Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not collect or hold management fee information about local authorities’ mixed tenure improvement services, which would need to be obtained directly from each local authority that operates such a service.

The Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004 does not discuss “standard rates” for any aspect of work to be undertaken and no changes to this are currently under consideration.

The City of Edinburgh Council set their 21-day timescale during the Wester Hailes pilot and the timescale is based on experience gained during the pilot programme.

The timescale allows owners to reflect and seek advice but is short enough to prevent undue delays to the repairs. The council have provided numerous extensions to this timescale where requested by owners.

The interest rate is applicable to debt where private property owner occupiers pay back over an agreed period of time. The City of Edinburgh Council consider this a last resort for private property owners who may be able to source more favourable rates through re-mortgaging or external finance. This rate was agreed within the council in 2021 alongside the approval of the enhanced Scheme of Assistance and extension of the debt recovery terms. It is worth noting that interest rates were much lower in 2021.

The policy is aimed at getting the balance right for both the council and debtors whilst not encouraging owners to agree payment plans with the council by default. Debt recovery from owners for the works in Wester Hailes is very positive so far with 77% of debt paid or secured in payment plans.

With energy bills remaining significantly high, the Scottish Government has offered to work with the UK Government to ensure energy consumers are supported, including through driving improvement to the energy efficiency of our housing stock, in order to tackle fuel poverty and ensure the energy market is fit for purpose as we transition towards net zero.

Our consultation on a Heat in Buildings Bill, which closed on 8 March 2024, included proposals for setting a cap on the costs to property owners of meeting the proposed Heat in Buildings Standard. This proposal was included in recognition of our overall aim to ensure our proposals are fair, proportionate and affordable.

We are currently considering responses to the consultation to inform our thinking and development of future proposals.

The Mixed Tenure Improvement Service is not a Scottish Government initiative and was established and is led by the City of Edinburgh Council.

The Mixed Tenure Improvement Service is delivered by the City of Edinburgh Council using powers as set out in the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004. The Scottish Government does not collect or collate information about the management fees charged by local authorities or housing associations as part of Tenement Management Schemes.

The guidance issued by the Scottish Government about the design and delivery of Area Based Schemes (ABS) allows for councils to claim up to 20% of their grant award as enabling costs. This ensures that participating households are not asked to help meet wider household engagement, survey, scaffolding and management costs for ABS projects as a whole.

The Scottish Government does not provide funding in support of the Mixed Tenure Improvement Service operated by the City of Edinburgh Council.

The total amount of grant claimed as part of the Area Based Schemes programme by the City of Edinburgh Council since 2020 is published on the Scottish Government website. Area-Based Schemes - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

As noted in the answer to question S6W-29325 on 16 September 2024, the Bank cannot invest in local authorities and it does not make sub-commercial investments or provide grant funding.

As the Bank has operational independence it can work with local authorities and create joint venture structures, as long as the Bank is not investing in the local authority.

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.

Under its remit, the Scottish National Investment Bank (‘the Bank’) cannot invest in local authorities or give guarantees. However, they can work with local authorities and create joint venture structures, as long as the Bank is not investing in the local authority.

The Bank is operationally independent. As such it makes its investment decisions independent of the Scottish Government and Scottish Ministers.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

In the period 2021-2024 there has only been one period of Emergency Release (ER). This took place over 4 tranches during June – July 2024.

SPS have proactively published total numbers released following each tranche. We recently published a summary report which includes breakdown of data at health board and Local Authority level. We are unable to publish data at parliamentary constituency level because some of the data could relate to a small group of individuals, which could lead to inadvertent identification.

This period of ER, saw only those within six months of their original release date released. A range of partnership working took place with local partners to ensure release arrangements were in place for those released under emergency release regulations. SPS did consider the numbers of individuals being released and assessed the impact to local authorities and services to be similar to figures for the 6-month period where these people would be released anyway.

The level of grant-in-kind potentially available to households participating in Area Based Schemes is not affected by these fees. Councils are required to separately claim a proportion of overhead costs such as surveys, scaffolding and project management as enabling funding.