Mark Griffin

25 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-29992 by Paul McLennan on 24 September 2024, whether it will provide a breakdown by local authority area of its allocations of spending on the National Acquisition Programme in 2022-23.

Answer · Paul McLennan: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-26978 on 7 May 2024, which details the spend and homes delivered by local authority areas through the 2022-2023 National Acquisition Programme.All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the…

25 Sep 2024 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish revised modelling to show any impact of delays to the opening of the remaining National Treatment Centres on bringing down waiting lists, as outlined in its NHS Recovery Plan.

17 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the spending on the national acquisition plan in 2023-24, and what its evaluation is of the effectiveness of this spend.

Answer · Paul McLennan: I refer the member to the answer to question: S6W-26978 on 7 May 2024, which details the spend and homes delivered by local authority area; S6W-27110 on 14 May 2024, which provides details on applications approved; and S6W-27112 on 14 May 2024 which details t…

17 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will set out details of its plans to extend services offered by the planning hub to support housing developments. 

Answer · Ivan McKee: As laid out in the Programme for Government, the Planning Hub’s initial priority is to help planning authorities make quicker decisions on hydrogen planning applications.This first phase of the Hub will be a pilot that looks to provide proof of concept …

17 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many full-time equivalent officers will work in its planning hub, and, of those, how many officers will concentrate on extending the hub's work from speeding up hydrogen consenting to housing development.

Answer · Ivan McKee: The Planning Hub is hosted and coordinated by the National Planning Improvement team in the Improvement Service. As host, the Improvement Service is responsible for the operational delivery of the Hub, including resourcing.The Scottish Government continues to…

17 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to announce its proposals for the planning process following the conclusion of its consultation into Investing in Planning.

Answer · Ivan McKee: On 23 September, we published a progress update on the Investing in Planning Consultation. It confirms that we are taking forward a package of proposals to improve capacity, skills and resources within the planning system. This includes the establishment of a…

17 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when its planning hub will start operating

Answer · Ivan McKee: The Planning Hub was established in September within the Improvement Service.Scoping and engagement has commenced in collaboration with planning authorities, industry and other key organisations to identify the support and expertise needed by planning authori…

17 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide (a) a timeline and (b) details of its plans to extend the work of its planning hub from speeding up hydrogen consenting to developing housing.

Answer · Ivan McKee: As laid out in the Programme for Government, the Planning Hub’s initial priority is to help planning authorities make quicker decisions on hydrogen planning applications.This first phase of the Hub will be a pilot that looks to provide proof of concept …

3 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it allocated to any work carried out by external consultants on any spending reductions outlined in its fiscal statement on 3 September 2024, and whether it will provide details of any such work.

Answer · Shona Robison: No external consultants were engaged to identify the spending reductions outlined in the fiscal statement of 3 September 2024. External consultants were engaged in the evaluation of the rail peak fares removal pilot. Their expertise supported the public surve…

3 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide any equalities impact assessments that it carried out in relation to the reductions in spending detailed in its fiscal statement on 3 September 2024.

Answer · Shona Robison: Details of impact assessments in relation to the measures set out in the Fiscal Statement will be published in the coming weeks on the Scottish Government’s website.

3 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its fiscal statement on 3 September 2024, how much funding was allocated to the affordable homes budget for 2024-25 (a) prior to the statement and (b) after the statement was given.

Answer · Paul McLennan: A total of £595.862 million has been allocated to the Affordable Housing Supply Programme for 2024-2025 which includes the previously announced additional £40 million. This has not changed following the fiscal statement.

3 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many hectares of vacant and derelict land have been brought back into use as a result of the Vacant and Derelict Land Fund that it announced on 19 December 2020.

Answer · Tom Arthur: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23571 on 13 December 2023. 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-committ…

3 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of the low carbon Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme (VDLIP), which was announced on 19 December 2020 to bring vacant and derelict land back into use, has been used to invest in new affordable housing. 

Answer · Tom Arthur: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23569 on 13 December 2023. 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-committ…

3 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many times the Housing to 2040 Strategic Board has met in 2024, and when it expects to publish minutes of those meetings. 

Answer · Paul McLennan: The Housing to 2040 Strategic Board has met three times so far in 2024 - 8 February, 7 June and 22 August. The minutes of the February meeting are published on the Scottish Government website. The minutes of the latter meetings will be published within 12 wee…

3 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when it anticipates that the minutes and recommendations of the Single Building Assessment Task and Finish Group will be published.

Answer · Paul McLennan: The ambition of Scottish Government is to publish the summary report from the Task & Finish Group sessions along with the agreed recommendations by end September 2024.These publications will provide an overview of discussions held amongst the Task & F…

2 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the current underspend is in the Affordable Housing Supply Programme.

