Work on a range of impact assessments to inform proposals to introduce a charge on single-use beverage cups will begin this year.

The number of directly employed staff with More Homes Division in each quarter since May 2021 is shown in in the following table, for both headcount and full time equivalent (FTE).

The national acquisition programme is already in operation.

This information is not available in the form requested.

The Scottish Government does not produce counts of homes by parliamentary region.

The number of households and dwellings in each parliamentary constituency is published by the National Records of Scotland, with the latest available estimate dating from 2022. This is available at: Scottish Parliamentary Constituency .

The Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) provides estimates of the number of homes which have an EPC rating below band C.

The SHCS survey has not been designed to provide results by Parliamentary Region, however results are available by Local Authority area.

The Scottish Government publishes local authority analysis using a three year pooled data set to ensure sufficient sample sizes. The most recent estimates of homes with an EPC below C at local authority level are for 2017-2019, and are presented in the following table.

We know that people living in poverty in Scotland are more likely to develop a lung condition than the general population, and recognise that we still have progress to make on improving access to care and treatment for respiratory conditions.

In March 2021, we published the first Respiratory Care Action Plan for Scotland (RCAP) . The Plan sets out our priorities and commitments for driving improvement in the prevention, diagnosis, care, treatment and support of people living with respiratory conditions. Tackling health inequalities is a key focus of the RCAP and we want to ensure a more targeted approach to supporting those who need it most.

The main focus of our respiratory programme this year will be on improving the availability of respiratory data. We have recently commissioned and funded Public Health Scotland to begin building a respiratory audit programme. This will better allow us to review the demographics of people living with respiratory conditions and ultimately ensure we deliver services which meet their needs.

We are also in the final stages of producing a best practice document for child to adult respiratory transitions, as well as working closely with key stakeholders to determine the best route to improve access to pulmonary rehabilitation services.

More widely, the Scottish Government is committed to supporting families and households face the increased cost of living. This includes the provision of services and financial support not available elsewhere in the UK that is helping to reduce everyday costs and increase incomes.

The Scottish Government is committed to reforming Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) to ensure they drive the energy efficiency improvements we need and to ensure building owners and tenants have better information on emissions associated with their heating system.

Earlier this year, the Climate Change Committee wrote to the Scottish Government setting out a series of recommendations for the reform on EPCs, noting that the current arrangements are “not fit for purpose”. In response to this advice, the Scottish Government published a consultation on EPC reform on 25 July 2023. In summary, this proposes to reform EPCs to:

• Introduce a set of domestic EPC metrics to provide a holistic reflection of a dwelling’s performance;
• Introduce a set of non-domestic EPC metrics to provide appropriate information about non-domestic buildings;
• Make additional changes to the EPC system to ensure that EPCs provide clear and useful basic information about a building’s energy efficiency and emissions associated with its heating system, for current and prospective building owners and tenants, and other stakeholders.

After the consultation closes on 16th October 2023, we will analyse responses and provide a response detailing the next steps and implementation of any EPC reforms.

UK Finance data, which is only available for the UK as a whole, shows that at the end of Q2 2023 there were 8,980 first-charge buy-to-let loans which were in arrears of more than 2.5% of the outstanding balance, a 28% increase from the previous quarter and a 59% increase from the previous year.

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.

Tenants living in a property where a lender is seeking repossession due to mortgage arrears are afforded the same rights as any other tenant facing eviction, as the lender is required to go through the same eviction process that applies to private landlords.

Safeguards have been built in to the emergency rent cap measures to balance the rights of landlords and tenants in the context of the costs crisis. Private landlords can apply to Rent Service Scotland to increase the rent for a let property above the rent cap (up to 6%) in connection with defined ‘prescribed property costs.’

Local authorities are responsible for the recruitment and deployment of their staff. This includes providing a complement of teachers which best meets the needs of each of their schools and its pupils within the resources available.

While teachers are employed by local authorities, the Scottish Government is taking strong action to protect increased teacher numbers – supporting councils with an additional £145.5 million in this year’s budget, which assures funding for local authorities and removes this as a barrier to employing staff on permanent contracts.

Over the past 10 years the number of teachers in permanent posts has remained stable at over 80%.

Earlier this year, the Climate Change Committee wrote to the Scottish Government setting out a series of recommendations for the reform on EPCs, noting that the current arrangements are “not fit for purpose”. We responded to this letter acknowledging that EPCs need to be reformed in order to deliver our climate targets.

The Scottish Government published a consultation on EPC reform on 25 July 2023. In addition to proposals to reform domestic and non-domestic EPC metrics, the consultation also highlights that we are reviewing existing assessment and quality assurance processes. We will draw from previous independent analysis and work with the Approved Organisations that accredit energy assessors, and the UK Government to identify changes and best practice to help maintain and improve standards. Together, we are confident that these proposed reforms will ensure that in future EPCs can be fit for purpose.

A table showing the number of social and affordable completions by local authority area can be accessed using the following link. This provides the number of homes already built in Glasgow in the current parliamentary session:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/affordable-housing-supply-programme-completions-updates/

In Glasgow, the Council is responsible for the management and delivery of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) on behalf of Ministers through the Transfer of Management of Development Funding (TMDF) arrangement. The Council produces a Strategic Housing Investment Plan annually which details the plans for homes which will be built using the Affordable Housing Supply Programme in the Glasgow region. The latest plan, covering 2023-24 to 2027-28, details the completions planned by year and can be accessed using the following link:

Committee Information - View Committee Document (glasgow.gov.uk)

Homes provided through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme include social rent, mid-market rent and low cost home ownership. These include new build homes, rehabilitation projects, conversions and off-the-shelf purchases.