Chamber and committees

Councils are responsible for developing their licensing policies in line with powers and duties under The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022, as amended in 2023, and they can add proportionate conditions to address local needs and concerns. We continue to work closely with COSLA, SOLAR and licensing authorities on the implementation and monitoring of the short term lets licensing legislation. We are therefore aware that the City of Edinburgh Council has acted on the Judgement made on 8 June 2023 to revise its local licensing policy and information for applicants. We remain confident that licensing of short-term lets can be operated effectively by councils so as to respect the rights of hosts and guests in short-term let accommodation, and is appropriate for the whole of Scotland.

A breakdown of the unsuccessful applications for the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund between August 2020 and May 2023 are given in the following table:

Further to the answer to S6W-20732 on 6 September 2023, grant funding arrangements are expected to be agreed with grant applicants in advance of the conveyancing process.

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

We already work with registered social landlords and local authorities to agree annual funding allocations to support the purchase of second-hand properties through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme. This streamlined approach is designed to allow these organisations to act upon opportunities as they arise.

The slowing of social rented approvals and starts has not been escalated. The AHSP risk register has not been changed on that basis.

Bellway is currently involved in delivering two projects through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme and we do not anticipate any major impact to delivery of these projects or our wider programme.

The Scottish Government engages with Homes for Scotland on a regular basis through a range of official and ministerial led meetings and fora.

We continue to collaborate with all our partners to achieve our shared goal of delivering more affordable homes for Scotland.

The AHSP risk register identifies the potential impacts if there are insufficient skilled construction workers or problems with labour retention. Both factors could be affected by job losses in construction. Job losses in the construction sector are not necessarily, in themselves, a direct risk to delivery of the programme.

In the following table, the number of resignations and retirements within More Homes Division over the requested period is shown, subject to the following restrictions:

1. Where a value relates to fewer than 5 individuals, that value has been suppressed for confidentiality purposes, represented by [c].

2. Resignations only includes those who resigned from the Scottish Government and its agencies, not those who moved internally.

The Scottish Government continually monitors its operations and delivery through the application of effective workforce controls at the organisational level. We prioritise our resources to support the elected government’s agenda, with workforce controls allowing flexibility to deploy resources as required. These controls are routinely monitored and adjusted to respond to the financial position and delivery requirements of the Scottish Government.