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Question reference: S6W-41391

Date lodged: 16 October 2025
Current status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 7 November 2025

Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has engaged with the Association of British Insurers, or other relevant industry bodies, to assess whether there are any insurance implications associated with its current approach to assessing buildings with potentially unsafe cladding as set out in the Single Building Assessment Specification Document.

Answer

The Scottish Government is aware of the insurance implications associated with multi-residential buildings with potentially unsafe external wall cladding systems. As part of the development of the Cladding Remediation Programme and the associated Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Act 2024 the Scottish Government has engaged with a range of sector stakeholders, including building safety groups, the housing sector and financial risk specialists.

In particular:

During the parliamentary scrutiny of the Bill accompanying the Act, the Policy Memorandum records that the Association of British Insurers (ABI) were listed as one of the organisations engaged through the Ministerial Working Group on Mortgage Lending and Cladding and the Cladding Remediation Stakeholder Group.
The Scottish Government continues to monitor insurance market developments and acknowledges industry initiatives such as the Fire Safety Reinsurance Facility, launched in April 2024 and backed by the ABI, which aims to expand insurance capacity for higher-risk buildings.
While the Scottish Government’s core focus remains on physical assessment and remediation (through instruments such as the Single Building Assessment (SBA) specification and the Cladding Assurance Register), officials remain in dialogue with industry bodies on residual risks including how insurance terms, premiums and availability may reflect remediation progress and risk reduction.

The Scottish Government is engaged with the ABI and other insurance industry stakeholders as part of its cladding remediation policy formulation.

However, the primary mechanism by which the Government addresses the risk in question is through the mandatory assessment and remediation pathway, rather than through direct regulation of insurance. The Government will continue to maintain engagement with the insurance sector to ensure that remediation and risk reduction outcomes are reflected in market capacity and premiums, but the SBA specification itself does not explicitly impose insurance requirements.

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