Chamber and committees

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-25347

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 February 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 28 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-21426 by Paul McLennan on 2 October 2023, whether it will provide updated tables, based on the latest information available.

The following tables shows applications and homes formally approved since 19 September to 31 January, including grant offered split by registered social landlord and local authority in 2023-24. It should also be noted that discussions have taken place to support additional acquisitions with other providers but formal applications have either not yet been received or are in the process of being approved.

We have not been able to provide purchase price information at this stage as, although approved, all properties have not yet been purchased:

Date Range 19 September 2023 to 31 January 2024
Registered Social Landlords (RSL)	No. of Applications Received	No. of Homes Applied For	No. of Homes Approved	SG Grant Approved (£)	Average Grant per Home (£)
Ark HA	1	1	1	140,000.00	140,000.00
Buidheann Tigheadas Loch Aillse	1	1	1	85,000.00	85,000.00
Castle Rock Edinvar HA	2	30	30	2,601,000.00	86,700.00
Govan HA	1	1	1	101,894.88	101,894.88
Irvine HA	1	7	7	280,000.00	40,000.00
Kingdom HA	1	8	8	602,734.00	75,341.75
Larkfield HA	1	4	4	160,000.00	40,000.00
Lochfield Park HA	1	4	4	345,020.00	86,255.00
Ore Valley HA	1	1	1	100,000.00	100,000.00
Shettleston HA	1	1	1	81,664.00	81,664.00
The Highland Housing Alliance	4	28	28	2,484,000.00	88,714.29
Tollcross HA	1	1	1	201,740.46	201,740.46
West Of Scotland HA	1	1	1	120,012.00	120,012.00
Total RSL	17	88	88	7,303,065.34	82,989.38

Local Authority	No. of Applications Received	No. of Homes Applied For	No. of Homes Approved	SG Grant Approved (£)	Average Grant per Home (£)
Edinburgh	1	20	20	3,286,000.00	164,300.00
Highland	5	11	11	935,405.18	85,036.83
Moray	2	2	2	103,263.00	51,631.50
Shetland Islands	1	1	1	83,000.00	83,000.00
Total LA	9	34	34	4,407,668.18	129,637.30

Total 19 September 2023 to 31 January 2024	26	122	122	11,710,733.52	95,989.62

Question reference: S6W-25365

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 27 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-20844 by Paul McLennan on 13 September 2023, how many applications from (a) registered social landlords and (b) local authorities have been (i) received and (ii) approved for the National Acquisition Plan since its answer.

The following table shows the number of homes approved from applications received from (a) registered social landlords (b) local authorities since the National Acquisition Programme was announced on 19 July 2023. This information is to 31 January 2024:

National Acquisition Programme	Applications for nos. of homes received	No. of homes approved
Registered Social Landlord	184	133
Local Authority	232	83
Total	416	216

The figures above show that there were applications still under active appraisal during January. Some of these homes may now have been approved but information to end February is not yet available. It should also be noted that, in addition, applications were also received and approved prior to the announcement on the 19 July.

Question reference: S6W-25311

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 February 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 26 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-24818 by Angela Constance on 5 February 2024, whether it will provide clarification on whether anyone has been convicted of offences under section 56 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 since it came into force.

Question reference: S6O-03135

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government to where within the education budget it reallocated any unused funds for teaching bursaries in 2023-24.

Question reference: S6W-25346

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 February 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 20 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government who the single point of contact is in (a) the Scottish Government and (b) local government for the National Acquisition Plan.

There is no single point of contact in the Scottish Government for the National Acquisition Programme. The programme is part of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme and managed at a local level by More Homes Division Area Teams who work with local authorities and Registered Social Landlords to plan and progress acquisitions through the programme. The More Homes central Programme Management Team monitors and reports on the progress of the programme. There is no single point of contact in local government for the national acquisition programme. It is for local authorities to agree their policy position and approach to acquisitions as outlined in our published National Acquisition Programme information .

Question reference: S6W-25310

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 February 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 19 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the objectives set out in policy priority mandate letter from the First Minister to the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, what its position is on whether the the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice is making acceptable progress on the delivery of affordable homes towards its 2032 target of 110,000 affordable homes.

From 23 March 2022 to end September 2023, 15,765 homes have been delivered towards the 110,000 affordable homes target, of which 12,188 (77%) are homes for social rent. The next set of quarterly statistics, to end December 2023, will be published towards the end of March.

Inflationary pressures, Brexit impacts and wider market conditions have combined to trigger various issues including rising construction costs and workforce challenges. The housing sector has done incredible work to deliver homes in these circumstances and we continue to work with partners to mitigate these impacts.

We remain focused on delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 and to support that we will bring forward the review scheduled for 2026-27 to 2024, which will concentrate on deliverability.

And we are accelerating work with the financial community in Scotland, and elsewhere, to boost private sector investment and help deliver more homes.

Question reference: S6W-24845

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 7 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many enquiries relating to accessing the Home Owners' Support Fund it has received in each of the last 12 months.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10243 on 7 September 2022. The Scottish Government does not collect data on the number of enquiries relating to the Home Owners Support Fund (HOSF).

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

Question reference: S6W-24813

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 7 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many decisions on current major housing development applications (a) are outstanding and (b) have exceeded the 16-week statutory target for such applications, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S6W-24820

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 7 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many reports it has received pertaining to sections (a) 52 and (b) 53 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014, since the commencement of each provision.

Question reference: S6W-24847

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 7 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications have been made to each strand of the Home Owners' Support Fund in each of the last 12 months, and how many of those applications have been accepted.

Paul McLennan: During the last 12 months (January – December 2023), 40 new applications were made to the Homeowners Support Fund (HOSF).

All applicants to HOSF receive advice from an accredited money adviser who offer holistic services that best meet applicant’s needs. Accredited money advisers are appropriately qualified to determine when homeowners meet the HOSF eligibility criteria. This ensures all options and potential solutions have been considered before an application is made. All 40 applications were accepted for further consideration by SG officials.

Applications are made to the overall HOSF programme, and all are assessed by SG officials to determine suitability for either Mortgage to Shared Equity (MTSE) or Mortgage to Rent (MTR). Every application is carefully considered.