- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 February 2026
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 17 February 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what cost per unit it has assumed for new-build homes in its outline plan to deliver 36,000 homes as part of the draft Budget 2026-27, broken down by tenure type.
Answer
Answer expected on 17 February 2026
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2026
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 4 February 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to COSLA’s statement that the draft Budget 2026-27 “represents a very poor settlement for local government which fails to address the financial situation being faced by councils across Scotland".
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 4 February 2026
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 January 2026
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 21 January 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what funding commitments are being considered for clinical research on motor neurone disease (MND) in the 2026-27 Scottish Budget.
Answer
Answer expected on 21 January 2026
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 15 December 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-26978 by Paul McLennan on 7 May 2024, how (a) much funding has been spent through the National Acquisition Programme and (b) many social homes have been delivered in each local authority area in each year since it was first announced in June 2023.
Answer
The National Acquisition Programme was announced in June 2023 to support the purchase of existing homes for use as affordable housing. Initially, £60 million was allocated for 2023-2024 to be delivered through local authority Resource Planning Assumptions. The spend and homes delivered for 2023-2024 is outlined in Table 1 the figures for social rent are a subset of the total.
Table 1 – 2023-2024 Acquisitions
In 2024-2025, the approach to acquisitions evolved to include £80 million targeted funding for acquisitions and voids over two years(split evenly between 2024-25 and 2025-26)to help reduce homelessness. The following table shows the total spend on acquisitions, which includes this £40 million targeted element.
Table 2 – 2024-2025 Acquisitions
For 2025-2026, this targeted funding for acquisitions and voids was doubled in September 2025 taking the targeted funding component to £80m. Given the 2025-2026 programme has not concluded, figures relating to spend and homes on acquisitions for 2025-2026 are not yet available but the spend and total of home delivered in the first quarter only of the financial year(1 Apr – 30 June)are outlined in Table 3.
Table 3 – 2025-2026 Acquisitions – 1st Quarter
Due to the way the Affordable Housing Supply Programme operates, grant payments can be drawn down across multiple financial years. As a result, expenditure in any given year does not necessarily correspond to the number of homes completed in that same year, as homes are only recorded as complete once the entire project has concluded.
You can find more information on Resource Planning Assumptions for council areas here.
We will continue to provide updates on delivery through the Affordable Housing Supply Programmeas part of published quarterly statistics.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 October 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 19 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what meetings it has held at a ministerial level with (a) Scottish Veterans Residences and (b) the Veterans Scotland Housing Group regarding (i) veterans' homelessness and (ii) the impact of the housing emergency on veterans wishing to settle in Scotland; on what dates any such meetings took place; what the outcomes were, and what future meetings are scheduled.
Answer
The former Minister for Housing, Paul McLennan MSP, met with representatives from Scottish Veterans Residences on 28 February 2024. This was immediately followed by a meeting with the Veterans Scotland Housing Group. These meetings focused on veterans and housing-related issues, including homelessness.
At these meetings, the former Minister for Housing confirmed that he had written to housing providers to highlight the relevant recommendations from the veterans homelessness prevention pathway.
I am due to meet with the Scottish Veterans Commissioner soon to discuss veterans and housing.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 18 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of (a) local authority and (b) registered social landlord homes meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard.
Answer
The performance of social landlords is monitored by the independent Scottish Housing Regulator and not the Scottish Government.
However, the most recent report from the Scottish Housing Regulator showed that the number of homes that meet Scottish Housing Quality Standards increased (87%) for the third consecutive year, with fewer homes failing, exempt or in abeyance from Scottish Housing Quality Standards.
More of Registered Social Landlords’ homes meet Scottish Housing Quality Standards than Local Authorities’ (92% compared to 83%, respectively).
A fuller breakdown can be found on the Scottish Housing Regulator website in the national reports section.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 October 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 13 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a detailed breakdown of the types of combustible façade material used on the estimated 1,020 to 1,200 residential buildings with a height of 11 to 18m that have been identified as possibly requiring remedial work, in light of it having provided a breakdown of the type of work required, namely remediation, partial remediation or mitigation.
Answer
The figures of 1,020 to 1,200 residential buildings with a height of 11 to 18m are drawn from estimates developed by the Scottish Government and published in June 2025. These were estimates of the approximate numbers of buildings in this category that might require work to alleviate cladding risk.
