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External wall assessors are expected to weigh all the appropriate evidence and apply their professional judgement in determining the extent to which external cladding requires to be removed from a particular building, with a view to achieving the overriding objective of bringing the building to a tolerable level of risk.

A single building assessment is a holistic whole building assessment that assesses and identifies life critical fire safety risks alongside any mitigation or remediation that is required in respect of any potentially combustible façade material. The assessment is undertaken by a competent person and considers each building in its own context. As such, it is for the person who is undertaking the building assessment to provide recommendation as to the extent to which cladding materials needs to be removed and replaced, taking into account the other recommendations that they might make in relation to improving the general fire safety of the building. The objective of the assessment it to bring the building to a tolerable level of risk.

Scottish Women’s Aid (SWA) provided its evaluation of the pilot fund to leave at the end of June. The Scottish Government is now considering SWA's evaluation as part of a wider assessment of the pilot. We will be assessing how the pilot delivered against its objectives; how it improved outcomes for women and/or prevented their homelessness; and what lessons were learned during the pilot. We will be in a position to set out next steps once the wider evaluation is complete.

An estimate as to the level of combustible cladding that will remain on buildings will not be able to be calculated until all buildings with such cladding have undergone a Single Building Assessment (SBA) to understand their condition and remediation required. These include buildings that are developer led where we do not hold all information. The aim of the remediation works following an SBA will be to ensure a building reaches a tolerable level of risk.

As the information requested runs over several pages, a copy of the table listing those Lead Partners paid between September 2019 and 31 December 2023 has been placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre BIB number 65192 .

To explain the statement large areas of the façade reference is made to the current standards. The limitation to work which does not need to meet current standards and can be ‘no worse than existing’ sits under Type 25A to schedule 3 of the building regulations being Replacement of part of an external wall cladding system when the replacement is to make a minor repair. Minor repair is described as isolated repair or replacement of elements of cladding which are physically damaged or have degraded to the point that the element is no longer fit for its intended purpose. So, in that context, Where large areas of the façade are being remediated means any replacement of part of an external wall cladding system other than when the replacement is to make a minor repair. The term large areas of facade is not used within the SBA, with assessors directed to the building regulations in section 2.4 of the document.

As set out in our Housing to 2040 strategy, we are committed to streamlining and accelerating the housing adaptations system and to take action to reduce the time it takes for disabled people to apply for and receive support and maximise the available resources. My officials are taking forward a review of the current housing adaptations system which will make recommendations on how best to improve and streamline the system.

We published updated practical guidance on the delivery of adaptations and equipment services in January 2023. This guidance will contribute to the housing adaptations review.

We are considering the potential implications for the delivery of adaptations and other delegated housing services arising from the establishment of a new National Care Service.

We have also developed regulations under section 37 of the Equality Act 2010 that give disabled people the right to make necessary, reasonable adaptations to common areas of their property.

At local level, responsibility for the planning, ensuring delivery of adaptations and most funding currently rests with Health and Social Care Partnerships.

In addition, funding of over £8 million is also available for 2024-2025 for adaptations for Registered Social Landlord tenants. In the period between 2007-2008 and 2022-2023, over £200 million has been provided directly to housing associations to help them provide housing adaptations.

We anticipate that the Four Day Working Week Public Sector pilot and the accompanying Shorter Working Week evaluation report will be concluded and published in Spring 2025.

We recognise the concerns around teacher workload, which is why we remain committed to reducing class contact time by 90 minutes giving teachers more time out of the classroom.

To help inform this discussion the WPI report which was commissioned by the Scottish Government and published on 7 May contains a number of high-level future scenarios and assesses their broad compatibility with any changes to teachers’ contracted class-contact time.

These scenarios will help to facilitate our discussions with SNCT partners on how we can best deliver this commitment and ensure effective and evidence-informed workforce planning we have commissioned an external modelling and research exercise.

We continue to explore with the SNCT how we can best make progress. Any changes to teachers’ terms and conditions require tripartite agreement through the SNCT.

The recording and retrieving of information by Police Scotland on incidents of pet theft is an operational matter for Police Scotland. Any query in relation to the Police Scotland operational approach in this area would therefore best be directed to Police Scotland.