It is an immense honour to be the MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie and I have had a busy year representing you and taking on casework throughout the constituency.

I have also been active in parliament, speaking in debates and scrutinising the Scottish Government and the legislation they have brought forward.

As part of that scrutiny role, I have been appointed by parliament to the local government, housing and planning committee.

This committee has a large remit and will hear from ministers and many subject experts over the parliamentary year.

Most recently we considered the Scottish Government’s plans for affordable housing. This will see a step-change in the number of affordable homes available across Scotland. I know how important this is from the considerable amount of housing-related advice requests I get from all parts of our constituency.

The Affordable Housing Supply Programme will invest £3.6 billion in affordable housing in this parliamentary term to deliver more social and affordable homes, and act to help ensure the right homes in the right places.

Across Scotland, more than 108,100 affordable homes have been completed since 2007. The Scottish Government is committed to delivering a further 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 of which at least 70 per cent will be available for social rent.

This follows a 50,000 affordable housing target which was set to be completed over the course of the last parliament. The Scottish Government were on track to fulfil it until the pandemic shut down the housebuilding sector.

The sector is back up and running but has obviously had to make up for lost time, as well as cost pressures and supply chain issues. Once the 50,000 target is complete, the new target of 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 begins.

Across a four-year period to 2020-21, Scotland has seen an annual average of 15.6 affordable homes delivered per 10,000 population. This is 62 per cent more than the 9.6 homes per 10,000 in England, and 71 per cent more than the 9.1 homes per 10,000 in Wales.

Over the same time frame the annual supply of social rented housing per head of population in Scotland has averaged 10.8 homes per 10,000 population, more than nine times the 1.1 homes per 10,000 population in England.

Although massive progress has been made there is even more to come. The provision of these affordable homes and the environmentally friendly nature of their design will help meet housing needs in Clydebank.

I look forward to working with the council and all the local housing providers to ensure we maximise the return on this investment across all of our communities.