In parallel, however, the Scottish Government has been identifying specific buildings which may be at risk from cladding, through the series of information-gathering exercises set out in the ‘Next Phase Plan of Action’ published in August. We are using the outputs of these exercises to seek assurance from building owners that appropriate action is being taken, including through the Scottish Government’s Single Open Call scheme which offers financial support for assessment and any mitigation and remediation work found to be necessary.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 November 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 12 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much money it has directly invested in its place-based investment programme (a) in each year since 2021 and (b) since April 2021, also broken down by how much has been attracted to the programme from private sources.
Answer
The Place Based Investment Programme as launched in 2021 includes funding allocated directly to local authorities, delivery of the Regeneration Capital Grant Fund and support for Clyde Gateway Urban Regeneration Company (URC).
a) The total funding delivered is detailed in the following table:
Year | Total Investment |
2021-22 | £92,921,849 |
2022-23 | £66,102,533 |
2023-24 | £51,158,797 |
2024-25 | £15,880,788 |
2025-26 | £42,500,000 |
| | £268,563,967 |
To note for 2025-26 the figure is the amount of funding approved to date.
b) Information on all of the investment attracted by the Place Based Investment Programme from private sources through local authorities, working in partnership with communities, and through Clyde Gateway URC, is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 October 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 12 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the annual report of the Scottish Housing Regulator, which has stated that three local authorities are impacted by a systemic failure of their homelessness services, and a further eight are at heightened risk of such failure.
Answer
The Scottish Government’s housing emergency action plan published on 2 September sets out a suite of actions to help address the strategic challenges in providing homelessness services identified by the Scottish Housing Regulator. The plan commits to up to £4.9 billion over the next four years for the delivery of affordable and social homes. It ensures that £808 million will be available for affordable homes in Scotland this year, which includes an acquisition fund of £80 million targeted to the local authorities with the most sustained temporary accommodation pressures.
This fund will help to replenish temporary accommodation stock that has been converted to permanent homes. We are also funding a pilot private sector leasing scheme to reduce the use of unsuitable temporary accommodation, which will support local authorities to comply with their statutory homelessness duties.
I met with the Scottish Housing Regulator recently in October and attended their Board meeting on 5 November. We will continue to engage regularly with both local authorities and the Scottish Housing Regulator to support the local authorities most impacted in the challenges they face in providing homelessness services.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 October 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 7 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has engaged with the Association of British Insurers, or other relevant industry bodies, to assess whether there are any insurance implications associated with its current approach to assessing buildings with potentially unsafe cladding as set out in the Single Building Assessment Specification Document.
Answer
The Scottish Government is aware of the insurance implications associated with multi-residential buildings with potentially unsafe external wall cladding systems. As part of the development of the Cladding Remediation Programme and the associated Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Act 2024 the Scottish Government has engaged with a range of sector stakeholders, including building safety groups, the housing sector and financial risk specialists.
In particular:
- During the parliamentary scrutiny of the Bill accompanying the Act, the Policy Memorandum records that the Association of British Insurers (ABI) were listed as one of the organisations engaged through the Ministerial Working Group on Mortgage Lending and Cladding and the Cladding Remediation Stakeholder Group.
- The Scottish Government continues to monitor insurance market developments and acknowledges industry initiatives such as the Fire Safety Reinsurance Facility, launched in April 2024 and backed by the ABI, which aims to expand insurance capacity for higher-risk buildings.
- While the Scottish Government’s core focus remains on physical assessment and remediation (through instruments such as the Single Building Assessment (SBA) specification and the Cladding Assurance Register), officials remain in dialogue with industry bodies on residual risks including how insurance terms, premiums and availability may reflect remediation progress and risk reduction.
The Scottish Government is engaged with the ABI and other insurance industry stakeholders as part of its cladding remediation policy formulation.
However, the primary mechanism by which the Government addresses the risk in question is through the mandatory assessment and remediation pathway, rather than through direct regulation of insurance. The Government will continue to maintain engagement with the insurance sector to ensure that remediation and risk reduction outcomes are reflected in market capacity and premiums, but the SBA specification itself does not explicitly impose insurance requirements.
