Questions and answers

Question reference: S5O-02100

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 May 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors the performance of property factors.

Question reference: S5W-16418

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 9 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to private landlords who have a non-paying tenant while awaiting a hearing by the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber).

Question reference: S5W-16075

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 4 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on retaining the BS 8414 large-scale test as a route to compliance for systems involving combustible materials on high-rise building façades.

The Ministerial Working Group on Building and Fire Safety (MWG), set up after the Grenfell Tower fire in London, is overseeing a review of building and fire safety regulatory frameworks, and any other relevant matters, to help ensure that people are safe in Scotland's buildings, and make any recommendations for improvement as required.

The remit of the Building Standards (Fire Safety) Review Panel sub-group includes reviewing the appropriateness of the current building standards and guidance and providing an opinion on whether changes are necessary. The sub-group will report progress at the next meeting of MWG on the 13 June 2018.

Question reference: S5W-16077

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether, in the interests of public safety, it has funded the replacement of the combustible insulation installed at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service have given their reassurances that given the other fire safety measures and fire safety management systems in place at the hospital, they are confident the building remains fire-safe, and poses no risk to patients and staff, however the decision was taken to replace the panels to provide extra reassurance to the public, patients and staff.

On 8 February 2018, the Director of Health Finance at Scottish Government confirmed with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde that Scottish Government will provide the funding to replace the affected panels, with an estimated cost of ‎£6 million.

Question reference: S5W-16076

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 1 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on changing building standards to permit the use of non-combustible materials only on high-rise building façades.

The Ministerial Working Group on Building and Fire Safety (MWG), set up after the Grenfell Tower fire in London, is overseeing a review of building and fire safety regulatory frameworks, and any other relevant matters, to help ensure that people are safe in Scotland's buildings, and make any recommendations for improvement as required.

The remit of the Building Standards (Fire Safety) Review Panel sub-group includes reviewing the appropriateness of the current building standards and guidance and providing an opinion on whether changes are necessary. The sub-group will report progress at the next meeting of MWG on the 13 June 2018.

Question reference: S5W-15887

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 26 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-12806 by Humza Yousaf on 19 December 2017, whether it plans to provide a train station in Plains, North Lanarkshire.

As promoters of the scheme for a new rail station for Plains, North Lanarkshire Council instructed consultants SWECO to undertake an appraisal in line with Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG). North Lanarkshire Council recommendation was to take forward more detailed work on options for a Bus Statutory Quality Partnership and not to progress a railway option.

We understand that North Lanarkshire Council met Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, during the week 23 April, to discuss progression of the Bus recommendation.

Question reference: S5W-15844

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 26 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many planning decisions in each local authority that went against a local development plan in which it was decided to (a) approve and (b) reject a plan were referred to it in (i) 2000, (ii) 2001, (iii) 2002, (iv) 2003, (v) 2004, (vi) 2005 and (vii) 2006, broken down by type of plan, and how many were overturned following referral.

We do not hold the requested information centrally. Certain applications which were considered to be a significant departure were notified to Ministers as described below.

Prior to 2007 the notification categories were quite extensive and there were around 20 different triggers for notification. These covered applications such as development: on agricultural land; affecting trunk roads; affecting nature conservation; likely to result in loss of outdoor sports facilities; affecting a scheduled monument or category A listed building; involving wind generators etc as well as contrary to approved structure and local plans.

Category 8 Development contrary to approved structure and local plans

(a) Any development which the planning authority considers to be a significant departure from a structure plan approved by the Secretary of State under section7(1) of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1972.

(b) Any development which the planning authority considers to be a significant departure from the provisions of a local plan approved by the Secretary of State under section 12(4) of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1972.

For administrative purposes informal records were kept on the number of applications notified to Scottish Ministers under category 8. These are shown in the following table, however these are incomplete and we cannot separate applications relating to development or structure plan.

2000 – 24

2001 – 15

2002 – 20

2003 – 21

2004 – 3

2005 – 7

2006 – 22

Since 2009 only those applications in which authorities had an interest and that were significantly contrary to the development plan have been required to be notified to Scottish Ministers.

