Chamber and committees

The changes to local connection legislation made in 2022 only suspended referrals of homeless households to another local authority in Scotland on the basis of local connection. It made no change to referrals for households with a local connection to a local authority in England or Wales, and the legislation did not change rules for refugee households who have left asylum accommodation.

An increase in demand for homelessness services in Scotland from households with recent positive leave to remain decisions, including households travelling from other parts of the UK, are not the fault of refugees, who continue to be valuable members of our communities. Instead, pressures on housing and services have been driven by successive UK governments’ mismanagement of asylum policy, inadequate planning and a lack of financial assistance, which places people at risk of homelessness and destitution.

We remain focused on a heat transition that is feasible, affordable and delivers tangible benefits for people. Levels of fuel poverty in Scotland remain unacceptably high with the reserved issue of energy bills being the great factor. The Scottish Government is committed to tackling this, but the main levers for addressing this, such as energy prices and market reform, sit with UK Government.

We are supporting those in or at risk of being in fuel poverty by continuing to fund energy efficiency measures and clean heating systems. However, the UK Government must provide urgent clarity on reforms to the electricity market, including rebalancing, and a social tariff in the form of an automatic and targeted unit rate discount to support the most vulnerable consumers.

We continue to consider relevant evidence and analysis as part of the development of a Buildings (Heating and Energy Performance) and Heat Networks (Scotland) Bill but will not ask the Scottish Parliament to legislate for vitally important laws which affect our population without a full understanding of awaited UK Government action.

The Scottish Government continues to consider clean heat deployment, and costs thereof, as part of the development of our updated Heat in Buildings Strategy and Delivery Plan to be published by the end of 2026.

Our Housing Emergency Action Plan, published in September, is the Scottish Government’s ambitious route-map to ensuring that everyone in Scotland gets the support they need when facing homelessness. This financial year, the Scottish Government will invest £808 million in the Affordable Housing Supply Programme, including an £80 million targeted acquisitions fund to support local authorities with the most sustained temporary accommodation pressures. Our Housing Emergency Action Plan also committed £4.9 billion in a major affordable housing delivery programme to provide future funding certainty, positioning Scotland’s housing market as strong and open for investment. We will ensure action is taken to make the best use of existing housing, bring empty homes back into use, and support those who wish to – and are able to – buy their own home.

Local Authorities have a statutory duty to provide accommodation to anyone assessed as unintentionally homeless, with assessments based on housing need. I understand the pressures on housing and homelessness services local authorities are experiencing, and that in some areas, particularly Glasgow, this has been exacerbated by the Home Office’s streamlined asylum decision making process. I have written to the Secretary of State for the Home Office to ask for appropriate coordination to be put in place in response to the impact asylum policy decisions made at UK level are having on local authorities in Scotland, and for adequate funding to be provided to local authorities to ensure they are able to meet the housing needs of all.

We remain committed to decarbonising heat in buildings and achieving net zero by 2045. For the majority of homes, heat pumps or heat networks are likely to be the best clean heat solution. However, we do not have, and have never had, heat pump installation requirements.

We had intended to introduce the Buildings (Heating and Energy Performance) and Heat Networks (Scotland) Bill (previously known as Heat in Buildings Bill) in this parliamentary session. We wanted Parliament to scrutinise the draft Bill using the latest information, including the UK Government's Warm Homes Plan. However, that plan has been delayed and, with little time left in this parliamentary session, we have therefore concluded that the Bill should be paused until the UK Government clarify their position.

There are currently no obligations on Scottish homeowners to install heat pumps or other clean heat systems. The Scottish Government recently published a draft Buildings (Heating and Energy Performance) and Heat Networks (Scotland) Bill which, subject to the outcome of the Scottish Parliament election, we intend to introduce early in the next session. The draft Bill sets out a roadmap to decarbonising heating in Scotland’s homes. While the draft Bill would set Scottish Ministers a target of ensuring Scotland’s buildings no longer use polluting heating systems by 2045, it would not place any obligations on homeowners to replace their existing heating systems. A full financial memorandum will be published alongside the bill when it is introduced in the next parliamentary which will set out relevant costs.

I refer the member to the answer to S6W-42347 on 16 December 2025 for information on Scottish Water’s approach to installing Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) monitors.

CSOs must be licensed by the independent regulator, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, and any unsatisfactory discharges will be identified so that Scottish Water can invest to reduce the environmental impact.

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.

I refer the member to the answer to questions S6W-42335 on 16 December 2025. 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.

The Scottish Government is clear that corridor care should not be normalised. Any care out with standard care areas should be avoided where possible and if required, all actions to mitigate the risks of this should be undertaken, and the length of time in which patients are in these areas should be a short as possible.

The Scottish Government is working with Scottish Enterprise at pace to identify a route forward that will support a sustainable future at Mossmorran. They will update the Scottish Government in due course on the most viable proposals and ways in which they could be deployed to support an industrial transition for impacted workers and the wider community.

The Scottish Government has also commissioned an independent assessment of the potential economic impact of ExxonMobil’s planned closure of the Mossmorran Fife Ethylene Plant.