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-03135

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government to where within the education budget it reallocated any unused funds for teaching bursaries in 2023-24.

Question reference: S6W-25346

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 20 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government who the single point of contact is in (a) the Scottish Government and (b) local government for the National Acquisition Plan.

There is no single point of contact in the Scottish Government for the National Acquisition Programme. The programme is part of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme and managed at a local level by More Homes Division Area Teams who work with local authorities and Registered Social Landlords to plan and progress acquisitions through the programme. The More Homes central Programme Management Team monitors and reports on the progress of the programme. There is no single point of contact in local government for the national acquisition programme. It is for local authorities to agree their policy position and approach to acquisitions as outlined in our published National Acquisition Programme information .

Question reference: S6W-25310

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 19 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the objectives set out in policy priority mandate letter from the First Minister to the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, what its position is on whether the the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice is making acceptable progress on the delivery of affordable homes towards its 2032 target of 110,000 affordable homes.

From 23 March 2022 to end September 2023, 15,765 homes have been delivered towards the 110,000 affordable homes target, of which 12,188 (77%) are homes for social rent. The next set of quarterly statistics, to end December 2023, will be published towards the end of March.

Inflationary pressures, Brexit impacts and wider market conditions have combined to trigger various issues including rising construction costs and workforce challenges. The housing sector has done incredible work to deliver homes in these circumstances and we continue to work with partners to mitigate these impacts.

We remain focused on delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 and to support that we will bring forward the review scheduled for 2026-27 to 2024, which will concentrate on deliverability.

And we are accelerating work with the financial community in Scotland, and elsewhere, to boost private sector investment and help deliver more homes.

Question reference: S6W-24847

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 7 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications have been made to each strand of the Home Owners' Support Fund in each of the last 12 months, and how many of those applications have been accepted.

Paul McLennan: During the last 12 months (January – December 2023), 40 new applications were made to the Homeowners Support Fund (HOSF).

All applicants to HOSF receive advice from an accredited money adviser who offer holistic services that best meet applicant’s needs. Accredited money advisers are appropriately qualified to determine when homeowners meet the HOSF eligibility criteria. This ensures all options and potential solutions have been considered before an application is made. All 40 applications were accepted for further consideration by SG officials.

Applications are made to the overall HOSF programme, and all are assessed by SG officials to determine suitability for either Mortgage to Shared Equity (MTSE) or Mortgage to Rent (MTR). Every application is carefully considered.

Question reference: S6W-24819

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 7 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many times it has used its powers under section (a) 52 and (b) 53 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014, and what the outcome of any such use of these powers was.

Section 52 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 gives Scottish Ministers the power to ask for documents and information they reasonably need to carry out an inspection on a letting agency company. To date this power has not been used.

Section 53 provides Scottish Ministers powers to carry out an inspection of premises which appear to being used for the purpose of carrying out letting agency work. This power was used on four occasions during 2019. The visits were used to confirm compliance with legislative requirements and no further action was required.

Question reference: S6W-24813

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 7 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many decisions on current major housing development applications (a) are outstanding and (b) have exceeded the 16-week statutory target for such applications, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S6W-24812

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 7 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the average time taken to determine a major housing development application has been in each of the last three years, broken down by local authority.

The average time taken to determine planning applications for major housing developments is provided Table 1.

Table 1 - Major housing applications not subject to a processing agreement
	2022-23	2021-22	2020-21
Planning Authority	Overall average time (weeks)	Overall average time (weeks)	Overall average time (weeks)
Aberdeen City	n/a	28.1	45.9
Aberdeenshire	17.0	38.4	n/a
Angus	22.9	n/a	36.1
Argyll and Bute	46.6	76.3	19.5
Cairngorms National Park	n/a	n/a	n/a
Clackmannanshire	6.4	43.4	514.1
Dumfries and Galloway	26.1	31.2	44.0
Dundee City	15.0	25.7	46.7
East Ayrshire	42.1	87.9	94.1
East Dunbartonshire	11.1	19.9	53.4
East Lothian	8.9	8.0	7.0
East Renfrewshire	59.7	31.4	59.7
City of Edinburgh	50.1	21.6	15.9
Falkirk	n/a	92.0	104.9
Fife	16.3	55.4	32.6
Glasgow City	31.9	39.7	42.3
Highland	82.9	118.0	31.8
Inverclyde	24.0	52.8	n/a
Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park	n/a	n/a	66.4
Midlothian	50.2	17.0	99.3
Moray	n/a	n/a	12.7
Na h-Eileanan Siar	n/a	50.0	9.4
North Ayrshire	14.1	n/a	9.6
North Lanarkshire	32.6	52.8	28.3
Orkney Islands	20.3	n/a	n/a
Perth and Kinross	18.6	40.3	n/a
Renfrewshire	7.4	14.6	42.6
Scottish Borders	n/a	19.7	20.9
Shetland Islands	n/a	45.4	n/a
South Ayrshire	n/a	n/a	n/a
South Lanarkshire	51.9	62.3	130.9
Stirling	109.6	124.7	n/a
West Dunbartonshire	13.4	10.3	8.0
West Lothian	66.7	137.0	59.7
SCOTLAND	39.3	54.3	54.8

