- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 18 October 2021
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 5 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will disclose the locations of tower blocks with combustible cladding, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.
Answer
We are currently undergoing a pilot program of Single Building Assessments across Scotland with 16 buildings in Glasgow, 8 buildings in Edinburgh and 1 building in Aberdeen.
The purpose of the Single Building Assessment is to establish if there are any potential risks with buildings beyond just cladding. It will be a wide ranging review of fire risk for entire buildings and all homeowners will be made aware and covered in one singular assessment.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 18 October 2021
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 5 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to FOI request FOI/202100240457, what assessment it made that resulted in its decision to withhold information on the basis that concerns over home safety were outweighed by the public interest in maintaining the privacy of individuals who provided personal information.
Answer
In relation to the EIR request 202100240457, the information was collected via a portal that included a privacy notice where applicants were made aware that the information they provided would not be shared outwith the Scottish Government.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Friday, 08 October 2021
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 5 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of properties have interlinked fire alarms installed.
Answer
It is not possible to determine exactly how many properties have alarms of the prescribed type installed as this information is not currently collected as part of the Scottish House Condition Survey.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 08 October 2021
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 5 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how much it will contribute to housing associations, on average, in the current financial year for the construction of each new house that they build, and what the range of funding support is per house based on their size and type.
Answer
It is for individual housing associations to determine the amount of grant that they require to apply for in order for a project to be financially viable. We are therefore unable to say how much the Scottish Government will contribute to housing associations – on average – in the current financial year for each new house that they build, and what the range of funding support will be per house based on their size and type.
However, Annual Out-turn Reports relating to the Affordable Housing Supply Programme are published around the end of each calendar year and, as well as providing background information on the planning, delivery and scope of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme, these include various out-turn tables in respect of spend, along with the number of approvals, site starts and completions, broken down by local authority, in the preceding financial year. The Out-turn Reports also include a table showing the average total cost per home and the average grant per home. These are the actual costs relating to the delivery of the projects within the Affordable Housing Supply Programme, calculated at tender approval stage.
The information to be included within the AHSP Out-turn Report for 2020-21 is currently being collated, but the Out-turn Report in respect of 2019-20 is available on the Scottish Government website.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 11 October 2021
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 5 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support residents in areas where local authority care and repair services are not available, including South Ayrshire.
Answer
Local authorities have statutory responsibility for improving houses in their area and broad discretionary powers to provide advice and support to owners. It is for a local authority to determine whether this is best provided through a local care and repair service or directly by the local authority.
In connection with the new standard for fire and smoke alarms, Care and Repair Scotland have undertaken to liaise with local services that are adjacent to areas that do not have a service, and, if it is possible, to provide support across the boundaries, but this will depend on the practicalities of delivering support and the agreement of the local authority concerned.
In the case of South Ayrshire support for the purpose of assistance with fire alarms is being provided by the service at Shire Housing Association, which provides the Care and Repair service for East Ayrshire. Contact details are available on their website at https://shirehousing.co.uk/our-services/care-repair/ .
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Friday, 08 October 2021
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 5 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has taken, or plans to take, any steps to regulate the sale and installation of interlinked fire alarms to avoid the fraudulent sale and installation of such alarms.
Answer
The Scottish Government has no plans to regulate the sale or installation of interlinked fire alarms. The best way to avoid scams is to use trusted sources of information, to not deal with cold callers, and to be wary of any company that says their products or services have been endorsed by the Scottish Government. We have included messages on the importance of using reputable tradespeople including signposting to local government Trading Standards in our awareness campaign for the new fire alarms standard.
- Asked by: Siobhian Brown, MSP for Ayr, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 October 2021
-
Current Status:
Answered by Ash Regan on 4 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the commitment at paragraph 9.14 of its Family Justice Modernisation Strategy, published on 3 September 2019, to give further consideration to amending the Child Abduction Act 1984 and to the procedure for obtaining formal consent, proving consent and corroboration of evidence, what further work it will carry out in relation to the strategy.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to working to improve the family justice system in Scotland, as set out in the 2019 Family Justice Modernisation Strategy. However, since this Strategy was published, a number of areas of work across the Scottish Government were paused to enable an effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic, whilst also ensuring core services remained operational. As we move towards recovery from the pandemic, the Scottish Government will prepare an update on the Strategy and look at how best to take forward actions in the Strategy which remain outstanding, including whether amendments are required to the Child Abduction Act 1984.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 October 2021
-
Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 4 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what funding or financial support it plans to put in place to support homeowners and landlords to achieve the required targets set out in its Heat in Buildings Strategy.
Answer
The Home Energy Scotland loan scheme provides up to £15,000 for energy efficiency measures and up to £17,500 for renewables measures (maximum of two). Registered private landlords owning five or fewer properties will be eligible for interest free loans, and owners of six or more properties will be subject to interest at a rate of 3.5% APR. Homeowners are eligible for interest free loans as well as 75% cashback up to £7,500 for renewable heat measures, and an enhanced 40% cashback for energy efficiency measures up to £6,000. In 2022-23, we will replace current cashback arrangements with a grant scheme.
In addition the Scottish Government’s fuel poverty schemes have adopted a “zero emissions first” approach. Warmer Homes Scotland enables eligible households to receive energy efficiency and heating improvements, including an increasing number of heat pumps. Our local authority-led Area Based Schemes provide energy efficiency improvements to households in or at risk of fuel poverty living in their own home or a private rented property, leveraging Energy Company Obligation (ECO) finance and private investment.
These schemes form part of our broader investment package. We have committed to invest at least £1.8 billion over the course of this parliament to kick-start market growth and support those least able to pay.
In addition we are working to develop an appropriate market framework to help consumers overcome the upfront investment costs and to attract and secure further private investment and finance to help meet the costs of the transition. We will establish a Green Heat Finance Taskforce by the end of 2021 to recommend ways the Scottish Government and private sector can collaborate to scale up investment.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 October 2021
-
Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 4 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the statement on page 47 of its draft Heat in Buildings Strategy that, during 2021-22, it will conduct research to "understand the cost effectiveness of thermal, electrical storage and rooftop solar PV to support households to reduce bills", what progress it has made on that research.
Answer
In the Heat in Buildings Strategy we committed to undertaking research to understand the extent to which the deployment of secondary technologies alongside zero emissions heating systems could help to optimise operational performance, minimise energy consumption and reduce end user fuel costs. This research is underway, and seeks to understand the technical feasibility and cost effectiveness of heat batteries, electric batteries, and thermal storage cylinders when installed alongside a range of zero emissions primary heating technologies; both independently of and in conjuncture with microgeneration technologies such as solar PV and solar thermal. We expect to publish this research in early 2022.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 October 2021
-
Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 4 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it plans to take to ensure that the contents of its Heat in Buildings Strategy do not disproportionately impact remote and rural communities.
Answer
Alongside the development of the Heat in Buildings Strategy, the Scottish Government worked with stakeholders to undertake a series of impact assessments including a Fairer Scotland Duty (FSD) assessment and an Islands Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA) both of which consider remote and rural communities. We will publish these shortly and will take the findings into account as we deliver on the full range of actions set out in the Strategy.