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: S6O-04520

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many NHS boards have designated single-sex spaces for women.

Question reference: S6W-35592

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 19 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recommendations in the Shelter Scotland report, In Their Own Words: Children’s Experiences in Temporary Accommodation, what immediate steps it is taking to guarantee that all temporary accommodation meets basic standards of safety, cleanliness and suitability for households with children, and what enforcement measures it will put in place to hold (a) landlords and (b) providers accountable.

Scottish local authorities use a diverse portfolio of temporary accommodation and there is a wide variety of legislation that caters for physical standards across these types of accommodation. These include the tolerable standard, which is a basic level of repair that applies to all property to make it habitable; the Scottish Housing Quality Standard, which applies to social rented sector properties; Houses in Multiple Occupation licensing for bed and breakfast accommodation and hostels; and the repairing standard in the private rented sector.

All local authorities should ensure that the temporary accommodation they provide to fulfil their duty to accommodate homeless households meets the temporary accommodation standards framework, published by the Scottish Government in 2023. The framework sets out the physical, location, service and management standards to ensure that temporary accommodation is of good quality and is safe, warm and affordable. Although consultation is required before the framework can be legally enforced, the framework was developed to ensure consistency in standards across all local authority areas.

The Scottish Housing Regulator assesses the compliance of all social landlords in meeting the tolerable standard and Scottish Housing Quality Standard, and would be obliged to assess landlords’ performance on meeting the temporary accommodation standards framework once it is enforced. Work is required to develop indicators to enable the Scottish Housing Regulator to assess local authority performance against the framework. In the meantime, social landlords should ensure that their temporary accommodation meets these standards.

Question reference: S6T-02395

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that people live in safe, warm homes, in light of reports that the number of properties falling below the "tolerable standard" in order to be fit for habitation has increased from an estimated 54,000 in 2018 to 729,000 in 2023.

Question reference: S6W-34529

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 28 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding what the average time is for a deposit to be returned to a tenant following the end of their tenancy agreement.

Question reference: S6W-34532

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 28 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-33839 by Paul McLennan on 31 January 2025, whether the figures provided are based on deposit amounts that were agreed to be returned to the tenants.

Question reference: S6W-34531

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 28 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the maximum time period a tenant has to claim the return of a deposit following the end of their tenancy agreement.

A tenant can start the reclaim process for a deposit return at any point on or past the date on which their tenancy ends. In cases where a landlord has commenced the reclaim process first, a tenant has 30 working days to advise whether or not they agree to the proposed return amount. In either situation, where a tenant or landlord does not agree with the proposed return by the other party, there is a dispute resolution system in place.

If neither the tenant or landlord commences the repayment process, the tenant can log on to their deposit account and request a reclaim at any point. There is no statutory time limit on a tenant being able reclaim their deposit and currently any funds that are considered to be unclaimed are held indefinitely by the tenancy deposit schemes in a designated account.

Question reference: S6W-34530

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 28 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the maximum time period allowed is to return a deposit to a tenant following the end of a tenancy agreement.

There is no maximum time period on when a deposit can be returned to a tenant following the end of a tenancy agreement and unclaimed deposit funds will continue to be protected by the relevant scheme administrators indefinitely. A tenant is able to request the return of their deposit from the date that their tenancy ends onwards.

The Housing (Scotland) Bill will, if passed, introduce timescales in which a deposit will be considered unclaimed and therefore available for transfer to Scottish Ministers or appointed third parties. However, former tenants will still be able to reclaim their tenancy deposit after the reclaim period has past where they can demonstrate reasonable excuse for not doing so within the relevant period.

Question reference: S6W-34499

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 28 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the process is for spending any unclaimed deposits held by SafeDeposits Scotland, and what any such money has been used to fund in each year for which data is available.

The Tenancy Deposit Schemes (Scotland) Regulations 2011 place a duty on scheme administrators to safeguard a tenant’s deposit in a designated account until it is repaid following the end of the tenancy. No end date is provided for within the regulations. As such, where a tenancy deposit is unclaimed, the schemes are required to continue to protect the unclaimed funds indefinitely and they cannot be used. The Housing (Scotland) Bill, if passed, will include provision to change this, so that unclaimed funds may be used to the benefit of private rented sector tenants.

Question reference: S6W-34500

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 28 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to deposits held by SafeDeposits Scotland, whether any accumulated interest remains with the deposit scheme, and, if it does not, what happens to such money.

As per The Tenancy Deposit Schemes (Scotland) Regulations 2011, any accumulated interest must be held by the respective deposit scheme in a designated account.

The interest can be withdrawn from designated accounts to meet the costs of the scheme, improve the quality of service provided by the scheme or to distribute, apply or invest interest, where investment will not adversely affect the viability of the scheme. The self-financing scheme model allows for the tenancy deposit schemes to provide their services free of charge to tenants, landlords and letting agents.

Question reference: S6O-04404

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when it plans to introduce its proposed Heat in Buildings Bill.