by Bill Heaney
At First Minister’s Questions, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP challenged John Swinney over the SNP’s miserable progress in tackling dangerous cladding, as new figures revealed that the Scottish Government has removed cladding from just three buildings.
The Scottish Government can provide funding for checks known as Single Building Assessments (SBAs) for buildings that may have dangerous cladding.
These checks evaluate the risk to human life of any cladding that is found. They can then result in work being carried out to remove the cladding.
New figures estimate that as of March 2026:
- Scottish Government-funded SBAs are underway for just 149 buildings, despite 946 buildings identified as likely to be eligible for funding, just 10 more than in April.
- Only 16 Scottish Government-funded SBAs had been completed, which had not changed since September 2025.
- The Cladding Remediation Programme was aware that remediation work was underway in just 3 buildings.
Speaking in the chamber, Alex said: “This week marks the 9th anniversary of the Grenfell fire. I know all of our thoughts are with those who lost their lives in that tragedy and with those who survived it.
“The Humanity for Grenfell group is still campaigning for people living in cladded flats. And they are right to do so.
“Nearly a decade on from Grenfell, too many people are lying awake at night, wondering if their home might be at risk.
“Across Scotland, there are almost 1,000 buildings suspected of having dangerous cladding.
“So, can I ask the First Minister why new figures out this week reveal his government has only got round to investigating 149 of them and, staggeringly, why cladding removal is underway in only three buildings in this country?”
He added: “We are nearly 10 years on from Grenfell.
“The response we’ve just heard will come as no comfort whatsoever for those people who cannot insure or sell their homes.
“People are in fear for their lives. They just want to know if their homes are safe.
“The UK Government gave its ministers £100 million to conduct these cladding assessments.
“Money is not the problem; the lack of urgency is. It appears that not a single building has been checked in the past six months.
“More than two years ago, this chamber passed the Cladding Remediation Bill. Ministers, ironically, said that this would speed up this process.
“So, can I ask the First Minister, will he get a grip on this, will he guarantee that by the time we reach the tenth anniversary of Grenfell, every single one of these vital checks will have taken place?”
West Dunbartonshire Council refuses to disclose which houses, flats, schools, and other buildings in this area have been affected by the cladding problem, but some residents have contacted us to say there most definitely are some.
Dear oh dear but how many people know that here in WDC some of the social housing upgraded under the Scottish Quality Housing 15 programme were done using using cladding that did not meet fire safety standards.
And how many people know that rather than strip out millions of pounds worth of upgrade thermal cladding the Council sought a technical derogation to allow the cladding to remain.
Technical derogation best described as about allowing something that is not up to standard to remain. But who specified the non compliant cladding in the first place. Anyway, I suspect the tenants in the ” derogated houses ” like the tenants in Grenfell knew nothing about safety standards.
But if folks are interested, which sadly too many are not, they might like to enquire of their council what houses and where were affected, and why a ” derogation ” was granted.