- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 23 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government on what date it anticipates that the recommendations of the Single Building Assessment Task and Finish Group will be published.
Answer
We will publish recommendations of the SBA Task and Finish Group to date by the end of July 2024.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 March 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 23 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide clarification of what it means for a building to be "on a pathway to a single building assessment".
Answer
Each entry on the pilot programme within scope of the SBA as set out in the legislation will proceed to the pathway to assessment through written confirmation to owners from either a developer or, in the case of orphan buildings, government, that the property will either have a pilot SBA refreshed or topped up to ensure it complies with the new SBA specification or that an SBA will be commissioned using the new specification.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 23 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to any conversations that it has had with the wider sector, what its current understanding is of any risks associated with PAS 9980 as a methodology for fire risk appraisal of external wall and cladding construction in the context of the current ban on combustible façade materials in Scotland.
Answer
As part of the preparation of the SBA (Single Building Assessment process) Scottish Government has had conversations with the wider sector, including Fire Engineers and Assessors where we have discussed the need for a FRAEW (Fire Risk Appraisal of External Wall).
When assessing an existing building’s EWS (External wall system), it is noted that existing buildings cannot be expected to meet modern Building Regulation standards for risk to human life as these buildings were built during a time when less onerous Building Regulations were in force. The PAS 9980 will be used by assessors to make an informed expert decision of whether or not the EWS is a low, medium or high risk and dictate from this whether or not the current build up is tolerable, and no further remediation is required, or the risk is intolerable and therefore remediation should be undertaken.
The aim of a SBA is not to bring a building into compliance with current Building Regulations, but to ensure that the risk to building occupants is reduced to a tolerable level. The focus of the remediation is to follow the recommendations in the SBA in how to bring the relevant parts of the building to either a low, or tolerable risk level. Where large areas of the façade are being remediated, alterations will be required to comply with current (fire) building regulations including the use of acceptable materials. To note that the current ban applies to any new building warrant applications only.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2024
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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.
Answer
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.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2024
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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.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2024
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 March 2024
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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.
Answer
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.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 March 2024
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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.
Answer
In is anticipated that the SBA (Single Building Assessment) specification document will be published at the end of May 2024.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 March 2024
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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.
Answer
As of April 2024,
- 28 preliminary Single Building Assessments have commenced.
- This includes:
o one development where the Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls (FRAEW) has been completed and the development remediated and;
o two developments where mitigation works have commenced
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 March 2024
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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.
Answer
The number of suitably qualified people required will be proportionate to the number of SBAs required across Scotland. As the total number of SBAs is still to be determined we do not hold information about the number of assessors required.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2024
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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.
Answer
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.
