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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

McAllan, Màiri SNP Clydesdale Watch on SPTV

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 today.I am happy to talk about my portfolio budget today. Given the difficult financial circumstances, I am pleased to have secured a draft budget that includes substantial investment in some key areas, namely homelessness, affordable housing, heat in buildings, building standards and cladding remediation. By way of context, which is certainly relevant to budgetary matters, in the housing emergency action plan of September 2025, we committed further funding to enhance our offer in this financial year. That included an additional £40 million to invest in acquisitions, the establishment of a national fund to leave, and additional funding for housing first.In my statement on the housing emergency action plan, I also committed up to £4.9 billion of a mix of public and private funding to support the delivery of at least 36,000 affordable homes over the spending review period. Our budget and the spending review that we are here to discuss today have confirmed that mix. A record £4.1 billion of that will be public investment, and we are confident that we will leverage the remaining £800 million, which we can discuss today.We are complementing that record sum with record certainty. The sector has been asking for multiyear budgets for a number of years, and I am pleased that we are able to provide that. For this financial year, it means that £926 million will go to the affordable homes supply. That is the single biggest allocation since our records began in 1989.The committee might remember that we doubled the adaptations budget to £20.9 billion in 2025-26. Our budget maintains that. It also includes £8 million of support for councils with rapid rehousing transition plans, £2 million for our newly rolled-out national fund to leave and an additional £4 million that we will invest in homelessness prevention actions. Although they are not in my budget, it is worth noting that £106 million of discretionary housing payments are also supporting policy objectives in the portfolio, including £83 million to mitigate the UK’s bedroom tax.I turn to decarbonisation. I will be quick, as I do not want to spend too long on opening remarks. Our allocation of £1.3 billion to heat in buildings over the spending review period will allow us to maintain investment in our schemes and in our headline grant and loan offer.On cladding remediation, we will make £371 million available over the spending review period, in line with our commitment that home owners should not have to pay for essential cladding remediation. That speaks to the national effort that will be required over the 15-year programme, in which we expect between £1.7 billion and £3.1 billion to be invested.I will pause there in the interests of time, but there is much to dig into, and my colleagues and I will answer your questions.11:15

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Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee 20 January 2026 [Draft]

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