Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Building Safety and Maintenance
Since 2021, the Committee has considered issues relating to building safety and maintenance.
This page provides more details of the Committee’s on going consideration of this issue.
Background
In May 2022, the Committee took evidence on building safety in the context of scrutinising the Building (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022 (SSI 2022/136).
The Committee used the Regulations as the basis of its sessions, but also looked at issues around building safety and the recommendations of the Ministerial Working Group for Mortgage Lending and Cladding.
The Committee expressed concern about the lack of progress being made in the remediation of buildings. It agreed to return to this issue on an annual basis to see what progress is being made by the Scottish Government in responding to the ongoing challenges presented by high-risk buildings.
Since then, the Committee’s work on this topic has broadened to also cover other issues including damp and mould in rented housing and Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC).
The Committee has also considered matters relating to cladding remediation in detail, through its scrutiny of the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Bill.
Evidence Sessions
During 2023, the Committee explored these issues in evidence on the following dates—
18 April: Building Safety session with stakeholders and professional bodies. The focus of this session was on cladding remediation and zero valued properties.
2 May: Evidence sessions on damp and mould with stakeholder organisations and representatives of residents.
16 May: Further evidence sessions on damp and mould with the SPSO, Chartered Institute of Housing and Scottish Housing Regulator followed by Minister for Housing.
30 May: Building Safety session with stakeholders followed by Minister for Housing. The focus of this session was on cladding remediation and zero valued properties.
3 October: RAAC roundtable evidence session with building safety professionals followed by Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice and COSLA.
Correspondence
Following these evidence sessions, the Committee wrote to the Minister for Housing and to the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice. Links to the letters and to the ministerial responses can be found below.
23 June 2023: Letter from Convener to Minister for Housing regarding damp and mould.
28 July 2023: Response from Minister for Housing to Convener’s letter on damp and mould.
6 December 2023: Letter to Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice regarding RAAC.
21 December 2023: Response from Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice to Convener’s letter on RAAC.
The Committee also considered related issues in its annual evidence sessions with both the Scottish Housing Regulator and the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman on 5 December 2023.
The Committee’s Housing to 2040 inquiry has also touched on housing quality matters.