Chamber and committees

The Scottish Safer Buildings Accord is an ambitious attempt to secure the cooperation of Scotland’s leading developers to address the cladding problem. It is a complex and commercially sensitive negotiation. The Scottish Government has held productive discussions with Homes for Scotland and developers in recent months and subject to satisfactorily concluding negotiations the Accord will be agreed and signed in the coming weeks.

The Cladding Remediation Unit did not employ a full time communication staff member from May 2021 to April 2022. Since May 2022 a communication staff member has been employed, but their role crosses a number of responsibilities.

The working group does not, in general, create new material separate from that created to organise the meetings such as agendas and meeting notes, which are now subject to publication. The Chair will take a view on proactive publication of any new material in line with FOI principles and the need to respect the confidentiality of blocks engaged in the Pilot.

This was discussed at the Cladding Stakeholder Group as an option and is currently being explored.

We have received eight pre-final reports.

The Single Building Assessment takes a holistic approach of assessing buildings. Following professional advice from fire engineers, splitting the process would not fulfil the critical life safety requirements of the Single Building Assessment.

The Cladding Remediation Unit have employed 0 full time Communication staff since May 2021. The team currently has one dedicated staff member covering as both Head of Communications and Stakeholder Engagement, and the Accord Service Design. This member of staff took up post in May 2022.

The Residential Property Developer Tax is a tax on corporate profits levied on certain companies operating across the UK primarily in the domestic construction sector. This is a reserved tax and Scottish Government has no power to introduce the same.

There will be some developers who are signatories to both the Scottish Safer Buildings Accord and Welsh Developers Pact. The parties to the Scottish Safer Buildings Accord will be confirmed once The Accord is signed.

The Scottish Government is quite clear that the relevant costs of cladding remediation will be met by developers through the Scottish Safer Buildings Accord. The Scottish Government will prioritise its spend on buildings where the developer no longer exists.