Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to reforming Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) to ensure they drive the energy efficiency improvements we need and to ensure building owners and tenants have better information on emissions associated with their heating system.

Earlier this year, the Climate Change Committee wrote to the Scottish Government setting out a series of recommendations for the reform on EPCs, noting that the current arrangements are “not fit for purpose”. In response to this advice, the Scottish Government published a consultation on EPC reform on 25 July 2023. In summary, this proposes to reform EPCs to:

• Introduce a set of domestic EPC metrics to provide a holistic reflection of a dwelling’s performance;
• Introduce a set of non-domestic EPC metrics to provide appropriate information about non-domestic buildings;
• Make additional changes to the EPC system to ensure that EPCs provide clear and useful basic information about a building’s energy efficiency and emissions associated with its heating system, for current and prospective building owners and tenants, and other stakeholders.

After the consultation closes on 16th October 2023, we will analyse responses and provide a response detailing the next steps and implementation of any EPC reforms.

UK Finance data, which is only available for the UK as a whole, shows that at the end of Q2 2023 there were 8,980 first-charge buy-to-let loans which were in arrears of more than 2.5% of the outstanding balance, a 28% increase from the previous quarter and a 59% increase from the previous year.

Oversight and regulation of mortgage lenders is a reserved matter; as a result the Scottish Government has no powers or authority to intervene in the operation of the mortgage market.

Tenants living in a property where a lender is seeking repossession due to mortgage arrears are afforded the same rights as any other tenant facing eviction, as the lender is required to go through the same eviction process that applies to private landlords.

Safeguards have been built in to the emergency rent cap measures to balance the rights of landlords and tenants in the context of the costs crisis. Private landlords can apply to Rent Service Scotland to increase the rent for a let property above the rent cap (up to 6%) in connection with defined ‘prescribed property costs.’

Local authorities are responsible for the recruitment and deployment of their staff. This includes providing a complement of teachers which best meets the needs of each of their schools and its pupils within the resources available.

While teachers are employed by local authorities, the Scottish Government is taking strong action to protect increased teacher numbers – supporting councils with an additional £145.5 million in this year’s budget, which assures funding for local authorities and removes this as a barrier to employing staff on permanent contracts.

Over the past 10 years the number of teachers in permanent posts has remained stable at over 80%.

Earlier this year, the Climate Change Committee wrote to the Scottish Government setting out a series of recommendations for the reform on EPCs, noting that the current arrangements are “not fit for purpose”. We responded to this letter acknowledging that EPCs need to be reformed in order to deliver our climate targets.

The Scottish Government published a consultation on EPC reform on 25 July 2023. In addition to proposals to reform domestic and non-domestic EPC metrics, the consultation also highlights that we are reviewing existing assessment and quality assurance processes. We will draw from previous independent analysis and work with the Approved Organisations that accredit energy assessors, and the UK Government to identify changes and best practice to help maintain and improve standards. Together, we are confident that these proposed reforms will ensure that in future EPCs can be fit for purpose.

A table showing the number of social and affordable completions by local authority area can be accessed using the following link. This provides the number of homes already built in Glasgow in the current parliamentary session:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/affordable-housing-supply-programme-completions-updates/

In Glasgow, the Council is responsible for the management and delivery of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) on behalf of Ministers through the Transfer of Management of Development Funding (TMDF) arrangement. The Council produces a Strategic Housing Investment Plan annually which details the plans for homes which will be built using the Affordable Housing Supply Programme in the Glasgow region. The latest plan, covering 2023-24 to 2027-28, details the completions planned by year and can be accessed using the following link:

Committee Information - View Committee Document (glasgow.gov.uk)

Homes provided through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme include social rent, mid-market rent and low cost home ownership. These include new build homes, rehabilitation projects, conversions and off-the-shelf purchases.

Under Scotland's criminal justice system, it is for the police to investigate possible breaches of the criminal law and for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) to consider whether prosecutions should be progressed in any given case. Decision-making within this area is for these independent agencies and the Scottish Government is not involved in decision-making in criminal cases. COPFS make decisions in the public interest using the process set out in their Prosecution Code . COPFS works closely with Police Scotland, the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service and other partners to deliver justice in individual cases.

His Majesty Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland provides independent scrutiny of Police Scotland. Similar independent scrutiny of COPFS is provided by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland .

Where a person considers they may have experienced a miscarriage of justice, they can apply to the independent Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission who have a statutory function to investigate miscarriages of justice with a view to individual cases being considered for return to the Appeal Court for a fresh appeal. This is a special power for criminal cases to be re-opened even after the normal appeals process may have been exhausted.

Where a person does have their conviction overturned in the Appeal Court, the Scottish Government operates two schemes relating to miscarriages of justice - the statutory scheme and the ex-gratia scheme.

The recruitment and employment of teachers and all other support staff in local authority schools are matters for individual councils, as they have the statutory duty for education expenditure and to deliver education. This includes providing a complement of teachers and headteachers which meet the needs of each of their schools and its pupils in light of their local needs and circumstances.

Dependent on the development, there are processes in place that require consideration to be given to the impact on the surrounding water environment during planning stages. Information about the type and location of private water supplies should be considered by local authorities at this point.

It is important that owners of private supplies undertake their own routine monitoring of the quality and quantity of drinking water together with risk assessments. This ensures they understand the factors that are likely to affect their water supplies. Regulated supplies must be sampled once every year by local authorities. At the request of owners, local authorities can arrange for samples to be taken at Exempt supplies

The 81,900 first-charge homeowner mortgages in arrears of 2.5 per cent or more of the outstanding balance at the end of Q2 2023, as reported by UK Finance, represents an increase of 7% from the previous quarter, although it is 3% below the post-covid peak of 84,010 recorded in Q1 2021, and also 33% below the 122,610 recorded in Q2 2014, the earliest figure in this particular time series. UK Finance does not publish a breakdown for Scotland. We continually monitor UK Finance and Financial Conduct Authority data on arrears.

Oversight and regulation of mortgage lenders is a reserved matter, as a result the Scottish Government has no powers or authority to intervene in the operation of the mortgage market. We are doing all that we can with limited powers which is why, both last year and this, we have allocated almost £3 billion to support policies which tackle poverty and to protect people as far as possible during the ongoing cost of living crisis.

Our Cost of Living Support Scotland website provides information on the wide range of advice and support available, and we would also urge people concerned about their finances and mortgage payments to contact their lender as soon as possible.

COPFS uses a live, operational database to manage the processing of reports submitted to Procurators Fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies throughout Scotland. It is designed to meet business needs in the processing of criminal cases, rather than for statistical analysis, and the information within it is structured accordingly.

For the reasons above, we are not able to provide information about the total numbers of crimes reported or the charges brought by prosecutors. The following table sets out the number of accused in criminal reports received marked for court proceedings and the number of those accused receiving a direct measure as the first substantive marking. No action markings are included for comparison.