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-10676

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-09619 by Shona Robison on 19 July 2022, how many buildings to date have been remediated by developers across Scotland, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S6W-10686

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) unique households, (b) advice interactions, including advice provided to customers during telephone or email advice discussions and (c) low-income, potentially fuel-poor clients who were offered support Home Energy Scotland (i) has had capacity to support and (ii) has actually supported, in each year of its operation.

Please find data below for Home Energy Scotland advice interactions. Prior to 2013, fuel poverty was not a separate focus for advice services. Specific fuel poverty advice services figures are only available from 2013.

	2013-14	2013-14	2014-15	2014-15	2015-16	2015-16	2016-17	2016-17	2017-18	2017-18
	target	actual	target	actual	target	actual	target	actual	target	actual
Unique households	125,000	90,887	120,000	98,998	110,000	94,411	95,000	92,618	85000	93,962
Advice interactions	200,000	182,158	180,000	326,600	165,000	333,609	260,000	305,672	260,000	313,170
Low-income, potentially fuel poor clients offered support	55,000	49,404	55,000	45,932	55,000	43,148	55,000	33,322	35,000	31,598

	2018-19	2018-19	2019-20	2019-20	2020-21	2020-21	2021-22	2021-22	2022-23
	target	actual	target	actual	target	actual	target	actual	target
Unique households	87,500	89,018	87,500	92,681	77,000	90,468	120,000	114,392	132,000
Advice interactions	260,000	315,912	260,000	314,989	260,000	345,344	400,000	424,083	440,000
Low-income, potentially fuel poor clients offered support	35,000	30,920	35,000	38,737	35,000	46,369	36,000	42,092	44,000

Question reference: S6W-10687

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government which indicators it currently uses for the housing and regeneration indicators, as set out in its housing and regeneration outcomes framework; on what date each indicator (a) was last updated and (b) is due to be updated, and what the status is of any work to update each indicator.

The Scottish Government published an update to the housing and regeneration outcomes indicators on 16 June 2020. The `Sources, Thresholds & Updates` tab of the master spreadsheet details dates that each indicator was last updated. This spreadsheet also shows each indicator that is used by the Scottish Government.

Work is underway to update indicators with the latest available data where available, and will be published before 9 November 2022. However, some data sources do not have available data for more recent years to allow for the associated indicators to be updated. This is for a number of reasons, including the impact from coronavirus and resulting restrictions, and other changes on data collection. Affected indicators will be detailed in the publication.

Question reference: S6W-10920

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many representatives of the mortgage lending industry it has met in 2022 to discuss the implications of the cost of living crisis for homeowners with mortgages on their property.

Scottish Ministers and officials regularly meet with representatives of the financial services sector, including lenders, to discuss a range of matters including measures to support households and businesses.

The Deputy First Minister met with the financial services sector (the quarterly Financial Services Growth and Development Board (FISGAD)) on 30 August 2022. Details of the membership of the Board can be found at https://www.gov.scot/groups/financial-services-growth-and-development-board/

Officials also regularly engage with UK Finance (representative body for the banking and Finance Industry). Details of UK Finance membership can be found at https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/

Attendees at such meetings vary according to representatives' availability.

Question reference: S6W-10921

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government which mortgage lenders it has met in 2022 to discuss the implications of the cost of living crisis for homeowners with mortgages on their property.

Question reference: S6W-10919

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of options that it discussed with representatives of the mortgage lending industry regarding the implications of the cost of living crisis for homeowners with mortgages on their property, and what the policy outcomes were of those discussions.

Oversight and regulation of mortgage lenders is a reserved matter, as a result the Scottish Government has no powers or authority to intervene in the operation of the mortgage market, nor control mortgage or general borrowing rates.

However, the Scottish Government is committed to using levers it has available to support households through the Cost Crisis. Scottish Ministers and officials regularly meet with representatives of the financial services sector, including lenders, to discuss a range of matters including measures to support households and businesses in Scotland and have committed to continued collaboration throughout the cost crisis to tackle the immediate challenges and address key underlying structural issues.

