remediation of in scope buildings.

Question reference: S6O-04060

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the culture secretary has had with the finance secretary regarding whether it will deliver its commitment to provide an additional £25 million to the culture sector in 2025-26.

Question reference: S6W-31051

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 15 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it has provided for motor neurone disease (MND) care in the last 10 years.

The Scottish Government invested £2.2 million in 2015-2016 in the Specialist Nursing and Care Fund, £700,000 of which was specifically allocated to specialist Motor Neurone Disease (MND) nursing care following a successful campaign from Gordon Aikman and his 'Fightback Challenge'. This was mainstreamed to Territorial NHS Boards in 2017 while taking account of NHS pay awards. This funding has more than doubled nationally the number of Motor Neurone Disease Clinical Nurse Specialists employed within the NHS.

The Scottish Government has provided an additional £101,000 to MND Scotland since 2014, specifically in relation to the care of those with MND, and excluding any research costs.

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