Committee
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee 20 January 2026 [Draft]
20 Jan 2026 · S6 · Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Item of business
Budget Scrutiny 2026-27
Kirsty Henderson (Scottish Government)
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We were in that unfortunate position in the first few years of this parliamentary session, which also coincided with the peak of the profile of our budget, as it was originally planned.Our teams work very closely with local authority partners to put in place strategic local programme agreements on an annual basis. Those are reviewed regularly and problems with specific projects are flagged. There is also an element of slippage built into all those programmes, so that, if something is to move, shift or slow down, another project can come in and be accelerated to take that up.As far as possible, we work with local authorities to make sure that they can utilise their full resource planning assumption for their area. However, there will be circumstances in which that is not possible.11:30As the cabinet secretary pointed out, we do not pay out our money in advance of need—it must be on receipt of the works when they have been completed. We are able to look around and shift that money to maximise the delivery, to make sure that it is accelerating the delivery of homes on the ground. We would look to prioritise the completion of homes rather than the acquisition of a site—although, obviously, acquiring sites is also important in order to provide that pipeline for future years. A lot of flexibility is built in to that.There is also flexibility in the grant rates to deal with expensive projects. Invariably, those come up, and we are very flexible about how we look at them. At the same time, we evaluate those projects to make sure that they offer value for money, and we try to drive efficiencies where we can.
In the same item of business
The Convener
Green
The next item is an evidence-taking session on the 2026-27 budget with Màiri McAllan, the Cabinet Secretary for Housing. We are also joined by the following ...
The Cabinet Secretary for Housing (Màiri McAllan)
SNP
Good morning. Thank you for inviting me to give evidence and for your flexibility in making a slight change to the agenda that allows me to attend Cabinet to...
The Convener
Green
Thank you for that very positive opening statement. Thank you for your efforts on the housing portfolio in the budget. We have a number of questions about th...
Màiri McAllan
SNP
Everything centres on our target of delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032. When I talk about that target, I sometimes like to remind those I am speakin...
The Convener
Green
Great—thank you.You mentioned the construction sector. Construction inflation and viability are clearly central to whether homes get built. I would be intere...
Màiri McAllan
SNP
On that last point, the public grant rises. I am fairly sure that that table has been published as part of the spending review. If it has not been, I am sure...
The Convener
Green
That is very helpful—although I guess that we are about to arrive at a moment of uncertainty, with the upcoming election. We will see where we get to.I will ...
Màiri McAllan
SNP
The Scottish National Investment Bank is an absolutely critical partner. It is independent from Government and it is a critical partner in housing investment...
The Convener
Green
That sounds very positive. However, something that causes alarm bells to ring, and which I have started to think about it quite a bit over this session, is t...
Màiri McAllan
SNP
That is a really important point. There are two strands to it, as far as I see.The first is a more general point, which is that a lot of the homes that are b...
The Convener
Green
It is good to hear that you are aware of the issues of SMEs in construction. During a session that we had on rural issues, some years ago now, we learned tha...
Evelyn Tweed
SNP
Good morning, cabinet secretary and officials. Thank you for your answers so far.Cabinet secretary, you touched on these in one of your previous answers, but...
Màiri McAllan
SNP
That is a very important question on an issue that occupies our minds a great deal.In the early years of this parliamentary session, delivery was hampered by...
Kirsty Henderson (Scottish Government)
We were in that unfortunate position in the first few years of this parliamentary session, which also coincided with the peak of the profile of our budget, a...
Màiri McAllan
SNP
The only thing that I would add to that is that, at the beginning of this parliamentary term, we committed to £3.5 billion of investment, and that commitment...
Evelyn Tweed
SNP
It is really good to hear that we have moved on from some of the problems that we were experiencing before and that we will achieve that budget.We know that ...
Màiri McAllan
SNP
In the situation that we are in, in relation to temporary accommodation, it is about the degree of harm. As far as I am concerned, at the end of the spectrum...
Evelyn Tweed
SNP
When I worked in housing, I found that a lot of the acquisitions were in bad condition. Often, it took a long time to do the works that were required to brin...
Màiri McAllan
SNP
I will go to Kirsty Henderson for the details of the flexibility. In recent years, the funding has been directed, for the most part, to those areas with the ...
Kirsty Henderson
We work closely with local authorities and RSLs, and there is a discussion about what types of acquisitions will be targeted in an area. The local authority ...
Màiri McAllan
SNP
I will close that part of our discussion by saying that the work on turning round the number of voids—which has not been exhaustive but has significantly eat...
Evelyn Tweed
SNP
That is great. Thank you, cabinet secretary.
The Convener
Green
It is helpful to hear that.I am going to bring in Alexander Stewart, who has a question on the same theme.
Alexander Stewart
Con
Good morning, cabinet secretary. The budget provides £163 million of financial transaction funding. What is the intention for that funding and how will it be...
Màiri McAllan
SNP
I will take the last part of that question first and will then say a little bit about FTs. I might also bring in Sean Neill to give a little more colour to t...
Sean Neill (Scottish Government)
We have an established charitable bond scheme that, through its investments and through financial transactions, actually generates grants back into the affor...
Alexander Stewart
Con
How do you envisage the rural and islands housing fund developing? How do you see the budget supporting community-led housing developments in the next year?
Màiri McAllan
SNP
We, in the Scottish Government, are very clear in our minds that there is a real need for rural housing, and we want to make sure that the system can respond...
Alexander Stewart
Con
It was about how things are going to develop in the next year, which you have already given us an indication of.
The Convener
Green
Mark Griffin had an interest in financial transactions, but that discussion appears to have unearthed what he was interested in.I have a question about rural...