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-43955

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 11 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what the proposed legal status will be of the new housing agency, More Homes Scotland; under what existing or proposed legislation it will be established; whether primary or secondary legislation will be required, and what the timetable is for its formal establishment.

We expect the agency to start operating from 2027-28 and to be fully functional in 2028-29. Insofar as this question concerns the legal status of the new housing agency, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-43954 on 11 March 2026. 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-43956

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 11 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what the projected annual budget for the new housing agency, More Homes Scotland will be for each of the next five financial years; what proportion of this represents new funding as opposed to reallocated funding; what estimate it has made of the (a) administrative and (b) set-up costs; whether a business case or cost–benefit analysis has been completed and, if so, whether this will be published.

We expect set-up costs to be incurred over the period 2026-27 to 2028-29, when the agency is expected to be operational, and estimate these costs to be around £2 million, although this will depend on the scope of its design and operating model.

The projected annual budget, the proportion representing new rather than reallocated funding, and the agency’s ongoing administrative costs are still to be determined as part of this ongoing design process.

Question reference: S6W-43871

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 9 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025, whether temporary accommodation will be included as part of the regulations to set deadlines for landlords to fix damp and mould hazards (Awaab’s Law).

The draft Investigation and Commencement of Repair (Scotland) Regulations 2026, if agreed by Parliament, will apply to all accommodation provided under a private residential, Scottish secure or short Scottish secure tenancy. This means that Awaab’s Law extends to temporary accommodation, such as accommodation provided under a short Scottish secure tenancy. However, I recognise that other types of temporary accommodation are utilised by local authorities.

Whilst the type of tenancy is determined by local authorities, all temporary accommodation they provide must comply with the Temporary Accommodation Standards Framework and the Tolerable Standard.

As part of our next steps, we will be engaging with stakeholders to understand how Awaab’s Law can be extended further, including to other types of temporary accommodation that is not currently covered.

Question reference: S6O-05564

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 February 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it provides to support research into finding a cure for motor neurone disease.

Question reference: S6W-43523

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 17 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what cost per unit it has assumed for new-build homes in its outline plan to deliver 36,000 homes as part of the draft Budget 2026-27, broken down by tenure type.

The Draft Scottish Budget 2026-27 confirmed that, having supported the delivery of 141,000 affordable homes since 2007, we will invest £926 million next year, to maintain progress towards our target of delivering 110,000 by 2032 - with at least 70% for social rent and 10% in rural and island areas. The Scottish Spending Review 2026 also set out our plans to invest up to £4.9 billion over the next four years – including a record £4.1 billion of public sector funding – to support delivery of 36,000 affordable homes and help meet our wider all-tenure housing ambitions.

Our plan to deliver 36,000 homes over the next four years did not specifically assume a cost per unit for a new build home. The Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) comprise homes for social rent, for mid-market rent and for low cost home ownership. These homes take various forms including; new build homes, rehabilitation projects, conversions and off-the-shelf purchases of both new and second hand homes.

Question reference: S6O-05521

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 February 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to authors documenting local history.

Question reference: S6F-04667

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 February 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 February 2026

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to reports that police stations across Lanarkshire, including in Bellshill, will be closed permanently to the public or have their hours reduced from 1 April.

Question reference: S6O-05459

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to COSLA’s statement that the draft Budget 2026-27 “represents a very poor settlement for local government which fails to address the financial situation being faced by councils across Scotland".

Question reference: S6W-42883

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 9 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what funding commitments are being considered for clinical research on motor neurone disease (MND) in the 2026-27 Scottish Budget.

Within the Scottish Government, funding of Health and Care Research comes under the remit of the Chief Scientist Office (CSO).

CSO funds research projects via its Translational Clinical Studies (TCS) Committee and the Health Improvement, Protection and Services Research (HIPS) Committee

Response Mode Funding Schemes – Chief Scientist Office

CSO funds capacity building research via its Fellowship Funding programmes

Fellowship Funding – Chief Scientist Office

Research funding is not allocated to any particular condition and CSO funds research across the clinical spectrum. All applications go through a process of independent expert review to allow funding decisions to be made. Applications on Motor Neurone Disease are welcomed and CSO's role is well known across the Health and Care research community in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-42254

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 15 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-26978 by Paul McLennan on 7 May 2024, how (a) much funding has been spent through the National Acquisition Programme and (b) many social homes have been delivered in each local authority area in each year since it was first announced in June 2023.

The National Acquisition Programme was announced in June 2023 to support the purchase of existing homes for use as affordable housing. Initially, £60 million was allocated for 2023-2024 to be delivered through local authority Resource Planning Assumptions. The spend and homes delivered for 2023-2024 is outlined in Table 1 the figures for social rent are a subset of the total.

