Questions and answers

Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for ��˿�� to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6W-39119

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 29 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of the registered property factors that have failed to comply with a property factor enforcement order since the implementation of the Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011; what further action was taken by the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber) or other relevant authority in each case, and on what date any such action was initiated.

The Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 provides the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland to issue property factor enforcement orders and to determine whether or not that Enforcement Order has been met.

A person who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with a property factor enforcement order commits an offence. Any further action in relation to non-compliance with a property factor enforcement order (PFEO) is an operational matter that fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS). These matters have been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who will reply in writing within 20 days.

The Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 also provides that the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland serves Notices to Scottish Ministers of a failure to comply with a PFEO. To date 79 Notice to Ministers have been received. This figure may not be fully comprehensive as information may not be available due to the Scottish Government’s data retention policy.

On receipt of a Notice, the first aim is to encourage compliance and address the issue. If this cannot be achieved, Scottish Ministers will remove registration as this will prevent the entity from legally operating as a property factor in Scotland. To date, the Scottish Ministers have removed registration from 3 property factors for failing to meet the requirements of the fit and proper person test, part of which included failing to comply with a PFEO. These property factors were removed in January 2015, January 2016, and April 2019 respectively.

Scottish Ministers have sought additional powers in the Housing (Scotland) Bill to obtain further information and to carry out inspections with a view to supporting compliance and providing information to fully re-assess the fit and proper person test, if required.

Question reference: S6W-39120

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 29 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what powers are available to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber) or any other relevant body when a property factor does not comply with a property factor enforcement order under the Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011, and in how many cases since 2011 have these powers been used to secure compliance or impose penalties.

No powers are available to the Tribunal or any relevant body to secure compliance with a property factor enforcement order that a property factor has already failed to comply with.

However, Section 23 of the Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 (“the 2011 Act”) requires the First-tier Tribunal to serve notice on the Scottish Ministers where they have determined that a property factor has failed to comply with a property factor enforcement order.

Failure to comply with a property factor enforcement order, without a reasonable excuse, is a criminal offence under section 24 of the 2011 Act which can be reported to Police Scotland. A person found guilty of an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.

In respect of the actions that the Scottish Ministers will take when receiving a notice from the First-tier Tribunal, I would refer to the answer to question S6W-39119 on 29 July 2025.

The other matters of this question relate to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. These matters have been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who will reply in writing within 20 days.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Question reference: S6W-39535

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the current average waiting time is for women referred for (a) all gynaecological procedures and (b) gynaecological biopsies, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S6W-39536

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-38896 by Mairi McAllan on 15 July 2025, whether it will adapt and unlock the Housing Infrastructure Fund for small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) home builders to access, in light of the recommendation made by Homes for Scotland in its report, Scotland’s SME Home Builders In 2025.

Question reference: S6W-39112

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 24 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what mechanisms it has in place to monitor any potential impact of the Scottish National Investment Bank’s investments on housing supply, including the number of homes delivered as a result of those investments.

Question reference: S6W-39207

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 07 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 22 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is the case that some local authorities have indicated in their six-monthly Local Development Plan progress updates that they are facing delays in preparing their new-style plans; if so, which local authorities have done so, and, for each such local authority, whether it will provide a summary of (a) the estimated length of the delay, (b) the reasons provided for the delay and (c) what support the Scottish Government has offered to help ensure timely completion of the plan.

In April, the Chief Planner and I required planning authorities to report every six months on their local development plan timelines and actions they are taking to avoid delays and accelerate the process.

We have not yet received the initial formal six-monthly updates, which are to be sent to the Scottish Government by 30 September 2025. We will analyse and share details from the progress updates in due course.

In this year’s Programme for Government, we committed to providing local authorities with additional capacity and expertise, through the National Planning Hub. This includes prioritising action where evidence shows that authorities are having challenges in meeting timescales or where there are delays in producing local development plans. Planning authorities were advised of the support available to them in a letter from the Chief Planner issued in May. Since that letter, the Hub has been working with a number of local authorities to provide direct support at the earliest opportunity in response to their specific pressures and needs.

We are continuing to work with the National Planning Improvement Champion, the Improvement Service and Heads of Planning Scotland to raise the imperative of making timely progress with local development plans, to encourage proactive steps to accelerate timelines, and to provide support to authorities who have identified slippage as a concern.

Question reference: S6W-38895

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 20 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 15 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the total current round of funding for the Housing Infrastructure Fund has been distributed to date.

Question reference: S6W-38896

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 20 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 15 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much money was allocated to the Housing Infrastructure Fund in total for the current 2025-26 round of funding.

Question reference: S6W-39122

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 8 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of occasions when the First-tier Tribunal has made a report to Police Scotland for prosecution in relation to section 24 of the Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 since the Act came into force.

Question reference: S6W-38963

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 1 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has made an assessment of what ear, nose and throat (ENT) and hospital audiology waiting times would currently be had a community audiology service been treating the majority of age-related hearing loss patients since 2021.

The waiting time information available to the Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland (PHS) does not provide details on the reason an individual has been referred into a NHS service, including if the patient is experiencing age-related hearing loss. It is therefore not possible to make an assessment of what the waiting times for ear, nose and throat (ENT) and hospital audiology would be if a community audiology service had been treating the majority of age-related hearing loss patients since 2021.