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: S6W-26386

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 18 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what mechanisms it is considering for making a determination in instances where there is disagreement over whether cladding remediation works are within scope following a single building assessment.

The Single Building Assessment (SBA) report will detail any risk to human life that is (directly or indirectly) created or exacerbated by the building’s external wall cladding system, and what work (if any) is needed to eliminate or mitigate any risk of that kind which is identified. We are working with developers now to determine the terms and scope of the Scottish Safer Building Developer Remediation Contract to ensure a shared understanding of responsibilities in the assessment of remediation of buildings. We will consider dispute resolution as part of ongoing work.

Question reference: S6O-03339

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the mental health of frontline police officers, in light of reports that reductions in the number of police officers is putting increasing pressure on the service.

Question reference: S6W-26595

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 17 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-24764 by Paul McLennan on 2 February 2024, when it anticipates that the development of its end-to-end single building assessment will be complete.

Question reference: S6W-26593

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 17 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its response to the Stage 1 Report on Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Bill, whether it will provide a list of developers that are engaging with homeowners on cladding assessment and remediation, and how many assessments those developers have begun.

We are working collaboratively with Homes for Scotland and developers. Nine of the largest UK and Scottish developers have committed in principle to identify, assess and remediate buildings that they have played a role in developing. We have agreed the principle of developer led Single Building Assessments (SBAs) and will continue working collaboratively with developers to take forward assessment and remediation in line with the SBA specification that will be finalised at the end of May.

https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-safer-buildings-accord-developer-commitment-letter/pages/list-of-developers/

Question reference: S6W-26597

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 17 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the 105 buildings in the cladding remediation programme pilot have had assessments commissioned; how many assessments have been (a) started and (b) completed, and on how many buildings cladding remediation or mitigation has (i) begun and (ii) been completed as a result of an assessment.

Question reference: S6W-26598

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 17 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many assessors have been engaged to carry out assessments as part of the cladding remediation pilot programme.

Question reference: S6W-26594

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 17 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) hospitals, (b) schools and (c) other public buildings have been assessed for external wall cladding containing aluminium composite material (ACM) since 2017; what assessment criteria were used, and how many buildings in each category were found to have cladding containing ACM.

Following the Grenfell fire, all Health Boards in Scotland confirmed that none of their buildings above 18 metres used exactly the same cladding type reported to have been used on Grenfell Tower. These checks found a type of Aluminium Composite Material on parts of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital of a similar type to, but not the same as, the material used at Grenfell Tower. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde are in the process of removing ACM from the internal atrium of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and replacing it with a non-combustible cladding material. This action was agreed after extensive and regular engagement with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

It is the statutory responsibility of local authorities to manage and maintain their schools.

In 2017, local authorities confirmed that ACM cladding had been used on 30 schools, all were low rise buildings. Assurance was received from local authorities that they had reviewed, fully investigated and, where appropriate, taken immediate action to ensure the fire safety of their schools.

The information requested on the number of public buildings containing ACM is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S6W-26599

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 17 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many suitably qualified people it estimates will be available to carry out single building assessments in Scotland once any Act resulting from the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Bill comes into force.

Question reference: S6W-26388

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 17 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making on any discussions that it is having with developers regarding their ability to pay for cladding remediation works.

Question reference: S6W-26383

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 17 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-20984 by Paul McLennan on 15 September 2023, whether it will provide details of the evidence that indicates that the Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 is working as intended.

The Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 (the Act) requires the Scottish Ministers to prepare and maintain a public register of all property factors and to consider whether a property factor is a fit and proper person to be registered as a property factor.

Under the Act, Scottish Ministers must prepare a property factor code of conduct setting out the minimum standards of practice expected of registered property factors. A Code of Conduct was introduced on 1 October 2012. We revised the Code in August 2021 to make it clearer, to drive up standards and to improve consistency, without placing an undue burden on companies that might result in significant additional costs being passed on to homeowners. The changes ensured the Code remained up to date and responded to concerns raised by homeowners as well as supporting important wider policy objectives around tenement maintenance.

A dispute resolution mechanism is provided for the resolution of disputes between homeowners and property factors through the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber) (the First-tier Tribunal). This provides free access to justice for homeowners and there is evidence provided in the First-tier Tribunal's published Annual Reports noting the number of applications it has received. The most recent report demonstrates that homeowners are taking action against their Property Factor where they believe their Property Factor has not met the requirements of the Code of Conduct, or carried out their duties under the Act.