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-26601

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 April 2024
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.

Question reference: S6W-26683

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 23 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether there are any current requirements for anyone involved in the construction of new schools to notify local authorities when BS 8414 has been used as a route to compliance for combustible façade materials.

If an application for a building warrant is made which proposes the use of an external wall cladding system assessed in accordance with BR 135 when tested to BS 8414 as a means of compliance, then this information would be stated within the application. Local authority verifiers would consider the application on that basis.

In accordance with the Section 34 letter (Building standards - notification of application for building warrant: section 2.0 fire: letter to local authority verifiers - 31 October 2023) , local authority verifiers have to notify the Scottish Government’s Building Standards Division if any application is made that is supported by a BS 8414 test and BR 135 assessment report. To date, we have received no such notifications for any school building.

Question reference: S6W-26685

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 April 2024
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.

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.

Question reference: S6W-26596

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 March 2024
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".

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.

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-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-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-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-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.