Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is aware of the regulations set out in the UK Social Housing Regulation Act 2023 and the plans to introduce Awaab’s Law by setting out specified timeframes for addressing health hazards. This reflects similar rights already in place for social housing tenants in Scotland.

Under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001, Scottish secure tenants and short Scottish secure tenants currently have the right to have certain urgent repairs carried out by their landlord within a given timescale. The Right to Repair scheme applies to all tenants of local authorities and housing associations. The list of qualifying repairs is set out in The Scottish Secure Tenants (Right to Repair) Regulations 2002, which also sets out the maximum permissible period for completing repairs, and the compensation that is due to tenants where these timescales are not met.

This sits alongside existing requirements for social landlords in Scotland as part of the Scottish Social Housing Charter, monitored by the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR). The Charter includes expected outcomes on the customer/landlord relationship and on the quality of housing. Landlords need to meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard, which requires that homes are healthy, safe and free from serious disrepair.

As part of their review of the Annual Return on the Scottish Social Housing Charter (ARC), SHR are engaging with the sector to develop updated indicators for tenant and resident safety.

SHR aim to confirm the revised ARC indicators by January 2025, with the new ARC being in place for collection year 2025/26. In the meantime, SHR will use Annual Assurance Statements to require landlords to provide specific assurance on their compliance with their tenant and resident safety obligations, including their performance in dealing with instances of damp and mould.

Scottish building regulations already set requirements for new buildings and new building work, including entertainment venues, that are intended to provide safe, unassisted and convenient access to and within buildings. However, building regulations are not applied retrospectively to existing buildings.

Attention should be drawn to the Scottish Government's response to S6W-28573 on 12 August 2024 noting that the Scottish Government expects building owners and managers to be familiar with their duties under equalities legislation and where necessary make reasonable adjustments following the relevant codes of practice published by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

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

Whilst services on the main Edinburgh to Glasgow via Falkirk High route ran every 15 minutes prior to the Covid pandemic, ScotRail reported an underutilisation of resources, which was addressed with ScotRail’s ‘Fit for Future’ timetable re-shuffle in 2022.

With 4 services per hour in peak times, and 2 services per hour off peak on week days, this route is currently served well and provides the required capacity at the times people need it.

ScotRail monitors the passenger demand closely and wherever possible, increases capacity where it is required. As part of May 2023 timetable change ScotRail increased the number of services on Saturdays, which is now the busiest day on this route. As a result, passengers enjoy 4 services per hour on Saturdays during the day.

A Discussion Paper on the Infrastructure Levy was published in June and comments were invited until 30 September. We are carefully considering the responses received and will use the feedback to inform how to proceed. An update on next steps will be provided shortly.

Work on the review of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 has not yet concluded but is at a final stage. Three Findings Reports will be published in December 2024 which will include details of engagement.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

The review of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 is nearing completion and three Findings Reports will be published in December 2024.

The Scottish Government currently has no plans to build a high temperature incineration plant in Scotland.

I refer the member to the NHS Scotland Climate Emergency and Sustainability Strategy 2022-2026 which sets out the Scottish Government’s plans to help reduce carbon emissions from clinical waste in NHS Scotland. This publication is available at: .NHS Scotland climate emergency and sustainability strategy: 2022-2026 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

Specifically, the strategy sets out that each Health Board should set appropriate targets for reducing the volume of clinical waste it produces through measures including; greater use of reusable items, improvements to waste segregation and increased recycling of recyclable materials. The Scottish Government will review the need for a national target for clinical waste reduction.

In addition, the strategy requires that Health Board waste management officers ensure that arrangements are in place for the safe treatment and disposal of all waste streams. It is the responsibility of Health Boards to manage the NHS clinical waste contract while NHS National Services Scotland’s National Procurement and Logistics Service manages the NHS’s relationship with the clinical waste contractor.

The Scottish Government supports Health Boards with their net zero commitments and monitors progress towards these targets. This information is published through the Annual NHS Scotland Climate Emergency and Sustainability Report - Annual NHS Scotland Climate Emergency & Sustainability Report 2024 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

Given the extremely challenging financial position all Health capital projects not already in construction are paused.

This pause is subject to a cross-Government review of capital projects. All due consideration will be given to which projects can be included within our revised infrastructure plan to ensure it is affordable and deliverable.