Table 1 – 2023-2024 Acquisitions

Local Authority Area	Total Spend (£m)	Total Homes Delivered	Total Social Rent
Aberdeen City	4.234	126	100
Aberdeenshire	1.131	16	10
Angus	1.846	26	26
Argyll & Bute	0.182	1	1
City of Edinburgh	9.027	138	138
Clackmannanshire	1.974	57	57
Dumfries & Galloway	0.035	1	1
Dundee City	0.520	13	13
East Ayrshire	0.925	30	30
East Dunbartonshire	2.964	21	21
East Lothian	0.186	34	34
East Renfrewshire	0.248	6	6
Falkirk	3.150	70	70
Fife	2.970	57	57
Glasgow City	17.069	176	167
Inverclyde	0.537	33	33
Midlothian	0.195	38	38
Moray	0.042	1	1
naEilean Siar	0.000	0	0
North Ayrshire	2.417	7	7
North Lanarkshire	7.972	110	110
Orkney Islands	0.000	0	0
Perth & Kinross	2.497	59	47
Renfrewshire	0.897	27	27
Scottish Borders	1.450	22	17
Shetland Islands	0.228	3	3
South Ayrshire	1.455	37	37
South Lanarkshire	9.723	202	202
Stirling	1.450	37	37
The Highland Council	3.932	65	38
West Dunbartonshire	3.890	41	41
West Lothian	0.000	45	45
Total	83.146	1499	1414

In 2024-2025, the approach to acquisitions evolved to include £80 million targeted funding for acquisitions and voids over two years(split evenly between 2024-25 and 2025-26)to help reduce homelessness. The following table shows the total spend on acquisitions, which includes this £40 million targeted element.

Table 2 – 2024-2025 Acquisitions

Local Authority Area	Total Spend (£m)	Total Homes Delivered	Of Which Social	£40m only spend	£40m only Homes	Of Which Social
Aberdeen City	3.128	58	58	0.375	12	12
Aberdeenshire	0.580	8	8	0.173	3	3
Angus	0.546	8	8	0.066	1	1
Argyll & Bute	1.839	25	25	0.135	2	2
City of Edinburgh	11.582	221	221	10.882	175	175
Clackmannanshire	1.235	27	27	0.173	4	4
Dumfries & Galloway	0.000	0	0	0.000	0	0
Dundee City	2.552	37	37	0.637	7	7
East Ayrshire	2.404	3	3	0.122	0	0
East Dunbartonshire	2.128	41	41	0.222	2	2
East Lothian	0.441	5	5	0.441	5	5
East Renfrewshire	0.215	4	4	0.215	0	0
Falkirk	2.910	54	54	0.751	17	17
Fife	1.898	38	38	1.848	37	37
Glasgow City	14.032	131	131	5.088	8	8
Inverclyde	0.307	8	8	0.084	1	1
Midlothian	1.013	10	10	0.472	7	7
Moray	0.321	5	5	0.143	3	3
naEilean Siar	0.000	0	0	0.000	0	0
North Ayrshire	0.475	36	36	0.097	0	0
North Lanarkshire	13.759	191	191	0.673	0	0
Orkney Islands	1.212	0	0	0.000	0	0
Perth & Kinross	7.785	143	136	0.066	2	2
Renfrewshire	2.266	26	26	0.388	5	5
Scottish Borders	0.840	14	11	0.146	3	3
Shetland Islands	0.040	0	0	0.000	0	0
South Ayrshire	0.758	0	0	0.301	0	0
South Lanarkshire	7.363	134	134	1.724	27	27
Stirling	0.928	30	30	0.750	13	13
The Highland Council	2.263	23	9	0.270	5	4
West Dunbartonshire	0.562	43	43	0.342	4	4
West Lothian	1.602	25	25	1.602	25	25
Total	86.984	1348	1324	28.186	368	367

For 2025-2026, this targeted funding for acquisitions and voids was doubled in September 2025 taking the targeted funding component to £80m. Given the 2025-2026 programme has not concluded, figures relating to spend and homes on acquisitions for 2025-2026 are not yet available but the spend and total of home delivered in the first quarter only of the financial year(1 Apr – 30 June)are outlined in Table 3.

Table 3 – 2025-2026 Acquisitions – 1st Quarter

Local Authority Area	Total Spend (£m)	Total Homes Delivered	Of Which Social	£80m only spend	£80m only Homes	Of Which Social
Aberdeen City		8	8
Aberdeenshire
Angus
Argyll & Bute
City of Edinburgh
Clackmannanshire
Dumfries & Galloway
Dundee City
East Ayrshire	0.050
East Dunbartonshire
East Lothian
East Renfrewshire
Falkirk
Fife	0.050
Glasgow City	0.068	21	21
Inverclyde
Midlothian
Moray
North Ayrshire	0.040	3	3	0.040	1	1
North Lanarkshire	1.180
Orkney	0.140	1	1	0.140	1	1
Perth & Kinross
Renfrewshire
Scottish Borders
Shetland Islands
South Ayrshire	0.490
South Lanarkshire
Stirling
The Highland Council	1.903	23	15	1.317	15	15
West Dunbartonshire
West Lothian
Total	3.921	56	48	1.497	17	17

Due to the way the Affordable Housing Supply Programme operates, grant payments can be drawn down across multiple financial years. As a result, expenditure in any given year does not necessarily correspond to the number of homes completed in that same year, as homes are only recorded as complete once the entire project has concluded.

You can find more information on Resource Planning Assumptions for council areas here.

We will continue to provide updates on delivery through the Affordable Housing Supply Programmeas part of published quarterly statistics.