Chamber and committees

In the 2021-22 Programme for Government and as part of the Bute House Agreement with the Scottish Green Party, the Scottish Government committed to undertake an in-depth analysis to better understand our energy requirements as we transition to net zero. Work is underway and analysis will include a detailed assessment of oil and gas production in Scotland; a study of energy demand; and assessment of the just transition implications of the energy transition. This work will enhance the evidence base for policy making and is expected to report by the end of 2022.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-11011 on 4 October 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

In line with the Scottish Government’s evidence based approach to policy development, we have committed to undertaking a programme of work and analysis to better understand Scotland’s energy requirements as we transition to net zero and how this aligns with our climate change targets. We continue to engage with BOGA and as part of a wider programme of analysis and engagement with a range of organisations and stakeholders.

As announced in the Programme for Government on 6 September, the Scottish government made a commitment that ScotRail fares will not increase before March 2023. The Scottish Government is clearly aware that any RPI linked fares rise would hit hard-pressed passengers in the pocket at a time when the cost of living crisis is at its height, and potentially turn them away from rail at a time when we should be encouraging them back.

The Scottish government supports calls for simplification of the current rail fares system and we will be exploring what we might be able to do with the powers the Scottish Government has to make fares easier for all, including through the Fair Fares Review.

The Scottish Government currently has no plans to undertake a consultation on the introduction or piloting of bans or other restrictions on Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) over 7.5t in weight from overtaking on Scottish trunk roads.

The Scottish Government expects communities to gain from green ports. The joint bidding prospectus , delivered in partnership by the Scottish Government and the UK government, provides details on Planning requirements and advises on place-based tools to inform the delivery of appropriate development in green port areas. It also required applicants to outline how their proposal would ensure compliance with all applicable environmental regulations and standards, as well as submitting an outline decarbonisation plan for the green port. These elements form part of the assessment of proposals.

Through our £1 million partnership with the Climate Justice Resilience Fund (CJRF) we have begun to support communities to address the impacts of loss and damage in Bangladesh, the Pacific Region and Malawi. This includes supporting the rights and needs of climate-forced displaced people, as well as helping families make more informed decisions about migration as a means to diversify livelihoods. Separate to the CJRF funding, the Scottish Government is also providing £500,000 to support communities in Malawi facing losses and damages resulting from recent tropical storms. The Scottish Government is funding research on needs assessments and case studies as part of our commitment to build evidence around how to most effectively address loss and damage.

The First Minister and I will be hosting a conference in October [11 & 12] in partnership with the High Level Champions and Global Resilience Partnership, which will explore how we can mobilise finance, drive solutions and develop best practice for addressing losses and damages. We hope to demystify how to fund loss and damage by establishing clear routes to action with the outputs of the conference synthesised into a report launch at COP27.

Asylum is reserved to the UK Parliament and handled by the Home Office. The Scottish Government does not have access to Home Office systems or hold data on individuals who are in the asylum system or who hold refugee status, which could be used to identify how many people who arrived before 24 February 2022 are living in temporary accommodation.

The Landlord Register came into effect following the Antisocial Behaviour Act 2004, with associated monitoring information available from 2007. Local authorities are responsible for the administration and enforcement of landlord registration, and are the data controllers of the information on the landlord registration IT system for landlords in their area. The Scottish Government receives monthly aggregate information extracted from the system, including on the total number of active registrations and the number of properties that these relate to, which are set out in the tables below for each of the years in which these figures are available between 2007 and 2022. However the Landlord Registration System is an administrative system used primarily to manage the registration of landlords and rental properties, and has not been designed to produce robust statistical figures on the sector. The figures presented should therefore be considered in the context of data quality issues which include impacts from changes to IT systems over time, a risk of duplicated data and double counting of rental properties in certain instances for joint owners, as well as data issues stemming from any potential lags in the provision of information by landlords on changes to circumstances to existing registrations, and we would advise caution in the use of these figures if making any specific comparisons over time or between local authority areas especially the number of properties within the 2017 – 2019 period which have been subject to significant data quality issues and are not considered to be accurate counts of the number of properties across these years .

associated monitoring information available from 2007 onwards which have been subject to significant data quality issues and are not considered to be accurate counts of the number of properties across these years

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10694 on 27 September 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers