Creation of Housing Minister for Scotland welcomed by CIOB

CIOB has welcomed the addition of a dedicated Housing Minister to the Scottish Government's cabinet.

Jocelyne Fleming, Policy and public affairs officer for Scotland at the Chartered Institute of Building, said: “The appointment of a dedicated Housing Minister for Scotland is a very welcome announcement and demonstrates the intention for this area to be a key policy priority going forwards, and we’re delighted the new First Minister, Humza Yousaf, has taken this decision. The building of new homes and the improvement of Scotland’s existing housing stock has to be a priority for Government in order to grow the economy, tackle the ongoing cost of living crisis and meet carbon reduction targets. It’s encouraging to see this being recognised. As the Scottish Government has acknowledged, everyone should have a warm, safe, affordable and energy-efficient home that meets their needs.” 
 
“As such, we welcome the appointment of Paul McLennan, who has campaigned diligently as an MSP to improve the quality of Scotland’s build environment, and with whom we have worked collaboratively over the last 12 months. We look forward to continuing our discussions on important matters such as the construction industry’s skills shortages, ongoing development of effective retrofit strategies to improve the energy efficiency of residential properties, and, in support of improving and preserving Scotland’s existing built environment, consideration of the implementation of a Scottish demolition levy to level the unequal playing field between new build and retrofit projects. We hope Paul’s appointment to this new role will mean Government gives housing, and construction more broadly, the attention and support it urgently needs and deserves.”