Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government published its Heat in Buildings Strategy in October 2021, which commits us, subject to legal competence, to introduce new regulations to require all buildings to reach a good level of energy efficiency by 2033, and use zero emissions heating and cooling systems by 2045.

As set out in the Programme for Government, the Scottish Government will consult in detail on proposals for a Heat in Buildings Bill this year. This will include further detail on how we propose to introduce regulations by 2025 to set minimum standards for energy efficiency equivalent to EPC C across all private housing, with backstop dates of 2028 for private rented sector (PRS) homes and 2033 for owner occupied properties, where cost effective and technically feasible.

As a result of the difficult decisions which had to be taken through the Emergency Budget review, recruitment of the 1,000 additional roles to support community mental health resilience, ensuring every GP Practice has access to a mental health and wellbeing service has not yet commenced. We have already prioritised significant investment to build mental health capacity in primary care through Action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-2027 and the Primary Care Improvement Fund.

We remain committed to improving mental health service provision in primary care settings. We are therefore working closely with stakeholders, including the Mental Health in Primary Care National Oversight Group, to develop plans to best use the resource available across the system in 2023-24, and in future years to improve support, assessment and treatment in primary care settings.

The General Practice workforce survey 2022 collected information based on sessional commitment by GPs not hours worked. While GP sessions have sometimes been defined for the purposes of various payments, there is no contractual definition of GP sessions.

GP contract regulations require practices to ensure provision of services Monday – Friday 0800-1830. It is up to the practice to agree how that is covered by GPs and the number and length of sessions.

From responding practices to the General Practice workforce survey 2022, totalling 2,480 GPs, it was estimated that 22% of GPs had commitments of up to 4 sessions per week. 55% between 5 and 7 sessions per week and 23% of 8 or more. Dashboard - General practice workforce survey 2022 - General practice workforce survey - Publications - Public Health Scotland ”

The Scottish Government is committed to funding the expansion of free school meals to all pupils in primary and special schools, as well as introducing free year round breakfast and lunch provision to support eligible children and young people outside of the school term.

Currently, all primary school pupils in primaries one to five, all children in special schools, and eligible pupils in Primary 6 through to S6 can benefit from free school lunches in Scotland – the most generous provision anywhere in the UK, saving parents £400 per eligible child per year.

We have also provided £21.75m of funding for free school meal alternatives to eligible families during the school holidays. This is administered by local authorities as a cash payment directly to families.

There is a currently a mixed delivery of breakfast provision across Scotland with a range of service providers including public, private and third sector. We have begun work with local authorities and key stakeholders to better understand and map that provision. That process is ongoing and will feed into future plans as they develop.

In addition, we have committed to building a system of school age childcare, providing care before and after school and in the holidays, which will be funded for those on lowest incomes. As we design a system of school age childcare, we will integrate food and childcare provision wherever possible recognising the benefit to children and families of coordinating food, childcare and activities.

This update has already been made. One sentence on the ARE Directorate home page was found to be out of date. After discovering that was the case, it was removed immediately. We have added the page to our regular review schedule.

The Scottish Government is committed to a fair, inclusive and fiscally sustainable form of local taxation. Scottish Ministers have convened the ‘Joint Working Group on Sources of Local Government Funding and Council Tax Reform’, which is chaired by the Scottish Government and COSLA. The group is initially discussing and reviewing targeted changes to Council Tax to reflect the current circumstances created by the cost crisis. The group will also consider approaches to longer term reform, utilising the development of effective deliberative engagement, on sources of Local Government funding and Council Tax.

The 2023 non-domestic rates revaluation took effect on 1 April 2023. The next revaluation will take effect from 1 April 2026, implementing the independent Barclay Review of Non-Domestic Rates recommendation for three yearly revaluations which was legislated for in the Non-Domestic Rates (Scotland) Act 2020.

The tax rates which are used to calculate non-domestic rates bills are reviewed and set annually in the context of the Scottish Budget.

The last couple of years have seen input prices increase for pig farmers in Scotland. Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine has seen feed and fuel costs for pig farmers increase significantly. Through the UK Agricultural Market Monitoring Group we are working with other administrations to monitor the farmgate price.

It is positive that in recent months we have seen an uplift in pig prices but we recognise that many pig farms will still be making a loss per pig. We will continue to monitor the situation and engage with representatives of the sector.

We consulted, alongside the UK Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland DAERA, on the contractual practices in the UK pig sector to understand whether contract reform could provide greater certainty to both pig producers and processors.

In 2021 and 2022 via the Pig Producers Hardship Support Scheme the Scottish Government provided funding to producers who had been affected by the temporary closure of the Quality Pig Processors plant at Brechin and the loss of the plant’s export licence to China. There were three tranches of the scheme deliver over £1.8 million in support.

The Scottish Government wants to reverse the rise in the number of households in temporary accommodation, and will prioritise action on the recommendations considered to have the biggest and most immediate impact on reducing this number. The Scottish Government will publish its response to the Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group’s recommendations in due course.

An estimation of the costs to implement the Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group's recommendations has not been carried out. As the task and finish groups are sub-groups of the Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group (HPSG), the implementation of the recommendations will be discussed with HPSG members and other bodies given the need for partnership working on action to reduce the use of temporary accommodation.

The Scottish Government welcomes the work undertaken by the Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group, which will inform the Scottish Government's next steps. We are currently considering the report and will work with COSLA and Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group members to respond to the recommendations, prioritising actions that will have the greatest impact on reducing the numbers in temporary accommodation.