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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-04384

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 3 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how the resource planning assumptions for the Affordable Housing Supply Programme compare to the financial outturn in each financial year from 2016 to 2021, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-04526

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Friday, 19 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 3 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the timeline is for the Ending Homelessness Together updated plan, and by what date all of the outcomes will be achieved.

Our Ending Homelessness Together action plan sets out actions we are taking in the short to medium term to end homelessness. Some actions have timescales associated with them while others involve system-wide reforms. There are timescales for the funding that supports the action plan, however. The £50 million Ending Homelessness Together Fund announced in 2017 is for five years (2018-23) and the new £50 million announced in Programme for Government 2021 to end homelessness is for this parliamentary term (2021-26).

Question reference: S6W-04516

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Friday, 19 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much it allocated in 2020-21 to the Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland (HEEPS) elements, (a) Area-based Schemes, (b) Loans and Cashback, (c) Warmer Homes Scotland and (d) Fuel Poverty and Energy Efficiency Advice and Support.

Question reference: S6O-00520

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when the self-referral breast screening programme will resume for non-symptomatic women over 70 who have had breast cancer.

Question reference: S6W-04383

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 29 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the process for applying to the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund 2021, what provision was made to allow registered social landlords to consult their tenants about carrying out any work, and whether it will accept late applications in cases where the landlord chose to consult tenants and this delayed their application to the Fund.

The Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund asks social landlords to provide evidence of tenant engagement as part of the funding application process and encourages consultation with tenants before any work begins.

The fund, which will support the social housing sector over the next 5 years, reopened this August and welcomes applications from social landlords who want to upgrade their existing housing stock. The fund remains open throughout the year. Applications can be submitted at any time and are assessed on a quarterly basis.

Question reference: S6W-04294

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Friday, 12 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 25 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-03714 by Patrick Harvie on 4 November 2021, what response it issued to the group leaders on North Lanarkshire Council in response to their joint letter of 7 October 2021 regarding the Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland: Area Based Scheme (HEEPS: ABS), and which other local authorities have written to the Scottish Government about this scheme.

I have written to the political group leaders of North Lanarkshire Council to advise them of the existing flexibilities and additional support that we provide as part of our Area Based Schemes. These include a higher intensity of grant-in-aid for households in extreme fuel poverty or where there are other relevant factors, for example where there are additional delivery costs due to a non-standard construction type.

I have also encouraged the Council to contribute to the review of our Area Based Scheme (ABS) guidance for 2022-23. We have asked every council in Scotland to provide evidence about any changes in delivery costs in their area. We will continue to seek the views of local authorities and COSLA about the funding and delivery of our Area Based Schemes.

I am not aware of further Ministerial correspondence from local authorities about this scheme during October or November. However Scottish Government officials routinely discuss and where necessary agree a higher intensity of grant-in-aid for some ABS projects facing additional delivery costs.

Question reference: S6W-04123

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 23 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it provides to public bodies regarding the use of court action in response to industrial and/or strike action.

The Scottish Government’s approach is to promote strong voice and representation for workers such as trade unions to support the delivery of our economic and fair work ambitions, and our relationship with trade unions is based on partnership working.

The Scottish Government was strongly opposed to the Trade Union Act 2016. Whilst we have not issued guidance to our public bodies on this, our position on this legislation had always been very clear. Ultimately, the most effective way to mitigate the negative impacts of this legislation and build stronger and better industrial relations, would be to transfer all powers over industrial relations to Scotland.

Question reference: S6F-00463

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Monday, 15 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 November 2021

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to support tenants, in light of University of Glasgow research indicating that around a quarter of private tenants are in arrears, totalling around £126 million.

Question reference: S6W-03986

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government on what date it released the £0.5 million funding to Care and Repair Scotland for the purpose of supporting older and disabled homeowners on low incomes to install fire and smoke alarms that are compliant with the new standard, and on what date those funds were released to local care and repair services.

A grant of £0.5 million was offered to Care and Repair on 28 July 2021, for the purpose of supporting older and disabled homeowners on low incomes to install fire and smoke alarms that are compliant with the new standard. Following completion of necessary governance process, the grant was paid to Care and Repair Scotland on 24 September 2021. Care and Repair Scotland have advised the Scottish Government that this funding was allocated to local Care and Repair services, subject to bids for funding, between 28 September and 4 October 2021.

Question reference: S6W-03968

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Monday, 25 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many home purchases it has supported and (b) what total value of funding it has provided as part of the (i) Open Market Shared Equity, (ii) New Supply Shared Equity, (iii) Help to Buy and (iv) First Home Fund programme in each financial year since the programme's inception, also broken down by Scottish Government 6-fold Urban Rural Classification.

Published information on home purchases and spend across the First Home Fund, Help to Buy, Open Market Shared Equity and New Supply Shared Equity schemes can be found on the Scottish Government website at the following links:

Help to Buy (Scotland)

https://www.gov.scot/policies/homeowners/help-to-buy/

Open Market Shared Equity and New Supply Shared Equity

https://www.gov.scot/policies/more-homes/affordable-housing-supply/

First Home Fund

https://www.gov.scot/publications/first-home-fund-spend-and-units-monitoring-information-report-december-2019-to-march-2021/

The Evaluation of Scottish Government Shared Equity Schemes, which includes the Help to Buy (Scotland), Open Market Shared Equity and the New Supply Shared Equity schemes, was published in June 2020, and includes some information on the profile of buyers using the Scottish Government’s 6-fold urban/rural classification. The attached link provides further information

Shared equity schemes: evaluation reports - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The First Home Fund Evaluation includes information on uptake based on the 4-fold Rural & Environmental Science & Analytical Services classification

First Home Fund evaluation: quantitative analysis - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The detailed breakdown by 6-fold Urban Rural Classification is not readily available in the format requested. We will investigate whether it is feasible to provide a full breakdown, given issues such as lags in new postcodes relating to new housing being allocated to the 6-fold urban-rural classification. I will write to the member with the outcome of this work as soon as the exercise has been completed. A copy will be placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre, Bib number 62811.