Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-19555

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 2 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will ensure that letting agents that have registered on the Letting Agent Register without a dedicated client account arrange for the account to be in place, and what the timescale is for them to comply with this.

Question reference: S5W-19556

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 2 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it takes to identify letting agents that are not on or have been rejected for the Letting Agent Register; what enforcement action is taken to deal with these agents, and how it ensures that existing and potential clients are made aware of them.

The Scottish Government has published a Monitoring Compliance and Enforcement Framework for the regulation of letting agents. This sets out the actions that the Scottish Government will take to monitor the compliance of those businesses undertaking letting agency work and this includes how unregistered agents will be identified and the action that we will take to support the enforcement of regulation.

Details of this framework can be found at:

https://beta.gov.scot/publications/regulation-letting-agents-monitoring-compliance-enforcement-framework/

Question reference: S5W-19567

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 2 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it ensures that all registered letting agents correctly display their registration number.

The Scottish Government writes to notify those admitted to the Scottish Letting Agent Register and in this, agents are reminded of the requirements of section 36(2) of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 to include their letting agent registration number in documents, property advertisements or communications in relation to their letting agency work.

The Scottish Government will monitor the compliance of registered letting agents in line with our published Monitoring Compliance and Enforcement Framework. Details of this framework can be found at:

https://beta.gov.scot/publications/regulation-letting-agents-monitoring-compliance-enforcement-framework/

Question reference: S5O-02526

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on permanently linking the non-domestic rates poundage to the consumer price index.

Question reference: S5W-19301

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 25 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is planning to review the Matrimonial Homes (Family Protection) (Scotland) Act 1981 and, if so, what the timetable is for this.

Question reference: S5W-19328

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 25 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications to the Register of Letting Agents were received by the 1 October 2018 deadline, and whether all those received have been processed and approved.

Question reference: S5W-18890

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 27 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it set the time limit for landlords to make mandatory electrical inspection of rental properties at five years; who it consulted on this, and what other options it considered before reaching this decision.

Section 23 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 inserted section 19A of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, which requires private landlords to ensure that electrical safety inspections are carried out in houses that they let at intervals of no more than five years. This was a non-Government amendment included in the Act at Stage 2, and therefore was not the subject of consultation by the Scottish Government. The amendment was supported by the Scottish Government because there was a wide range of support for the measure from stakeholders in the evidence considered by the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee during Stage 1, and a five year period is recommended for electrical inspections in rented housing in the BS 7671 Requirements for Electrical Installations.

Question reference: S5O-02415

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 September 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many STEM apprentices there are, and how many of these are in North and South Lanarkshire.

Question reference: S5O-02335

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 12 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress towards its 90% carbon reduction target, and how it will ensure that households change their energy usage behaviour to reduce domestic carbon emissions in order to meet this target.

Scotland is making excellent progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The most recent statistics show that emissions have fallen by 49% since 1990 against a current target in law of 80%.

The Scottish Government’s Climate Change Plan contains a package of transformative measures to continue reducing emissions. These include Energy Efficient Scotland, which by 2040 will have transformed our buildings so that they are warmer, greener and more efficient. Behaviour change will continue to be an important part of Energy Efficient Scotland and we continue to fund Home Energy Scotland and Resource Efficient Scotland who provide free and impartial advice to property owners on energy saving behaviours. Our Climate Challenge Fund also supports community activity on energy efficiency.

Question reference: S5W-18312

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 11 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what modelling work it has carried out to analyse the costs of reaching energy performance certificate (EPC) (a) B and (b) C ratings for (i) domestic and (ii) residential buildings.

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