Answer · Paul McLennan: There is currently no projected underspend in the 2024-25 Affordable Housing Supply Programme.

2 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the average time taken to determine a major housing development application has been in 2023-24, broken down by local authority.

Answer · Ivan McKee: The average time taken to determine applications for major housing applications for Q1 and Q2 of 2023-24 for each local authority can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/planning-applications-statistics-2023-24-quarterly-april-2023-september-2023/d…

2 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications for the Home Owners' Support Fund it has received since 20 March 2022, broken down by the (a) Mortgage to Rent and (b) Mortgage to Shared Equity schemes, and, of the applications that were received, how many were (i) successful and (ii) ineligible.

Answer · Paul McLennan: All applications are made to the overall HOSF programme, and are then carefully assessed by my officials to determine suitability for either Mortgage to Shared Equity (MTSE) or Mortgage to Rent (MTR).Applicants to HOSF receive advice from accredited money adv…

2 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-26596 by Paul McLennan on 23 April 2024, how many buildings on the pilot programme within the scope of a single building assessment have been placed on a pathway to assessment. 

Answer · Paul McLennan: With the passage of the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Act 2024, work is now progressing to have pilot buildings on an SBA pathway. The first step in this work is to complete a pilot cleanse of the 107 developments on the pilot list to ensure they …

28 Aug 2024 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review its goal of decarbonising transport, in light of its reported decision to increase fares and reduce services on Scotland’s railways.

13 Aug 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it anticipates that it will meet the target of delivering 110,000 homes by 2032, as set out in the Affordable Housing Supply Programme.

Answer · Paul McLennan: The Scottish Government remains committed to delivering the 110,000 affordable homes target by 2032.

13 Aug 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its current projections are on reaching the target of delivering 110,000 homes from the affordable housing supply budget.

Answer · Paul McLennan: To the end of March 2024, 21,092 homes have been delivered towards the target. In the absence of future year budget assumptions we do not have current projections towards the 110,000 affordable homes target. There is additional uncertainty due to the upcoming…

13 Aug 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish the conclusions of its review of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme.

Answer · Paul McLennan: Scottish Government officials are progressing the Affordable Housing Supply Programme review with a focus on deliverability. Ministers will consider the outputs, and update Parliament, once the review is complete.

15 Jul 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide any cost or budget estimates that it has produced for the reopening of its Open Market Shared Equity scheme.

Answer · Paul McLennan: Within a backdrop of wider real term funding cuts we provisionally allocated £27m Financial Transactions for FY 2024-25 to re-open OMSE on 20 June 2024. Based on the previous financial years spend and units, we have estimated that this allocation could provi…

11 Jul 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the resource planning allocation is for each local authority to plan their housing supply for (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26; how this compares with the assumed figures that were published on 15 July 2021; what the reasons are for any variance in each case, and on what date each local …

Answer · Paul McLennan: The following table details the resource planning assumptions for each local authority for (a) 2024-2025 compared with the assumed figures that were published on 15 July 2021. These figures do not include the additional £40 million for 2024-2025, the allocati…

9 Jul 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the reasons for the reported delays in completion of roadworks on the M8 Woodside Viaduct. 

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The work to undertake the temporary propping is extremely complex. Each of the 23 supports requires individual propping designs to take account of the varying column heights, span lengths and widths resulting in different loads to be supported by the props. …

9 Jul 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of any additional costs that have been accrued as a result of the reported delays to completion of roadworks on the M8 Woodside Viaduct. 

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The cost of the temporary propping, which is extremely complex, is expected to be between £126m - £152m. The cost is dependent on a number of factors, for example duration and extent of works. Our estimated cost range includes allowances for risk, contingency…

9 Jul 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the funding allocated to its Open Market Shared Equity scheme, broken down by financial year.

Answer · Paul McLennan: The following table shows a breakdown of the spend for the Open Marked Shared Equity Scheme (OMSE) in each financial year: Year Spend 2014-15 £38.6m 2015-16 £55.4m 2016-17 £68m 2017-18 £70.6m 2018-19 £76.7m 2019-20 £51.4m 2020-21 £35.1m 2021-…

9 Jul 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many homes it estimates will be delivered each year to priority access groups following the reopening its Open Market Shared Equity scheme to new applications, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Paul McLennan: The Open Market Shared Equity Scheme (OMSE) is available to first-time buyers and priority access groups. OMSE is a demand led scheme and as such The Scottish Government does not estimate how many priority access applications there will be per financial year.…

9 Jul 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for how long its reopened Open Market Shared Equity scheme will remain open.

Answer · Paul McLennan: Due to wider funding constraints, we have operated the Open Market Shared Equity Scheme (OMSE) with a reduced budget in 2024-25. Following extremely high demand in June 2024 and in order to ensure that we settle all properties within budget, we have paused n…