Question reference: S6W-10240

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Home Owners’ Support Fund, what (a) written or electronic (i) promotional materials (ii) briefings and (iii) training and (b) promotional meetings it has provided or offered to (A) money advisers acting on behalf of applicants (B) social landlords who are part of the Mortgage to Rent scheme (C) trustees acting on behalf of applicants (D) UK lenders and (E) others, in the last 12 months.

Question reference: S6W-10239

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) budget and (b) expenditure of the Home Owners' Support Fund has been in each of the past six years, broken down by the (i) Mortgage to Rent and (ii) Mortgage to Shared Equity schemes, and whether any underspend (A) has been carried forward to 2022-23 and (B) can be carried forward to 2023-24.

The following table shows Home Owners Support Fund (HOSF) budget and expenditure for each of the last six years broken down by Mortgage to Rent (MTR) and Mortgage to Shared Equity (MTSE). HOSF is a demand led scheme and any difference between budget and actual spend reflects demand in that year and so there is no underspend or carry forward.

Financial Year	HOSF Budget	HOSF MTR Actual Expenditure	HOSF MTSE Actual Expenditure	Total Expenditure
Financial Year	(£m)	(£m)	(£m)	(£m)
2016-17	5.000	2.980	0.000	2.980
2017-18	3.000	1.127	0.000	1.127
2018-19	2.500	1.536	0.000	1.536
2019-20	2.500	1.191	0.000	1.191
2020-21	2.000	0.303	0.000	0.303
2021-22	Figures will be published shortly
Total (£m)	15.000	7.137	0.000	7.137

Budget and expenditure figures for 2021-22 will be published shortly.

Question reference: S6W-10241

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many staff have been (a) trained and (b) allocated to deal with applications for the Home Owners' Support Fund, in each of the last six years.

Question reference: S6W-10243

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) enquiries about and (b) applications for the Home Owners' Support Fund it has received in each of the last six years, broken down by the (i) Mortgage to Rent and (ii) Mortgage to Shared Equity schemes, and, of those applications that were received, how many were (A) successful and (B) ineligible.

The Scottish Government does not collect information on enquiries relating to the Home Owners Support Fund (HOSF). The Mortgage to Rent (MTR) and Mortgage to Shared Equity (MTSE) schemes are delivered as part of the HOSF programme. Each application is assessed on a case by case basis to determine which scheme best meets the applicant’s needs. During the last six years there have been no cases eligible for MTSE, due to the circumstances of applicants not meeting the eligibility criteria, in particular applicants with complex debts.

The following table shows the number of applications received during each of the last six years, the number of applications successfully completed and the number of cases closed due to ineligibility. Mortgage to Rent is a voluntary scheme and participation from applicants, lenders, trustees and social landlords is required for a case to succeed.

Mortgage to Rent Applications*
Year	Received	Successful	Ineligible
2016-17	113	65	20
2017-18	91	39	17
2018-19	106	32	30
2019-20	79	28	16
2020-21	20	8	7
2021-22	36	9	10

*Figures for received, successful and ineligible do not necessarily refer to the same cases.

We have received significantly fewer applications during the last two financial years. Regulations were introduced by the Scottish Government that protected homeowners in financial difficulty from repossession at the height of the pandemic. n addition, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and mortgage lenders also put in place temporary measures to assist homeowners facing difficulties in managing their mortgage repayments. From March 2020 to March 2021, mortgage lenders offered payment deferrals of up to six months and whilst those temporary measures have now expired, the FCA continues to work with lenders to help improve and strengthen arrears management and mortgage lenders must demonstrate that they have done everything required to make repossession a matter of last resort.

Financial Year	Number of HOSF Staff
2015-16	*
2016-17	6
2017-18	5
2018-19	3
2019-20	3
2021-22 to present day	4