Note: Figures for the years 2020-21 and 2021-22 were impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic and this should be borne in mind when comparing these to other years.

The figures in Table 1 do not include major housing applications subject to a processing agreement with the local authority. Where major housing applications were subject to a processing agreement, the percentage of applications where the agreed timescale was met, is set out in Table 2.

Table 2 - Major housing applications subject to a processing agreement
	2022-23	2021-22	2020-21
Planning Authority	% determined within agreed timescales	% determined within agreed timescales	% determined within agreed timescales
Aberdeen City	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%
Aberdeenshire	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%
Angus	0.0%	100.0%	100.0%
Argyll and Bute	n/a	n/a	n/a
Cairngorms National Park	n/a	n/a	n/a
Clackmannanshire	n/a	n/a	n/a
Dumfries and Galloway	n/a	100.0%	n/a
Dundee City	n/a	n/a	n/a
East Ayrshire	n/a	100.0%	n/a
East Dunbartonshire	n/a	n/a	n/a
East Lothian	100.0%	n/a	100.0%
East Renfrewshire	n/a	n/a	n/a
City of Edinburgh	50.0%	0.0%	20.0%
Falkirk	100.0%	n/a	50.0%
Fife	50.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Glasgow City	50.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Highland	33.3%	100.0%	100.0%
Inverclyde	n/a	n/a	n/a
Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park	n/a	n/a	n/a
Midlothian	0.0%	0.0%	n/a
Moray	33.3%	0.0%	0.0%
Na h-Eileanan Siar	n/a	n/a	n/a
North Ayrshire	100.0%	n/a	33.3%
North Lanarkshire	100.0%	33.3%	33.3%
Orkney Islands	n/a	n/a	n/a
Perth and Kinross	100.0%	66.7%	100.0%
Renfrewshire	n/a	0.0%	100.0%
Scottish Borders	100.0%	0.0%	100.0%
Shetland Islands	n/a	n/a	n/a
South Ayrshire	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%
South Lanarkshire	n/a	n/a	n/a
Stirling	0.0%	n/a	n/a
West Dunbartonshire	n/a	n/a	n/a
West Lothian	0.0%	50.0%	50.0%
SCOTLAND	63.4%	48.9%	54.5%

Planning application statistics are published on a 6 monthly basis. Further information is available on the Scottish Government website at: https://www.gov.scot/collections/planning-statistics/

Question reference: S6W-24845

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 7 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many enquiries relating to accessing the Home Owners' Support Fund it has received in each of the last 12 months.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10243 on 7 September 2022. The Scottish Government does not collect data on the number of enquiries relating to the Home Owners Support Fund (HOSF).

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 .

Question reference: S6W-24846

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 7 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it has taken to raise awareness of the Home Owners' Support Fund among people struggling with mortgage payments as a result of the cost of living crisis.

Paul McLennan: Homeowners who are concerned about their finances should contact their lender as soon as possible to discuss the options available to help them.

HOSF is a scheme of last resort that is offered to home owners who are most in need. The scheme is aimed at low-income households in Scotland, who own properties within the bottom 20% of the housing market and are at risk of repossession and eviction from their home. Applicants must have either mortgage arrears or have an interest only mortgage that has reached the end of its term with no option to repay the loan or to re-mortgage.

Those who need it can access the scheme through accredited money advice services. Suitably qualified money advisers are best placed to determine if a home owner will benefit from applying to the HOSF scheme. Money advisers ensure all options are considered as part of holistic advice.

Question reference: S6W-24820

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 7 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many reports it has received pertaining to sections (a) 52 and (b) 53 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014, since the commencement of each provision.