Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Bill: Financial Memorandum

Overview

About the Bill

Some types of wall cladding on the outside of buildings can cause fire safety risks.

This Bill gives Scottish Ministers powers to carry out assessments to find out if the cladding on buildings is safe. If not, Ministers can then organise repairs. If necessary, Ministers can also require people to move out of the buildings until the work needed is done.

The Bill applies to only some buildings. For a building to be assessed under the Bill, the building must have been built or refurbished between 1 June 1992 and 1 June 2022. The building must contain at least one residential unit and be 11 metres or over tall.

Scottish Ministers will need to record cladding assessments and remediation works in a register. This register will include assessment dates, details of any repairs, and when the work finished. This will make information about buildings with cladding repairs more easily available.

The Bill also allows Scottish Ministers to create a responsible developers scheme. This scheme would be created by secondary legislation. It would set conditions for developers to be members of the scheme to encourage remediation works to be undertaken.

Current Status of the Bill

This Bill was introduced in the Scottish Parliament by the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice on 1 November 2023.

Read and find out more about the Bill: Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Bill..

Stage 1

The Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee has been designated as the lead Committee for the Bill. A separate call for views on the Bill’s policy provisions has been issued on this consultation platform.

Financial Memorandum

As with all Bills, the Finance and Public Administration Committee invites written evidence on the estimated financial implications of the Bill as set out in its accompanying Financial Memorandum (FM).

Read the FM published alongside this Bill.

Making a Submission

Before making a submission, please read our Privacy Notice about submitting your views to a Committee. This tells you about how we process personal data.

Please note that in most cases your submission will be published on the Scottish Parliament's website and may be quoted in the Committee's report or in Committee meetings (which are public and broadcast).

Please use the Questionnaire provided for your submission:

1. Did you take part in any consultation exercise preceding the Bill and, if so, did you comment on the financial assumptions made? 

2. If applicable, do you believe your comments on the financial assumptions have been accurately reflected in the FM? 

3. Did you have sufficient time to contribute to the consultation exercise?

4. If the Bill has any financial implications for you or your organisation, do you believe that they have been accurately reflected in the FM? If not, please provide details.

5. Do you consider that the estimated costs and savings set out in the FM are reasonable and accurate? 

6. If applicable, are you content that your organisation can meet any financial costs that it might incur as a result of the Bill? If not, how do you think these costs should be met? 

7. Does the FM accurately reflect the margins of uncertainty associated with the Bill’s estimated costs and with the timescales over which they would be expected to arise?

The deadline to submit your views is: Monday 11 December 2023.

We welcome written views in English, Gaelic, Scots or any other language. Due to the time required to process and analyse evidence, late submissions will only be accepted with the agreement of the Committee Clerk.