Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-11647

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Friday, 21 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it provided guidance to local authorities that it has widened the eligibility for the Tenant Grant Fund, and where that guidance is published.

Question reference: S6W-11533

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10687 by Shona Robison on 20 September 2022, and in light of the lack of updated data sources for some of the indicators, whether it will commission household surveys in each (a) local authority and (b) housing market partnership area to verify the methodology of the housing needs and demand assessment, as part of the preparation of the fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) Minimum All-Tenure Housing Land Requirement.

Following the public consultation and Parliamentary scrutiny of Draft National Planning Framework (NPF) 4, we have been carefully considering the wealth of evidence received and intend to lay a final NPF4 in the Parliament later this Autumn.

Draft NPF4 was accompanied by a Housing Land Requirement Explanatory Report , which provides an explanation on the proposed Minimum All-Tenure Housing Land Requirement and Assessment Reports for each authority area.

Question reference: S6W-11773

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 31 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 10 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it reconciles the answer to question S6W-10193 by Shona Robison on 6 September 2022, and the statements regarding "risks associated to electric car charging points in car parks" in the minutes of the meeting of the Cladding Stakeholder Group, on 20 July 2022, that the Scottish Government "explained they did not have a definitive position regarding this issue for now but that they were aware" and "they were not being complacent about this" and that "issues will be addressed", released under FOI/202200313906, and whether it will provide an update on its position on this matter.

The Scottish Government is working with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) and other stakeholders to look at current and future risks associated with electric car charging points and more widely, lithium batteries. SFRS has also implemented the Lithium-Ion Partnership Group to focus on this subject of which the Scottish Government is part of, and work continues to ensure the safety of our communities in Scotland from any potential emerging risks.

Question reference: S6W-11648

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Friday, 21 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10972 by Shona Robison on 20 September 2022, whether it has requested updated data from local authorities since 31 March 2022, and which local authorities have (a) not provided data detailing expenditure, grant and refusal figures and (b) exhausted all of their Tenant Grant Fund allocation.

Question reference: S6W-11532

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) overcrowded (b) concealed and (c) overcrowded and concealed households would currently be excluded from housing need and demand assessments, in accordance with the prescribed methodology, broken down by local authority area.

The Housing Need and Demand Assessment (HNDA) Tool contains a default count of households who are both overcrowded and concealed. The Scottish Government's Centre for Housing Market Analysis (CHMA) also publishes separate counts of overcrowded and concealed households which local authorities may choose to use. Alternatively, local authorities may choose to use local information about overcrowded and concealed households using sources such as waiting lists or local survey work, where they can evidence that this is robust.

Specific details are published as bespoke separate documents, as follows:

Single count of overcrowded households and single count of concealed households (see Table 3)

Estimating concealed family rates with overcrowding using Scottish survey data (2016-2018) (www.gov.scot)

Count of households who are both overcrowded and concealed (see Excel worksheet called ‘HoTOC’)

Housing Need and Demand Assessment (HNDA): tool 2020 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Question reference: S6W-11528

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10687 by Shona Robison on 20 September 2022, and in light of the lack of updated data sources for some of the indicators, whether it has tested the housing need and demand assessment process tool using primary data, and if this is the case, what primary data it has commissioned for that purpose.

Local authorities, as both the statutory housing and planning authority, are responsible for assessing housing requirements and set out priorities in their Local Housing Strategies.

The Housing Need and Demand Assessment Tool helps local authorities to access robust, quality assured data sets and to reduce the cost and complexity for local authorities in undertaking such assessments. The Tool is designed to use recognised national datasets and also provides flexibility to incorporate a variety of types of housing need where there is robust local information and evidenced policy drivers. Local authorities are able to augment this data with a range of additional sources including primary data where they have it.

Question reference: S6O-01556

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the processing of appeals for the 2022 National Qualifications exams.

Question reference: S6W-11727

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 3 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is the case that it will establish a professional indemnity scheme for single building assessments surveyors and professionals, and, if it is the case, when work to establish such an indemnity scheme began, or will begin, and when it will be launched.

Question reference: S6W-11541

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 3 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10191 by Shona Robison on 6 September 2022, what the (a) shortest and (b) longest length of time has been between the grant letter and (i) partial and (ii) full funding being issued, and what the advised lead time is for funding to be issued.

Question reference: S6W-11536

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 3 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many single building assessments in the (a) delivery and (b) application phases are currently paused, and how many assessment reports have been finalised to date.

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