Chamber and committees

Local authorities have statutory responsibility for housing, including assessing and meeting housing needs of their areas, and setting out how requirements for housing will be met in their local housing strategies (LHSs).

Guidance published in 2019 to support local authorities with preparing LHSs includes a strong focus on consultation and engagement and Association for Local Authority Chief Housing Officers (ALACHO) were involved in its development.

All LHSs are subject to a robust review process by the Scottish Government and an independent peer reviewer and feedback provided to local authorities.

To date, Cunninghame Housing Association has received a total of £5,066,374.16 for the project at Windermere Park Annan.

The Scottish Government have no current plans to publish a Ministerial statement.

Parliamentary scrutiny has been possible through two sessions the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee has held with sport scotland and Cricket Scotland. In addition sport scotland publish quarterly updates on progress against the Changing The Boundaries report. The most recent update was published on 25 July and can be accessed on the sport scotland website.

We will continue to work with sport scotland and Cricket Scotland to ensure all recommendations in the Changing The Boundaries report are progressed and ensure lasting change within the sport.

The 2022-23 Local Government Finance Settlement included £351 million for the Council Tax Reduction Scheme. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including on the Council Tax Reduction Scheme, on the basis of local needs and priorities. The Scottish Government has not allocated any funding to the Water Charges Reduction Scheme (WCRS); this is because the scheme is funded by Scottish Water’s general household customer base. In 2022-23, Scottish Water reported that the value of the WCRS discount was £58 million.

The South West Scotland Transport Study Initial Appraisal – Case for Change (SWSTS) was a precursor to the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) and included 23 option packages to be appraised further in STPR2.

STPR2 was published in December 2022 and sets out 45 national recommendations for future investment in Scotland’s strategic transport network over the next 20 years.

A number of recommendations identified in the SWSTS for further appraisal within STPR2 have ultimately been recommended. Recommendation 40 ‘Access to Stranraer and ports at Cairnryan’ is specific to the south west and would lead to improving the transport assets and supporting regeneration in the area to benefit the economy and local communities. Recommendation 40 also provides for safety, resilience and reliability improvements on the A75 and A77 strategic road corridors leading to more resilient connections to the NPF4 National Development at Stranraer Gateway and the ports at Cairnryan. Recommendations 18, 23, 44 and 45; ‘Supporting integrated journeys at ferry terminals’, ‘Smart, integrated public transport ticketing’, ‘Rail freight terminals’, and ‘High speed and cross border rail enhancements’, identified in the SWSTS and ultimately recommended in STPR2 will all have particular benefit for the south west.

Rail interventions recommended by the SWSTS including new stations at Beattock, Eastriggs and Thornhill, and new rail lines between Dumfries and Stranraer, between Stranraer and Cairnryan and between the Glasgow South Western Line and the West Coast Main Line were considered as part of the long list of multi-modal options in STPR2. However, none of these three stations (or any rail stations or new lines across the county) have emerged as STPR2 recommendations. Other SWSTS recommendations which were not ultimately recommended by STPR2, including ‘Development of Enhanced Diversionary Routes and Route Planning on the local road network’ and ‘Development of the Timber Transport Network’ were deemed to be more appropriate for progression at the regional or local level.

The national acquisition programme is already in operation.

An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) provides basic information about the energy efficiency of a building. EPC assessments are conducted by qualified Domestic Energy Assessors who must be members of an Approved Organisation. An EPC assessment for existing buildings is a non-intrusive survey and assumptions are required based on the age and characteristics of the building. The Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) is the underlying methodology used for EPCs and is owned by the UK Government. There are well-recognised limitations to the current methodology and assessment process and we are working with the UK Government to ensure planned updates to SAP across the UK help improve the accuracy of EPCs.

By their nature, EPCs are intended to reflect, and allow comparison of, the building assessed, rather than the way its occupants use it. For this reason, the calculations are based on standard patterns of occupancy and use. For example, this means that the cost figures in a domestic EPC are not bespoke to the current occupants.

Earlier this year, the statutory advisers on climate policy to governments throughout the UK, the Climate Change Committee, wrote to the Scottish Government setting out a series of recommendations for the reform on EPCs, noting that the current energy efficiency rating on EPCs is a measure of energy costs, not energy efficiency. In response to this advice, the Scottish Government published a consultation on EPC reform on 25 July 2023. This seeks stakeholder views on proposals to reform the current metrics to provide more holistic information about the efficiency of a home that is relevant to current and potential owners and occupiers.

In most cases it is a legal requirement to provide a Home Report to prospective buyers when selling a home. The home report comprises of a single survey, property questionnaire and energy report and is completed by a qualified surveyor. The energy report gives information on the home's energy efficiency in the form of an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). An EPC states the energy efficiency of a building based on standardised assumptions about the way in which a building is used.

The Scottish Government published a consultation on EPC reform on 25 July 2023 seeking stakeholder views on proposals to reform the current metrics to provide more holistic information about the efficiency of a home that is relevant to current and potential owners and occupiers. Our reform proposals include responding to recommendations on improvements to the EPC scheme made by the Climate Change Committee, our statutory advisers on climate matters.

I have met with sport scotland and Cricket Scotland on a number of occasions to discuss progress against the Changing the Boundaries report and will be meeting the interim CEO on 21 September.

The issue is also regularly discussed at monthly meetings between myself and sport scotland’s Chair and Chief Executive.

In addition, Scottish Government officials meet on a fortnightly basis specifically to discuss the work resulting for the Changing the Boundaries report as well as the issue of racism more widely.

The Scottish Government recently published the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy which sets out our ambition to ensure individual, communities and organisations have greater awareness of the problems caused by litter, understand their responsibilities in preventing litter and are enabled and motivated to behave responsibly. A 2023-24 Action Plan, published with the Strategy, details specific actions and interventions that will be progressed in the first year of the Strategy, including a national community-focused education programme.

If there is a broad stakeholder support for an annual national litter day going forward, then Scottish Government would consider endorsing it as part of wider awareness raising work with stakeholders to tackle littering in line with the Strategy commitments.