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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-17085

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 April 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 28 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the affordable housing supply programme key performance indicators are, and where this information is published.

Our key Affordable Housing Supply Programme performance indicators are linked to our current target to deliver 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 of which at least 70% are for social rent and 10% in remote, rural and island communities.

Quarterly statistics on the number of homes, approved, started and completed within the Affordable Housing Supply Programme are published within the Affordable Housing Supply Programme Summary Tables on our website at Housing statistics quarterly update: new housebuilding and affordable housing supply - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

In addition, we publish an annual out-turn report which shows progress against rural delivery. Out-turn reports can be found on our webpage at Affordable Housing Supply Programme - More homes - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) and the report for 2021-22 is due to be published shortly.

Question reference: S6W-16832

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 April 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 27 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it estimates the recommendations in the Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group: final report will cost to implement.

An estimation of the costs to implement the Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group's recommendations has not been carried out. As the task and finish groups are sub-groups of the Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group (HPSG), the implementation of the recommendations will be discussed with HPSG members and other bodies given the need for partnership working on action to reduce the use of temporary accommodation.

Question reference: S6W-16833

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 April 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 27 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group: final report and its recommendations.

The Scottish Government welcomes the work undertaken by the Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group, which will inform the Scottish Government's next steps. We are currently considering the report and will work with COSLA and Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group members to respond to the recommendations, prioritising actions that will have the greatest impact on reducing the numbers in temporary accommodation.

Question reference: S6W-16834

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 April 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 27 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on each of the recommendations in the Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group: final report.

Question reference: S6W-16941

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 24 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it will introduce updated legislation, incorporating the European Charter of Local Self-Government, for consideration by the Parliament.

Although the European Charter of Local Self-Government (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill is a member’s bill, led by Mark Ruskell MSP, the Scottish Government remains committed to its reconsideration and incorporating the European Charter into domestic legislation as soon as practicable to further strengthen the status and standing of local government in Scotland.

On 12 April 2021 the UK Government referred four provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill to the Supreme Court. The referral also covered two provisions from the Local Self-Government Bill: section 4, which creates an obligation to interpret legislation compatibly with the requirements of the Charter in so far as it is possible to do so, and section 5, which gives courts the power to declare legislation to be incompatible with the Charter. In October 2021 the Supreme Court found the provisions referred within each Bill to be outside the competence of the Scottish Parliament.

Preparation for Reconsideration Stage is well underway and Scottish Government lawyers have been working carefully with the UK Government lawyers on amendments to the UNCRC Bill to address the Supreme Court’s judgment.

The Scottish Government has engaged with Mark Ruskell MSP, during this process to support him in taking his bill forward. Mr Ruskell is in agreement that reconsideration of the Local Self-Government Bill should take place after the UNCRC Bill accordingly.

Question reference: S6W-16569

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 20 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) large, (b) small and (c) medium developers are party to the Scottish Safer Buildings Accord.

The then Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government wrote to the Convener of the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee on 27 March 2023 stating that we had not, as yet, reached an agreement with Homes for Scotland and developers on the Scottish Safer Buildings Accord.

Discussions have been positive, and significantly, developers have accepted the principle of developer responsibility. However, developers want to apply a single approach to Building Standards across the UK even when remediating buildings in Scotland. We remain committed to seeking to secure an agreement and thereafter agreeing the legally binding contract to help safeguard residents and I would urge developers to reconsider their position. Developers must adhere to Scots law when operating in Scotland. This is not an issue on which we can compromise.

Question reference: S6W-16647

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 20 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how frequently the Accessible Housing and Independent Living Stakeholder Group will meet, and on what date it will publish its terms of reference.

Our Accessible Housing and Independent Living Stakeholder Group will meet a minimum of twice yearly, to advise on the relevant commitments in the Scottish Government’s Housing to 2040 strategy document in relation to housing for older people and disabled people.

The Terms of Reference have yet to be agreed but a draft will be considered by the group at their next meeting which is scheduled to take place in June. The agreed Terms of Reference will be published on the Scottish Government website once they have been considered and approved by the group.

Question reference: S6W-16567

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 20 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Welsh Government regarding the £20 million Welsh Building Safety Developer Loan Scheme, and whether it plans to introduce a similar loan scheme in Scotland.

We meet regularly with the Welsh Government to discuss Building and Fire Safety issues and the delivery of the Cladding Remediation Programme. The safety of residents and homeowners in buildings with potentially unsafe cladding is our absolute priority. On that basis Scottish Government is identifying and assessing buildings through our Single Building Assessment Programme; focusing public funding on remediating so called ‘orphan’ buildings and pressing developers to do the right thing and take responsibility for funding the remediation of their buildings. We will assess the effectiveness and impact of the Building Safety Developer Loan Scheme to consider its applicability in Scotland.

Question reference: S6T-01312

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much additional revenue it anticipates that local authorities would be able to raise, in light of its reported proposals to enable them to double council tax on second homes.

Question reference: S6W-15861

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 March 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 13 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether any Unique Property Reference Numbers, that are used in the property registers held by Registers of Scotland or any other publicly available property registers for which it is responsible, match across all of the registers, and what information it has on whether these numbers match with any Unique Property Reference Numbers used in the Scottish Energy Performance Certificate Register.

This is a question for the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland (RoS). She advises me that Unique Property Reference Numbers (UPRNs) are used in the following land and property registers held by RoS:

Land Register
Scottish Landlord Register
Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land

These registers use the same UPRN identifiers as the Scottish Energy Performance Certificate Register.

Entries held in the different registers can therefore be matched using the UPRN where it is available.

87% of titles in the Land Register have a UPRN.

95% of properties in the Scottish Landlord Register have a UPRN.

46% of land references in the Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land have a UPRN.