Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Follow up session on Priorities for Session 6 - 9 September 2021
Letter from Convener to Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government - 9 September 2021
Dear Shona,
Thank you for giving evidence to the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee on 7 September 2021. The Committee welcomed the opportunity to hear from you on your initial priorities and found the session immensely helpful. There were a number of questions the Committee did not have time to ask you in the course of the session and the Committee agreed to follow these up with you in writing. Specifically, the Committee requests detail of:
• Aspects of Housing to 2040
Cooperation with the private sector on building new homes to achieve the ambitions of Housing to 2040
You undertook to update the Committee with details of plans to support delivery of affordable homes in remote and rural areas and how the Scottish Government monitors the impact of investment in affordable homes.
• You undertook to update the Committee with details of the proposed plans to work on a shared understanding of affordable housing. The Committee would appreciate detailed information on the challenges of developing this understanding and the benefits that will accrue from such a shared understanding.
• Timescales for legislation to introduce a new tenure-neutral housing standard. What is the purpose of this standard and how will it lead to better quality homes?
• Progress the Scottish Government has made with implementing the recommendations of the Parliamentary Working Group on Tenement Maintenance and the likelihood of legislative reform by 2025.
• The Scottish Government’s view on the level of public awareness of the need to change the way homes are heated to help meet the net zero carbon ambition.
• You undertook to write to the Committee on the Scottish Government’s approach to building on the work undertaken during the pandemic to eradicate homelessness.
• How the Scottish Government will be taking the recommendations in the Social Housing Zero Emissions Taskforce report forward.
• The extent to which planning of new homes accounts for the requirements of housing to meet objectives of the Climate Change Plan, for example in incorporating low carbon heating infrastructure and heat networks; and
• The extent to which councils have the capacity to develop and implement Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies and how the Scottish Government support councils with this.
I look forward to hearing from you and request a response by 29 September 2021.
Yours sincerely
Ariane Burgess
Convener, Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee