Chamber and committees

Every building must gain the consent of homeowners in order to begin the contract process. Every building will require a qualified Fire Assessor to spend typically a number of weeks on and off-site to gather sufficient data and evidence to conduct a competent Single Building Assessment.

We are aware of the supply chain constraints in this field which is why we are working closely with Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the Institute of Fire Engineers to ensure an appropriate stream of qualified assessors.

A Single Building Assessment will deliver a full assessment of fire risks on a building by building basis to highlight any issues related to fire safety including, but not limited to underground car parks and charging points.

The Cladding Remediation Unit was set up in June 2021 in the Local Government and Communities Directorate. The expenditure on staff whose primary role is to support the programme is:

a)

Core Scottish Government: 2021 - £241,280.00

Core Scottish Government: 2022 (until July) - £113,635.44

Interim contractors 2021 - £52,938.90

Interim contractors 2022 (until July) - £105,369.00

b) Since the start of the Single Building Assessment programme in June 2021 we have grant funded £432,613.63 to support 12 buildings who are currently undergoing assessment. We have a further £510,553 in committed spend to finish these buildings assessments and support 3 additional buildings in starting their assessments through the grant funding model. We have an additional 29 buildings where we will use procurement functions to hire fire engineers and access contractors to begin assessments.

We have confirmed consent from 26 buildings. We have consent in principle from the homeowners from 29 additional buildings since we invited new buildings into the programme in May 2022. The timescale for the contracting process follows the standard Scottish Government procurement rules. We are aware of the supply chain constraints in this field, which is why are working closely with Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the Institute of Fire Engineers to ensure an appropriate stream of qualified assessors. Time scales for the completion of Single Building Assessments are driven by the complexity of the building and are agreed as part of the normal contracting process.

As the programme progresses, we will gather information from our Single Building Assessments to compile a register of buildings that have been assessed through the programme. Local Authorities will be asked to provide relevant information.

We are currently working with 7 buildings to finalise assessments ahead of remediation. We have asked developers, as part of the Scottish Safer Buildings Accord, to supply data on work that is being undertaken and privately agreed between residents and developers.

Construction of the masts at Rackwick and Stronsay is complete. Both masts are being developed in collaboration with the Home Office’s Emergency Services Network (ESN). 4G service will, ultimately, be provided on these sites by mobile network operator EE. To move these sites to activation requires the Home Office to execute a Change Request as part of their ESN programme. The Scottish Government is aware of a substantial delay in the Home Office enacting this Change Request which is preventing these masts from moving to service activation.

All efforts are being made by the Scottish Government to expedite this issue which, once resolved, will enable a number of masts including Rackwick and Stronsay proceed to activation.

The Scottish Government does not hold information relating to the amount of land that has changed from agricultural use to homes.

In our draft National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) we proposed national planning policy which included that development proposals on prime agricultural land would not be supported except in certain limited circumstances. We will lay a finalised NPF4 in the Scottish Parliament for approval in the autumn.

We do not routinely monitor for giardiasis in beavers. A 2021 report on health screening of wild beavers found no animals testing positive in Britain for Giardia. However, NatureScot continue to collect beavers reported to have been found dead in the wild or killed as part of licensed control and conduct screening on these carcasses for a range of diseases and pathogens as an ongoing programme of disease surveillance in beavers.

For the purpose of this question, we have defined ‘appeals’ as data disputes in which either members of the public or suppliers registered to the Reaching 100% Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (R100 SBVS) have contacted us to raise a data dispute – when they believe that the data we hold on a property’s current connection speed and/or potential voucher eligibility is incorrect.

The broadband connectivity status of the 2.8 million properties in Scotland is reported on our online address checker at www.scotlandsuperfast.com . This uses data submitted by broadband infrastructure providers through regular updates known as a rolling Open Market Review. The accuracy of this data is wholly dependent on broadband providers submitting accurate data returns.

In 2021, officials received a total of 459 data disputes. In 2022, as of 24 August, officials have received 282 data disputes. These numbers represent a total for the whole of Scotland and, unfortunately, we are unable to break this down by Scottish Parliamentary region.

Scottish Government has provided an unprecedented level of financial support throughout the pandemic to support NHS dentistry. The £50 million of COVID-19 funding was provided directly to NHS dental contractors through the financial support payments. Alongside this, practices have received £35 million of free PPE to support the provision of NHS dentistry.

In addition, £5 million of funding for ventilation improvements and £7.5 million for speed adjusting hand pieces, was made available to NHS practitioners to support recovery and help increase capacity within practices providing NHS dental services. This scope for this funding was subsequently expanded to allow practices to claim for repairs and replacement of a range of dental equipment. This funding was allocated to Health Boards and practices were advised of the process for claiming funding if they wished to submit an application.