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The single building assessment reports undergo a review by technical staff within the Cladding Remediation Unit.

Scottish Government officials have spoken with the Victoria State Government on matters of mutual interest in fire safety and cladding remediation.

Each local authority was awarded an allocation of funds, to be used in the last financial year, ending 31 March 2022. Where it has not been possible to spend this in full, local authorities can continue to use their allocation in 2022-23 until fully spent.

Existing funding has not been exhausted and there are no plans to provide additional funding at present. However our emergency budget review, published on 2 November 2022, has outlined significant funds to help those most affected by the cost of living crisis. The Scottish Government will continue to do everything within our resources and powers to help those most affected by the cost of living crisis.

We have approached local authorities seeking data covering quarters one and two of the current financial year, or confirmation that the fund has been used in full and is now closed. This information is currently being quality assured before it is published on the Scottish Government website.

Updated guidance on the expanded criteria is being finalised and agreed with local government partners and will be published on the Scottish Government website in the coming weeks.

The Residential Property Developer Tax is a tax on corporate profits levied on certain companies operating across the UK primarily in the domestic construction sector. This is a reserved tax and Scottish Government has no power to introduce the same.

10 November 2022

Mark Griffin (Central Scotland) (Scottish Labour Party): To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10687 by Shona Robison on 20 September 2022, and in

Housing Need and Demand Assessments (HNDA) were introduced in 2008 as part of the broader Local Housing Strategy process. The process was reviewed in 2014 and updated with revised guidance and an Excel-based Tool. The Guidance and Tool are kept under review and are refreshed regularly in line with the release of updated Household Projections by National Records of Scotland.

In 2020, the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence undertook ‘An illustrative pilot of the HNDA Tool in the context of Northern Ireland’ the report from this exercise concluded that “the Scottish Government’s HNDA tool is an analytical model that is underpinned by a clear rationale. Its potential as a means to facilitate scenario planning and promote inter-organisational collaboration means its application in the context of Northern Ireland has much to commend it”.

When planning for housing, household trends are a more relevant indicator of current and future housing need and demand than population.

Household projections are nationally available datasets from the National Records of Scotland (NRS). Household projections are a key input to Housing Need and Demand Assessment (HNDA) as they are an indicator of future households yet to form. Household data is distinct from population data as they can be one person or a group of people living together. They therefore reflect both changes in population trends and changes in the number of people living in each household.

Local authorities or housing market partnerships are not required to procure primary data in order to meet the requirements of a Housing Need and Demand Assessment (HNDA). The HNDA process provides flexibility to incorporate a variety of types of housing need where there is robust local information and evidenced policy drivers. It is for each local authority or housing market partnership to consider relevant sources of information and whether procuring primary data is appropriate to their circumstances.

It is the responsibility of local authorities through their Local Housing Strategy (LHS) to determine the appropriate housing required in their area, informed by a Housing Need and Demand Assessment (HNDA).The HNDA is a policy neutral evidence-base which helps inform LHS outcomes and priorities for future housing and related service delivery, including specialist provision, to meet the needs of a range of equalities groups. All local authorities are required to carry out an Equalities Impact Assessment when developing a LHS.