Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has engaged in extensive cross-departmental and multi-agency work to consider the environmental impact of single-use vapes including working closely to with other nations across the UK.

The Scottish Government has funded Angus, Aberdeenshire, Dundee City and Perth and Kinross Councils to distribute £516,000 in community recovery grants and £240,000 in business recovery grants to eligible homes and businesses affected by Storm Babet, totalling £756,000.

In addition, £100,000 was provided to Angus Council through the Homelessness Prevention Fund to help families who had been flooded to rebuild their lives, and £1.8m was pledged to support farmers to help repair damaged floodbanks. Ministers also activated the Bellwin Scheme to help affected local authorities with revenue and uninsurable expenditure resulting from the storm, and extended the eligibility period of claims from two to four months.

There is growing pressure on homelessness services and for some local authorities, including Glasgow and Edinburgh, the pressure is most keenly felt from the impact of the Home Office’s streamlined asylum process which is increasing demand for homelessness support.

The latest homelessness statistics released on 27 February 2024 do not indicate that there is growing pressure on local authority homelessness services due to the changes to local connection legislation. Between April and September 2023, 3% of households that were assessed as homeless had no local connection to the local authority to which the application was made, but had a local connection to another Scottish local authority. This is similar to the proportion of households in previous years:

• 2021-22, 5% of households (1,535)
• 2022-23, 2% of households (705)

[Note: The statistics above are over a 12 month period, whereas the statistics from February 2024 cover a six month period. The April to September 2023 statistics is the first bi-annual collection to include local connection data following the legislative change to local connection in November 2022.]

A Local Connection Solutions Group comprising Scottish Government and local authority officials was established last year to co-produce guidance to support local authorities with the legislative changes and to address emerging issues.

To date, there is no evidence of a disproportionate impact on any local authority; rather, we are seeing a pattern of people moving across the country, exercising choice about where they want to live, as the legislation intended. We will continue to monitor the flow of people both into and leaving local authorities to inform our understanding of the impact of the legislative change.

It would be premature to review the impact until at least a year of official data is available to allow for a proper assessment of the impact of the legislative change. This data will be provided as part of the Scottish Government homelessness annual statistical publication in summer 2024. The data will inform a report on a formal review of the legislation, which will be shared with the Social Justice and Social Security Committee as per the commitment of Shona Robison, then Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, at her appearance before the Committee in November 2022.

There is also ongoing monitoring through a monitoring and evaluation framework which was co-produced with local authorities, third sector organisations and people with lived experience of homelessness. This captures the qualitative impact of the legislative change on homelessness services and is used by Scottish Government officials to monitor impact and address any emerging issues.

There are a number of avenues for local authorities to engage with Scottish Government on this issue including via the Housing Options Hubs, through the Local Connection Solutions Group and via the regular meetings between local authority and Scottish Government officials. Local authorities are also encouraged to contact Scottish Government officials on an ad hoc basis regarding any queries they have or issues they want to raise. In addition, local connection has been an agenda item at meetings the Minister for Housing has had with Housing Convenors.

Scottish Government officials also meet specifically with the island local authorities on a regular basis as per the Island Community Impact Assessment, which was completed in advance of the legislation.

The Scottish Government has enjoyed a number of recent engagements with Government of Türkiye on issues ranging from tackling climate change, to boosting trade and investment and increasing tourism and cultural collaboration. This type of international collaboration, recently articulated through the publication of our new International Strategy, will continue to make a substantial, positive impact on the delivery of the Scottish Government’s domestic objectives and on the lives of people in Scotland and internationally.

The introduction of Air Departure Tax (ADT) was deferred due to state aid issues raised in relation to the Highlands and Islands exemption. In January 2023, the UK Government replaced EU state aid rules with its own subsidy control regime.

The Scottish Government continue to explore all options to implement ADT in a way that protects Highlands & Islands connectivity and complies with the UK Government’s subsidy control regime.

The £12.8 million of savings outlined in the 2023-24 Spring Budget Revision and published on 1 Feb 2024 was based on expected and planned underspend across various Lifelong Learning and Skills(LLS) budget lines.

Local authorities take their own decisions about which digital tools, services and apps to deploy in their schools to support delivery of education. We expect that any digital service would be implemented in recognition of statutory duties arising from GDPR and Data Protection Act. As Data Controllers in their own right, it is for local authorities to ensure all digital services in schools comply with the relevant legislation.

Actions which we have taken and are undertaking to enable greater deployment of solar in Scotland are provided in Annex G of the draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan.

Through our Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan Scheme, domestic owner occupiers in Scotland can claim funding for solar PV and energy storage systems. More information can be found on the HES website - Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan: overview · Home Energy Scotland .

As part of its programme, the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) provides rolling funding which supports communities, charities, and faith organisations to decarbonise their buildings and reduce energy bills. This includes solar PV and energy storage, where decarbonised heating has also been installed. Let's Do Net Zero Community Buildings Fund · Local Energy Scotland

To support the development of battery energy storage solutions (BESS), the Scottish National Investment Bank (SNIB) has already invested £6.6 million in Aberdeen-based firm Verlume, whose multi-use BESS technology uses intelligent energy management to deliver a constant output of power from renewable sources.