Tag: significant risk

Cladding levy Bill carries significant risk to Scotland’s housing market, says Holyrood’s Finance Committee

A Bill to raise funds towards Scotland’s cladding remediation programme carries “significant risk” to the housing market, says a parliamentary report published today.

Holyrood’s Finance and Public Administration Committee says it is “unconvinced” that the Scottish Government has fully considered the implications of the Bill on the nation’s ‘housing emergency’.

The committee has decided, therefore, to make no recommendation on the general principles of the Bill – a first time for this committee – and says it hopes the government will respond positively to its findings.

The committee is also calling on the government to carry out market ‘sensitivity analysis’ prior to deciding levy rates and reliefs, and to monitor the effect of the new tax on the housing sector.

Finance and Public Administration Committee convener Kenneth Gibson said: “Our committee understands the Scottish Government’s intent behind this Bill, but we believe the introduction of the levy carries significant risk.

“We have concerns regarding its potential impact on the housing market, and on the delivery of houses in areas where the viability of building sites is already challenging.

“We are unconvinced that the government has fully considered the implications for its self-declared housing emergency when designing the policy approach for this levy. We also believe the policy design has been focussed on the arbitrary figure that the levy could raise, and not sufficiently focussed on developing a good, well-structured levy that is sustainable.

“On the basis of the evidence received, our committee makes no recommendation on the general principles of the Bill. We trust that the Scottish Government will respond positively to our recommendations to inform further discussion of the general principles during the Stage 1 debate in the chamber in January 2026.”

Calling for regular reports on the housing market impact, Mr Gibson said: “Our committee recommends that the reporting requirements in the Bill be strengthened, so that the government is required to report every three years on how the levy is working. That report should include an assessment of how the levy is impacting the Scottish housing market in practice.” 

Mr Gibson went on: “Our committee does not consider the levy to be fully reflective of the sensitivities of the housing market in Scotland.

“We therefore recommend the government undertakes a sensitivity analysis, to assess in more detail, the impact of the levy on the housing market – in particular on rural sites and on SME developers.

“The analysis should be published in time to inform the government’s decisions in setting levy rates and, where applicable, any reliefs, through secondary legislation.”

Other findings and recommendations:

  • there is a strong case for exempting remote rural areas from the scope of the levy. While recognising the challenges in developing an appropriate definition for remote rural developments, this should not be a barrier to introducing this important exemption.
  • the Bill should be amended to include a sunset clause to provide an opportunity to robustly review after 15 years how the levy is operating and for the Scottish Parliament to then decide whether the law should remain in place. This, we consider, should provide much-needed reassurance to the industry that the levy is not intended to become a permanent tax on housebuilding.
  • the committee is concerned about the potential for the levy to contribute to the loss of historic buildings in Scotland. It recommends the government considers a targeted broadening of this exemption for conversions, which will help to protect historic buildings that may otherwise remain abandoned.

Minister Ivan McKee announced in November 2025 that introduction of the levy rates will be pushed back by more than a year to April 2028.

The Stage 1 debate on the Building Safety Levy (Scotland) Bill is expected to be debated by Parliament in the new year.

Read the Building Safety Levy (Scotland) Bill

Read the committee report

Damning carbon capture report exposes ‘significant risk’ of Peterhead Power Station plans

Environmental campaigners have said that a new report into carbon capture and storage (CCS) exposes the technology as little more than greenwash for the fossil fuel industry.

‘The Carbon Capture Crux: Lessons Learned’ report author said that CCS was “wildly unrealistic as a climate solution” and found that “using carbon capture as a greenlight to extend the life of fossil fuel power plants is a significant financial and technical risk”

The report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis looked at 13 carbon capture projects  – over half of total global capacity – highlighting how many had failed and critically underperformed. They found the majority of carbon captured globally had actually been pumped underground to force out more fossil fuels in a practice known as ‘Enhanced Oil Recovery’.

The research adds to mounting scientific evidence that CCS should not be relied upon to cut carbon emissions and casts increasing doubt on the recent planning application by SSE and oil giant Equinor to build a new gas fired power plant at Peterhead. The developers plan on adding CCS to the plant at an unspecified later date.

The planning application is with Aberdeenshire Council currently but the final decision on whether the plant will go ahead will be taken by the Scottish Government’s Energy Consent Unit.

The Scottish Government’s Climate Change Plan Monitoring Report in May 2022 admitted that carbon capture and hydrogen technologies cannot deliver “at the pace assumed in the Climate Change Plan update” leaving a huge hole in their efforts to meet climate targets.

Friends of the Earth Scotland’s Climate Campaigner Alex Lee said: “This report is yet another exposure of carbon capture technology as nothing more than greenwash for the oil and gas industry’s business as usual.

“This research paints a grim picture of failure, underperformance and climate pollution right across the world.

“The evidence is clear that carbon capture cannot be relied upon and is being used by fossil fuel companies to extend the lifetime of oil and gas. Even the Scottish Government has backtracked on its own predictions about CCS in its climate change plans.

“With full power to determine whether the new Peterhead gas plant should go ahead or not, the Scottish Government should show real climate leadership by rejecting it when the time comes, and committing instead to the decisions that need to be made for a just and rapid transition away from fossil fuels.“

In the IEEFA press release, the report author Bruce Robertson said: “CCS technology has been going for 50 years and many projects have failed and continued to fail, with only a handful working.

“Many international bodies and national governments are relying on carbon capture in the fossil fuel sector to get to Net Zero, and it simply won’t work.”