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-01523

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 16 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 13 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-00917 by Shona Robison on 18 June 2021, (a) how many expressions of interest were received for its Single Building Assessment programme, (b) who these expressions were from, and (c) by what date safety assessments will be carried out.

a) A total of 338 expressions of interest were received, 5 were subsequently withdrawn leaving 333.

b)Breakdown of respondents by tenure:

Respondent	Total
Individual owner	102
Owners’/residents’ organisation	1
Property factor	1
Private Company	35
Registered private landlord	3
Registered landlord	141
Registered social landlord	29
Individual Tenant	17
Registered Social Landlord - Property Factoring Company	2
No respondent given	2
Total	333

c) The assessment of the submitted Expressions of Interest is complete. The initial phase started on the 28 th of June when we met with the first successful applicant for a Single Building Assessment (SBA). This phase tests the practical guide to conduct external wall appraisals, inspection methods and other documented processes which includes enhanced safety assessments.

Question reference: S6W-01527

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 19 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 12 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-35383 by Kevin Stewart on 1 March 2021, whether changes have been made to the building standards verifier requirements regarding BS 8414 and BR 135 and, if so, when the decisions related to any changes were (a) taken and (b) implemented.

A public consultation exercise, Building standards (fire safety) - a consultation on external wall systems - Scottish Government - Citizen Space , is currently being undertaken which includes options on the role of BS 8414 (and associated BR 135).

Responses to the consultation will be used to inform the Building Standards (Fire Safety) Review Panel 2020-21 work and final policy that will be prepared in support of any legislative changes. Any legislative changes may have an effect on ‘building standards verifier requirements’. The consultation closes in October 2021.

As an interim measure, the Scottish Government Building Standards Division have requested notification from local authority verifiers under S34 of the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 where BS 8414 / BR 135 and BS 9414 extended field of application assessments have been used to demonstrate compliance with the mandatory building standards. These interim measure decisions to remove reference to BS 8414 and BR 135 were taken and implemented, respectively, as follows:

(a) March 2021

(b) March/ April 2021

Additionally, pending the outcome of the review, advice on avoiding the use of MCM (category 3) was introduced into Section 2 (fire) of the Technical Handbooks in April 2021 .

Question reference: S6W-01525

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 16 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how it is monitoring the number of notifications received by the Building Standards Division from verifiers of building warrant applications, citing BS 8414 as a route to compliance, since the April 2021 update of the Building Standards Technical Handbooks, and (b) whether it will publish the number of notifications received periodically.

Question reference: S6W-01524

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 16 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-35383 by Kevin Stewart on 1 March 2021, whether it will provide an update on what plans it has to ban the use of combustible materials in cladding systems on high-rise residential buildings, in light of the position taken by other UK administrations.

A public consultation exercise, Building standards (fire safety) - a consultation on external wall systems - Scottish Government - Citizen Space , is currently being undertaken which includes consideration of high risk materials in external wall systems.

Responses to the consultation will be used to inform the Building Standards (Fire Safety) Review Panel 2020-21 work and final policy that will be prepared in support of any legislative changes in relation to high risk materials in external wall systems.

The consultation closes 08 October 2021 with the next panel meeting shortly thereafter.

Question reference: S6W-01526

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 16 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many notifications the Building Standards Division has received from verifiers of building warrant applications, citing BS 8414 as a route to compliance, since the April 2021 update of the Building Standards Technical Handbooks, by a) type of building and b) local authority.

Question reference: S6W-01474

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 19 July 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many Home Energy Scotland Private Rented Sector Landlord Loan applications have been received in each local authority area in each of the last five years; how many loan offers it has subsequently made, and how many of these offers were not taken up.

The Private Rented Sector Landlord (PRSL) Loan was launched in April 2020. The following table shows the total number of applications received, the total number of offers made and the total number of expired offers. These figures represent the total number from launch to the end of June 2021, and relate to the location of the applicant.

Local Authority	Total Applications	Total Offers	Number of offers not taken up
Aberdeen City Council	6	5	0
Aberdeen Council	11	9	0
Angus Council	6	4	1
Argyll and Bute Council	3	2	0
City of Edinburgh Council	31	22	1
Clackmannanshire Council	0	0	0
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	0	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway Council	3	3	0
Dundee City Council	5	3	0
East Ayrshire Council	6	6	0
East Dunbartonshire Council	2	2	1
East Lothian Council	3	2	0
East Renfrewshire Council	6	4	0
Falkirk Council	6	6	0
Fife Council	13	12	1
Glasgow City Council	10	4	0
Highland Council	7	7	0
Inverclyde Council	1	0	0
Midlothian Council	2	2	1
Moray Council	3	3	0
North Ayrshire Council	1	1	0
North Lanarkshire Council	4	3	0
Orkney Islands Council	1	1	0
Perth and Kinross Council	4	3	0
Renfrewshire Council	6	3	0
Scottish Borders Council	4	2	0
Shetland Islands Council	0	0	0
South Ayrshire Council	4	4	0
South Lanarkshire Council	10	8	0
Stirling Council	2	2	1
West Dunbartonshire Council	1	1	0
West Lothian Council	5	5	1
Outside Scotland*	18	12	0
Total	184	141	7

Question reference: S6W-01541

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many members of Building Standards (Fire Safety) Review panels in (a) 2018 and (b) 2021 have (i) worked for organisations that carry out BS 8414 tests on behalf of commercial sponsors, and (ii) had a role in designing BS 8414.

My officials have sought confirmation on this issue from panel members. There are 25 panel members, of whom 18 have responded to date.

Of those responses:

1 member of the 2018 panel and 3 members of the 2020-21 panel had a role in designing BS 8414;
1 member of the 2018 panel and 2 members of the 2020-21 panel have worked for organisations that carry out BS 8414 tests on behalf of commercial sponsors; and

Once a full response is received I will provide an update on the above information.

Question reference: S6W-01482

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what powers it will devolve to local authorities to help them meet climate change targets, in response to calls made at the International Net Zero Local Leadership Summit.

The Scottish Government is committed to working closely with local authorities on the shared national endeavour to tackle the global climate emergency by achieving net zero emissions by 2045, recognising that local climate action is crucial to achieving our national climate ambitions.

Through the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, we have provided new powers for local authorities to introduce Low Emission Zones to improve air quality. We are also providing other forms of support to local government including the Green Growth Accelerator which will unlock £200m of investment in local authorities for emissions reduction infrastructure, and supporting local authorities to develop Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies and accompanying delivery plans.

More broadly, the joint Local Governance Review with COSLA is considering how powers and resources are shared between national and local government, to ensure that we are doing all we can to achieve our shared national outcomes.

Question reference: S6W-01470

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has received regarding how material shortages and increased contractor prices in the construction sector are impacting householders redeeming Home Energy Scotland Loan offers.

Question reference: S6W-01472

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many Home Energy Scotland loan (a) applications and (b) offers it has handled during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how this compares to the three previous financial years.

The number of Home Energy Scotland Loan applications and offers handled during the pandemic, compared to the three previous years is:

Year	Total Applications	Total Offers
2021-22 – to end of June	890	937*
2020-21	2698	2011
2019-20	2167	1757
2018-19	2511	1903
2017-18	2191	1404

* Loan offer numbers may exceed application numbers for a year due to overlap in processing periods ie where an application is received in March, but not offered until April.