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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-10678

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 22 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government on 12 May 2022 on cladding remediation, what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding funding for the removal of combustible materials in Scotland, and on what dates any such discussions were held.

Officials are engaged in regular discussion with Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities colleagues on a number of matters including the block grant expenditure and the possibility of further funding for cladding remediation. The Inter Ministerial Group, which last met in May this year, agreed that official level engagement on areas of policy of mutual interest on cladding safety would be increased. The next Inter Ministerial Group will meet again in Autumn where matters of building and fire safety and finance will be discussed.

Question reference: S6O-01403

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 September 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many households it has written to promoting the Warmer Homes Scotland scheme since the start of the cost of living crisis.

Question reference: S6W-10467

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the updated affordable housing supply investment benchmarks will be, in light of the June 2022 reported findings in relation to the Scottish Social Housing Tender Price Index that tender prices rose by 8.3% compared with Q4 2020-21, the highest quarterly growth in the last four years, and that underlying construction costs of labour, materials and plant increased by 1.2% quarter-on-quarter in Q4 2021-22, and by 10.5% compared with the same quarter in the previous year.

Question reference: S6W-10462

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government in which quarter it will publish new affordable housing investment benchmarks, based on the Scottish Social Housing Tender Price Index.

Question reference: S6W-10466

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what work it is undertaking to determine the resilience of the affordable housing supply programme, in light of reported findings in relation to the Scottish Social Housing Tender Price Index that total new work output in Scotland in Q4 2021-22 fell by 9.3% on the previous quarter, and by 12.4% compared with Q4 2020-21, and that there is a divergent relationship between tender prices and demand.

We are aware of the global issues affecting construction and their impact on the pace of delivery of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme. The submission of Scottish Social Housing Tender Returns is an important tool in helping inform the Scottish Social Housing Tender Price Index and the annual review of investment benchmarks. The latest Scottish Social Housing Tender Price Index was based on analysis of ten projects and results are provisional. We rely on partners providing timely and good quality Housing Tender Returns to enable comprehensive analysis to be undertaken. We operate a flexible grant system and continue to work closely with partners to ensure the delivery of affordable housing as quickly as practically possible.

Question reference: S6W-10464

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many proposed (a) homes and (b) projects included in affordable housing supply programme grant applications that it has agreed to have been (i) below and (ii) above benchmark, also broken down by baseline benchmark type, in each month since the new benchmarks were set.

Question reference: S6W-10463

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many proposed (a) homes and (b) projects included in affordable housing supply programme grant applications that it has received have been (i) below and (ii) above benchmark, also broken down by baseline benchmark type, in each month since the new benchmarks were set.

Question reference: S6W-10468

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it recycles the funding received through sales and tranching up of first-time buyer and Low-cost Initiative for First Time Buyers (LIFT) support schemes, and what total amount of funding it has recycled in each year since 2010.

Since 2010-11 the Scottish Government has recycled all receipts raised from shared equity sales.

Recycled receipts in each year are as shown in the following table.

	Open Market Shared Equity £m	New Supply Shared Equity £m	Help to Buy £m	First Home Fund £m	Total £m
2010-11	1.969	-	-	-	-
2011-12	0.956	0.354	-	-	1.310
2012-13	1.367	1.037	-	-	2.405
2013-14	3.007	1.981	-	-	4.989
2014-15	6.271	5.125	0.171	-	11.567
2015-16	8.151	6.316	1.100	-	15.567
2016-17	9.979	9.860	6.608	-	26.447
2017-18	17.887	8.431	12.464	-	38.782
2018-19	22.236	9.921	22.817	-	54.974
2019-20	23.798	10.817	35.063	-	69.679
2020-21	23.253	9.197	37.519	0.062	70.032
2021-22	31.714	12.678	48.997	3.003	96.392

Question reference: S6W-10469

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) gains and (b) losses it has made on its equity shares through the (i) sales and (ii) tranching up of properties purchased through first-time buyer and Low-cost Initiative for First Time Buyers (LIFT) support schemes in each year since 2010, broken down by each scheme.

We do not hold information centrally on whether income from shared equity investments relates to tranching up or open market sales.

Providing the information requested prior to 2017 could only be answered at disproportionate cost. Following a change to the way we recorded shared equity sales from 2017-18 we are able to provide the information requested in the following table.

	Open Market Shared Equity £m	New Supply Shared Equity £m	Help to Buy £m	First Home Fund £m	Total £m
2017-18	1.069	0.416	0.659	-	2.144
2018-19	2.239	0.317	1.476	-	4.032
2019-20	4.060	0.412	2.453	-	6.926
2020-21	4.142	0.494	3.598	0.014	8.248
2021-22	6.812	1.035	7.355	0.277	15.479

Question reference: S6W-10769

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to bring forward Compulsory Rental Orders for long-term vacant properties.