Minister vows to tackle unsafe cladding as Bill plans levy on construction firms

The Scottish Government is “committed to doing what is right” to tackle potentially dangerous cladding on buildings, the public finance minister has said.

Ivan McKee was speaking as a Bill which aims to raise cash for such work was published by the Government.

The Building Safety Levy (Scotland) Bill – which is similar to plans being developed in England – will see a levy charged on construction firms building certain residential properties.

With the latest Scottish Government figures indicating £1.7 billion to £3.1 billion could be required for cladding remediation works in “Government-supported buildings” over the next 15 years,  cash raised from the new tax would go towards these costs.

The action is being taken in the wake of the Grenfell tower blaze in London in 2017, which killed 72 people.

Cladding material on the outside of the high-rise building is believed to have contributed to the spread of the fire.

Mr McKee said: “The Scottish Government is committed to doing what is right and necessary to address the challenge of fixing buildings affected by unsafe cladding.

“That includes putting the appropriate funding arrangements in place to ensure that the associated costs of cladding remediation do not fall directly on to affected homeowners.

“I know that developers share our determination to keep people safe and this levy will ensure they make a fair contribution to these costs, just as they will be doing in England.”