The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.
All Official Reports of meetings in the Debating Chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
All Official Reports of public meetings of committees.
Displaying 1063 contributions
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Paul McLennan
I would be happy to come back to the committee or write to the committee—whichever way you want to approach that.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Paul McLennan
You and I have had chats about the idea previously.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Paul McLennan
That money will help them to prepare for prevention duties. I also mentioned the acquisition fund, which is targeted funding. It was agreed with COSLA that 80 per cent of that funding would target the five local authorities—we talked about regional prioritisation. That goes back to the data, which shows that the five local authorities are facing the most pressure. We are focused on how to reduce that pressure. It also ties in to the local authorities that are experiencing systemic failure, which is the City of Edinburgh Council and Glasgow City Council. We are ensuring that they come out of systemic failure as quickly as possible.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Paul McLennan
On the 110,000 affordable homes target, we are looking at a number of things, one of which is the budget. We are also looking at the barriers to meeting that target. I gave the example of stalled sites. What can we do about them?
It is really important that we get a multiyear funding agreement. We plan a year ahead, but we do not have the certainty of multiyear funding from the UK Government to enable us to deliver those plans. We need to receive multiyear funding so that we have as much certainty as possible.
I come back to the question of how we maximise the opportunities of every budget. I have mentioned stalled sites. We are also looking at how we can maximise charitable donations. On mid-market rent, we have committed £100 million, and we are looking at £400 million of additional funding. I have mentioned charitable bonds, too.
There is also the work of the housing investment task force, which is looking, for example, at how we can be flexible in relation to the housing revenue account. A significant amount of work has been done on that. Another key issue is how we attract institutional investment, which I have discussed with the member in the context of rent control. I am confident that we will bring in additional funding; indeed, I have met investors on a number of occasions.
The housing investment task force is also looking at income strips, or long-lease arrangements. Such arrangements already happen in some parts of Scotland, and it is about how we maximise that approach. The task force is looking at external funding coming through that. There is broader work going on.
With the review of the 110,000 target, we are taking the opportunity to look at additional investment, as well as the barriers. Obviously, we will come back to the committee on the work that we do on that, but the key part is multiyear funding. We are looking at what we need to deliver the target over the period, but we need certainty. At the moment, we have to deal with one-year budgets, so certainty around multiyear funding will be an incredibly important part of the review.
10:30Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Paul McLennan
The review of the 110,000 target, which, as I have mentioned, is looking at that sort of thing, is on-going. We also have data on house completions, starts and approvals; one of the key issues is to look at what that data tells us, and it is telling us that we need to build homes at a quicker pace. There is no doubt about that, and it is why we have needed to increase the budget this year. We have had support from the UK Government in that respect, as the First Minister has mentioned, and one of the key focuses has been housing; indeed, we have seen that coming through in the budget.
Last year, there was a reduction, which was, as I have mentioned to the committee, a hard decision that we had to make. Multiyear funding will help, but there are certain indications that we are seeing from the figures for completions. There has been a drop—there is no doubt about that—but that has been impacted by a number of things; indeed, we have talked about Brexit as well as construction inflation, which has had an impact on private starts.
There have been issues in that regard, one of which is funding. The review of the 110,000 target is, as I have said, on-going, and we will come back to the committee on that. We have to take into account the figures that have been reported, which are disappointing; however, the additional funding that we have talked about will, it is estimated, deliver an additional 8,000 homes, which should make a difference in the next financial year. We need the certainty of multiyear funding to deliver on that, too.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Paul McLennan
It is not as simple as that. When it comes to funding, homes are not delivered in the space of one financial year; they are delivered over a number of years. They might be started in one year and completed in another.
In relation to the review of the 110,000 target, we will come back to the member with specific figures. The quarterly figures that we get on completions and approvals will give an indication of where we are, but we cannot simply plump for one year and work out what a reduction in the budget for that year means.
Obviously, there have been reductions, including the reduction in capital funding, but there have been outside factors, too, such as the level of interest rates and the issues around costs and so on, as we all know. It is a complex issue. We cannot look only at one financial year. It is estimated that 8,000 more homes will be delivered as a result of this year’s increase in the budget, but we will look at the data that comes through for the last quarter of last year, as well as future data. That will give us information about the impact on the affordable housing supply programme.
The budget is one part of that, but other factors have had an impact as well. I mentioned the fact that our capital budget has been cut by 9 per cent, while the financial transactions money has been cut by 62 per cent. I am happy to come back to the member on the 110,000 target, but the data that comes through will give us more accurate information than the estimates that we have at the moment. We will look at the figures for the next quarters and learn lessons from those. The discussions as part of the review of the 110,000 target have been about how we can learn from those figures and take forward that learning as part of our discussions about maximising and optimising the budget as best we can.
We learn lessons from the figures that are reported. It is not a one-size-fits-all approach across Scotland, so we need to consider where the pressures are. We have talked about stalled sites, for example, the work on which is really important. It is not just funding that matters in that context; other issues are important, too. The work that we are doing on stalled sites aims to get construction on those sites started and completed as soon as possible. We are engaged in much broader work, but the work on stalled sites is incredibly important. The situation in that regard is not entirely related to the budget. Other factors come into play, such as water. We are doing detailed work on stalled sites in an effort to increase the figures. The issues are not always related to the budget.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Paul McLennan
Yes. Obviously, there is a focus on the five councils. On the other local authorities that have declared a housing emergency—I think that I have said this at the committee before—one of the key things that we are asking them to do is to say what their housing emergency action plan is. For example, what do they need to do in relation to their own infrastructure?
09:45We expect that, if a council declares a housing emergency, it would ask us for what it requires, and that it would also look at a housing emergency action plan. We continue to work through local teams and through officials who are based in the Government.
Although we will continue to focus on the other local authorities, just now, our key focus is on the five local authorities. The evidence shows that those are the five local authorities that we need to target at this particular time to bring down the use of temporary accommodation. How do we deliver on that for children? One of the key things that we discussed last week at the housing to 2040 board, when we were talking about the budget—alongside acquisition funding—was how we target children in temporary accommodation. What do we need to do on that?
Shelter told us that how we fund housing for families that may have four of five children is key. We may need to buy bigger accommodation. How do we tackle that issue in Edinburgh and Glasgow? There will be individual local discussions about that, as well as discussions on what we can do through the funding that we will make available. We are not on to questions on the budget yet, but those were the kinds of discussions that were held last week. Shelter had its input, as did other organisations such as Homeless Network Scotland. Our key focus is how we deliver on that, and how we deliver actions—which are already happening—in a way that is sustainable this year and beyond?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Paul McLennan
I will ask Kirsty Henderson to come in on that and talk about the figures. That might be outwith housing, but I see the point that you are trying to make, which is important. Glasgow has identified a lot of work that it needs to do on repurposing office space and commercial properties, because that will create city centre living and help the economy.
11:15Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Paul McLennan
On that point, Tom Arthur did some work on town centres, so we can come back to you on that.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 14 January 2025
Paul McLennan
That is an issue about local connections, which has been raised by quite a few local authorities. We have done a substantial amount of work on that. Whether it is the bigger or smaller local authorities, it tends to balance itself out. There is no clear evidence to show that people are moving into or out of Glasgow, or that they are moving into the Highlands or out of it, and there is no strong evidence that shows if something is making a difference to the numbers, one way or another.
Your question is whether people are moving from Perth and Kinross to somewhere else, but there is no strong evidential base on that. We continue to monitor local connections regularly to ensure that that is not the case, which local authorities ask us to do. I am happy to contact the committee about that. Perth and Kinross Council is doing work on private sector leasing schemes, and so on.