We do however hold some figures on the number of approvals made by planning authorities which were considered to be departures from the development plan within the period requested but not referred to Scottish Ministers. These are shown in the table below, later years can be found at the following link http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2008/01/31114430/1 .

Applications Approved as Departures from a Structure or Local Plan
	2000-2001		2001-2002		2002-2003		2003-2004
	2000-2001		2001-2002		2002-2003		2003-2004
	Departures Advertised	Departures Approved	Departures Advertised	Departures Approved	Departures Advertised	Departures Approved	Departures Advertised	Departures Approved
Unitary Authority


Aberdeen City	35	16	34	15	20	11	23	14
Aberdeenshire	222	111	135	111	145	118	129	120
Angus	23	8	24	12	46	15	38	2
Argyll and Bute	156	12	207	30	173	28	27	17
Clackmannanshire	4	3	8	5	3	3	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	58	17	45	21	20	18	0	35
Dundee City	67	29	37	27	38	24	60	25
East Ayrshire	79	37	52	39	26	38	32	21
East Dunbartonshire	9	4	0	2	8	5	0	2
East Lothian	47	2	21	1	9	0	0	7
East Renfrewshire	10	3	13	5	8	8	30	25
Edinburgh	165	77	105	105	102	98	93	58
Falkirk	78	8	118	14	43	5	33	0
Fife	30	0	28	0	17	0	30	0
Glasgow City	20	2	14	0	8	0	0	0
Highland	177	68	222	128	141	34	228	39
Inverclyde	41	13	36	17	43	15	36	8
LLTNPA	0		0		1	1	18	15
Midlothian	65	10	35	8	33	4	31	7
Moray	14	1	4	0	11	0	108	0
North Ayrshire	93	17	76	2	85	16	68	4
North Lanarkshire	63	22	18	12	47	24	49	30
Orkney	28	13	9	4	10	3	10	2
Perth and Kinross	99	30	48	23	86	28	87	35
Renfrewshire	49	2	46	2	63	1	53	2
Scottish Borders	75	0	83	0	115	0	112	1
Shetland	1	0	1	0	4	4	0	0
South Ayrshire	121	19	37	10	17	16	98	58
South Lanarkshire	82	27	90	60	134	94	132	100
Stirling	7	2	0	0	1	1	2	2
West Dunbartonshire	43	19	19	10	18	12	19	12
West Lothian	56	8	48	15	81	22	88	15
Western Isles	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0
SCOTLAND	1437	580	1613	679	1556	647	1634	656

Applications advertised as departures may have been approved during a different period

Question reference: S5W-16015

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 25 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-14295 by Kevin Stewart on 8 February 2018, when the monitoring and evaluation of the pilot scheme for the equity loan scheme will be published; whether current data is available and, if so, where, and, on the assumption that the answer is referring to the Home Energy Efficiency Programmes (HEEPS) equity loan pilot, which stipulates that 55% of the loan must be for energy efficiency improvements, what considerations have been given to pilot or provide lending that covers essential maintenance repairs that do not include an energy efficiency element.

The equity loan pilot was initially due to run until the end of June 2018, with an option to extend the pilot to March 2019. Evaluation of the pilot will be prepared and published between December 2018 and January 2019.

Current data to the end of March 2018 on the pilot scheme is as follows: Total requests for application forms 288, Completed application forms returned 44 of these 13 loans have been offered and the remaining 31 applications are progressing through applicant’s solicitors prior to loan offers being made. The average equity loan value is £13,000 per property.

While the energy efficiency element includes a range of repair measures which contribute to energy efficiency, consideration will be given to providing funding for repairs which do not include an energy efficiency element as part of the evaluation of the pilot. To date only two enquiries at referral stage have been looking for repair and maintenance work only. It is also worth noting that as part of the initial referral applicants are given advice on all means of assistance from Care and Repair and the Home Energy Scotland network.

Question reference: S5W-16017

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 24 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-13039 by Kevin Stewart on 12 December 2017, whether it will undertake a review of U-values and, if so, whether it will publish details, including a timescale.

Question reference: S5W-16016

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 24 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-13289 by Kevin Stewart on 21 December 2017, when the refreshed housing strategy for older people will be published.

Chamber and committees