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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6W-24142

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 16 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish its assumptions regarding the investment needed to deliver the 110,0000 affordable housing supply target.

The Scottish Government have already confirmed plans to bring forward the review of the target from 2026-27 to 2024, with a focus on the timeline for delivery of 110,000 affordable homes. And in parallel we will accelerate work with the financial community in Scotland and elsewhere to boost private sector investment in Scotland year on year, and help deliver more homes. This work will help to inform the assessment of the investment required to deliver the 110,000 affordable homes target.

Question reference: S6W-24141

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 16 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to start publishing monthly Affordable Housing Supply Programme (a) finance, (b) approval, (c) starts and (d) completions statistics.

The Scottish Government has no plans to start publishing monthly Affordable Housing Supply Programme finance, approval, starts or completion statistics.

The Scottish Government regularly publishes financial information at Autumn and Spring Budget revisions, Provisional Outturn, Final Outturn and Final Accounts. When annual financial year expenditure is concluded and finalised we publish an Affordable Housing Supply Programme annual out-turn report. This reports actual spend compared to original resource planning assumptions alongside wider programme performance information.

The Scottish Government publishes figures relating to the supply of affordable homes across Scotland, on a quarterly basis, which can be found online at:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-for-scotland-new-house-building/

Question reference: S6W-24136

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 16 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to begin an immediate and urgent external review of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme.

Question reference: S6W-24140

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 16 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the current underspend is in the Affordable Housing Supply Programme.

Question reference: S6W-24137

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 16 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it last used (a) external auditors and (b) independent review to consider whether the (i) Housing to 2040 strategy, (ii) 110,000 affordable housing supply target and (iii) Affordable Housing Supply Programme are achievable.

Question reference: S6W-24139

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 16 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the Affordable Housing Supply Programme can be placed in special measures.

Question reference: S6W-24138

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 16 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the Affordable Housing Supply Programme is fit for purpose, in light of its reported plans to halve the budget in real terms.

The Affordable Housing Supply Programme is fit for purpose. The UK Government did not inflation-proof their Capital Budget which has resulted in nearly a 10% real terms fall in our UK capital funding between 2023-24 and 2027-28. That means that we cannot deliver on all our capital projects. One of the most difficult choices we have taken is to reduce the funding for our Affordable Housing Supply Programme.

Question reference: S6W-24521

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6T-01731

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 January 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to bring more homes back into use, in light of reports that the stock of empty homes is valued at an estimated £3.4 billion.

Question reference: S6W-23837

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 11 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the underoccupancy rate has been for each of its offices in each month since January 2019, also broken down by location.

The data set available which can be used to calculate occupancy levels for Scottish Government (SG) core buildings has been developed into a table format for years 2020 - 2024. This information can be obtained from The Parliaments Information Centre Bib number 64841.

The percentages represent the number of attendees on the first Tuesday of each month against the workstation spaces available within that building. Data is no longer available for 2019 or before and is only available for part of 2020 due to limitations on information retention periods.

During 2023 SG committed to a flexible hybrid working model for its workforce, enabling staff to work from a range of settings. Managers have flexibility to work with their teams to determine a model that ensures business needs are met. The shift to hybrid working is being built into future estate planning and our Estate Strategy. In light of the changing expectations the SG core estate is under review with all opportunities to right-size considered which can both reduce SG costs and contribute to the wider Public Service Reform agenda. Estate Planning for the entire portfolio continues in line with guidance in the Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM).

Over the last 12 months SG have closed 3 leased buildings in Edinburgh and 1 in Glasgow with staff and operations relocated to existing buildings all opportunities for rationalisation and sharing are utilised in line with the SPFM. A decision to close 4 Atlantic Quay has also been taken with staff being relocated to 5 Atlantic Quay in March 2024 to reflect the changes in working patterns and improve building efficiencies.

A detailed review of the Edinburgh estate will be completed during 2024 to develop a recommended approach for maximising the use of the buildings while aligning with the Single Scottish Estate Programme.