Chamber and committees

Sectoral Skills Assessments (SSAs), produced by Skills Development Scotland (SDS) in partnership with stakeholders, provide a consistent evidence base to inform strategic skills investment planning and understanding of workforce demand and supply across sectors. The most recent Construction SSA was published in October 2025.

Skills Development Scotland routinely assesses demand for apprenticeships throughout the operational year. Modern Apprenticeship places are allocated in line with employer and training provider demand, balanced against Scottish Government priorities. Construction is a priority sector, and Modern Apprenticeship starts in construction frameworks increased in 2025-26 compared to the previous year.

In addition, the Scottish Government has introduced a new skills planning model, being developed with partners, to ensure the post-school education and skills system is more responsive to Scotland’s strategic skills priorities. Construction has been identified as an early area of focus within this model, reflecting current and emerging skills needs and its alignment with national policy priorities.

Budgets are set annually by the Scottish Parliament: The Scottish Budget Process | Scottish Parliament Website

The Scottish Budget incorporates all money expected to be received from the Barnett determined block grant, borrowing, taxes raised in Scotland and other sources of income including the expected income from the sale of shared equity, including from Help to Buy schemes. This anticipated income then provides the framework for the spending decisions made by Scottish Ministers and set out in the Scottish budget which is then scrutinised voted on by the Scottish parliament.

Income received from Help to Buy Scotland has been, and will continue to be used, to fund the spending decisions made by Scottish Ministers. The Scottish Budget 2026 to 2027 includes anticipated Financial Transaction (FT) Receipts of £80 million which support the Affordable Housing Supply Programme FT budget of £163.4 million. Please refer to the Housing Tab in the supporting Level 4 Workbooks 2026-27 Supporting documents - Scottish Budget 2026 to 2027 - gov.scot.

There are no specific requirements under the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016 or Regulations for how a rent increase notice is to be served.

The Scottish Government Model Tenancy Agreement includes a section for landlords and tenants to agree how they will communicate during the tenancy including how notices will be served.

Tenants should check their tenancy agreement to see what it says about how notices will be sent during the tenancy.

If an online document portal is to be used by a landlord as a way of emailing the rent increase notice, the landlord should explain this in the tenancy agreement and the tenant should have clear instruction as to how to access and use the online document portal.

If a landlord or tenant is unsure of their legal rights and duties under the tenancy agreement they should seek independent legal advice.

The Scottish Government draws on a range of evidence to inform its understanding of construction workforce requirements, including Skills Development Scotland’s Sectoral Skills Assessments, which provide an overview of workforce demand and supply across the construction sector.

We also engage regularly with a broad range of partners to ensure the skills system is responsive to the needs of the construction sector and supports delivery of Scotland’s housing priorities. This includes key stakeholder representative bodies, such as Homes for Scotland, to ensure we are aware of current and emerging issues affecting the construction workforce.

Given the number of variables influencing the pace, scale and delivery of housing projects, including market conditions, planning considerations and investment decisions, it is not however possible to produce a precise estimate of total workforce demand, current supply or any projected shortfall over a five-year period.

The Scottish Government recognises that construction sector capacity, including the availability of labour, as well as the capability and capacity of firms, is key to the delivery of housing targets.

We engage regularly with local authorities who have responsibility for assessing local housing requirements and setting out delivery priorities in their Strategic Housing Investment Plans. We also engage broadly with registered social landlords who are responsible for procuring construction activity, and this engagement informs our understanding of strategic and operational delivery challenges including those related to construction sector capacity.

We have not produced a single estimate of the gap between planned and deliverable housing supply. This is due to the wide range of variables that affect delivery, including market conditions, supply chain pressures, planning factors and investment decisions.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken any modelling of the total financial returns generated from Help to Buy schemes it has previously operated.

The Scottish Government has previously published information on the return made on the Scottish Government’s investment through Help to Buy (HTB) (Scotland) from the launch of the scheme in September 2013 to the end of March 2020.

Help+to+Buy+%28Scotland%29+Return+Report+to+2020.pdf

The receipts from shared equity are driven by the actions of the homeowner and not by Government, therefore it is difficult to make projections regarding the timing of future returns. Historic trends are used to inform forecasting and planning.

The annual Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts include estimates of the fair value of Housing Shared equity held by the Scottish Government as at 31 March. This includes equity held from Help to Buy schemes, Open Market Shared Equity, New Supply Shared Equity and First Home Fund, the value is modelled using the House price index to estimate the change in property value.

The Planning Application Statistics are published for Q1&Q2 (midyear), Q3&Q4 (yearend) and annually (all quarters) by the Scottish Government and can be accessed at www.gov.scot/collections/planning-statistics.

The statistics for Quarters 1 and 2 of the 2025-26 reporting period are due to be published on 29 May 2026.

The Planning Application Statistics are not the sole indicators of the performance of the planning system. The National Planning Improvement Champion (NPIC), a post funded by Scottish Government and hosted by the Improvement Service, has implemented the National Planning Improvement Framework which requires authorities to assess themselves against twelve attributes of a high performing planning authority.

The NPIC has recently published updates on the progress planning authorities have made with their National Planning Improvement Framework Improvement Action Plans. These can be viewed at: https://www.improvementservice.org.uk/products-and-services/planning-and-place-based-approaches/national-planning-improvement/improvement-action-plans-and-performance-assessments.

The National Planning Hub has 2 dedicated Scottish Government staff – a Head of the National Planning Hub (Grade 6) and Programme Manager (Grade 7), based within Planning and Development Delivery Division. This is complemented by 2.5 posts within the Improvement Service which are funded by Scottish Government, with a team led by the National Planning Improvement Champion, a Planning and Capacity Lead, and a Planning Officer.

In 2025-26 the Planning Hub budget was £1.35m, this figure includes the costs for the Improvement Service staff and programme delivery, and the additional resources provided to planning authorities. The Planning Hub also draws on the wider capacity across Government, including the Planning Housing team that lead work on brokerage for stalled housing sites.

Decisions related to any programme activity in 2026-27 and beyond will be the prerogative of the new government, post the Scottish Parliament election. Initial funding for 2026-27 has had approval to maintain current operational delivery.

Further detail on the activities of the Hub can be seen at https://www.planninghub.scot/.

The publication date of official statistics are pre-announced on the Official Statistics forthcoming publications list, found on the Scottish Government website: www.gov.scot/publications/official-statistics-forthcoming-publications/

As pre-announced, the next quarterly housing statistics release will be on the 31 March 2026.