Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has no functions in relation to the Help to Buy ISA

The scheduling of Cannabis Based Products for Medicinal Use (CBPMs) under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 is a function reserved to the UK Government and the Scottish Government has no powers to alter its status.

Having considered possible options for funding private prescriptions for CBPMs for children in Scotland with uncontrolled epilepsy, the Scottish Government continues to consider that it would be inappropriate for the costs associated with a private prescription to be paid by the NHS, as this would have the effect of re-directing public funding from the NHS care to private care.

Despite the change under relevant UK legislation in 2018, many doctors remain concerned about the limited evidence on the safety and efficacy of those medicines which are unlicensed. The Scottish Government therefore considers that randomised controlled clinical trials are necessary as part of the medicine licensing process in order to demonstrate a product’s safety, quality and efficacy. This is why we are committed to working with NHS England and the National Institute for Health Research to build a clearer evidence base in order to enable clinicians to have the assurances they need to consider prescribing these products on the NHS.

The Scottish Child Payment commenced for children under the age of 6 in February 2021 and eligibility is based on receipt of qualifying benefits, with 106,000 children receiving the payment as of September 2021 based on the latest data available.

Children who are home-schooled are not excluded from this support which will be increased to £20 per week as of April 2022. The Scottish Government remain committed to delivering the Scottish Child Payment in full by the end of 2022, subject to receipt of the necessary data from the Department for Work and Pensions, at which point around 430,000 children under the age of 16 will be eligible.

Until such times as the necessary data is made available by the Department for Work and Pensions it is not possible to expand the reach of the Scottish Child Payment to older children, including those who are home-schooled.

Ahead of the full roll out of Scottish Child Payment, the Scottish Government is working in partnership with local councils to deliver Bridging Payments. This innovative solution, which makes use of data available to local authorities, is enabling immediate support worth £520 in both 2021 and 2022 to be provided to as many children as possible. The Bridging Payments are made automatically for children of school age who receive Free School Meals on the basis of low income, reaching in the region of 150,000 children backed by investment of around £78 million a year.

In addition the Scottish Government has made £25 million of funding available to local authorities, as part of the £41 million Winter Support Fund, in order to tackle financial insecurity in their local areas. Scottish Government guidance , published in December 2021, encourages local authorities to utilise this funding to provide proactive financial assistance to those who may face hardship, including those not eligible for other support.

All decisions made in the development of measures under the Covid-19 emergency powers have included careful assessment of the necessity and potential impacts of the powers and their compatibility with the Convention rights set out in the Human Rights Act 1998.

Appropriate impact assessments are carried out as part of this process and are reported to the Scottish Parliament.

Impact Assessments have been part of the decision making process in our use of emergency Covid-19 powers. Policy continues to be developed with regard to the need to protect human rights, equality considerations, the impact on business and the particular needs of island communities. Appropriate impact assessments are carried out and reported to the Scottish Parliament.

Economic impact studies by BiGGAR Economics for Airbnb, and Frontline Consultants for the Association of Scotland's Self-caterers are discussed in Section G of our Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment which we published in November 2021.

In December 2020 the Scottish Government and Skills Development Scotland published the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan (CESAP) setting out the actions required to ensure Scotland’s labour market is able to effectively support the transition to net zero. As a priority action identified in the CESAP, the first phase of the Green Jobs Workforce Academy administered by Skills Development Scotland, launched on the 23 August to help individuals of all ages identify and access relevant green jobs and training. The Academy will continue to provide training opportunities for green careers throughout 2022-23.

In addition to the work taking place through the CESAP, financial support has also been made available through the National Transition Training Fund (NTTF) and the North East Economic Recovery and Skills Fund (NEERSF).

While both NTTF and NEERSF are short-term funding programmes, we offer long-term support through skills programmes including: the Individual Training Account (ITA) scheme, which provides people who are unemployed or in low paid work with the opportunity to access £200 towards training; and the Flexible Workforce Development Fund (FDWF), which supports employers in delivering upskilling and retraining opportunities for their existing employees.

The Scottish Government recognises the important role upskilling and retraining interventions play in improving productivity and business competitiveness, and is committed to providing relevant support for businesses of all sizes in doing so. This is particularly the case in regard to our transition to net zero emissions.

In December 2020 the Scottish Government and Skills Development Scotland published the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan (CESAP) setting out the actions required to ensure Scotland’s labour market is able to effectively support the transition to net zero. Through CESAP, the Green Jobs Workforce Academy administered by Skills Development Scotland, launched on the 23 August to help workers identify and access relevant green jobs and training.

In addition, the National Transition Training Fund is supporting a number of work-based training opportunities/funding streams to support net zero, including:

• Training support for those businesses receiving Green Jobs Fund grants to enable necessary workforce upskilling;
• Support for a range of projects being delivered as part of the Green Skills Workforce Academy, including awareness for SMEs and work placements through Naturescot;
• Funding for the delivery of Passivhaus design and insulation through the Construction Scotland Innovation Centre;
• Energy Skills Partnership delivery through colleges of courses to support net zero including heat pump fitting.

Our building by building approach aims to offer reassurance and our priority is always to secure the safety of people in their own homes. Inspections are underway and we expect the first completed reports soon.

We expect that the majority of buildings will be shown to be safe, but where issues are found, then we will seek the most appropriate solutions to remediation. We urge other parties, such as developers, to continue to play their part where construction is found to be unsafe.

The Scottish Government continues to support public sector leadership on the climate emergency through ongoing engagement with key bodies such as the Sustainable Scotland Network, Scottish Leaders Forum, Environment and Economy Leadership Group and the Scottish Cities Alliance. Such engagement allows the Scottish Government to discuss the sector priorities and challenges in achieving our shared net zero ambitions, implementing the updated Climate Change Plan and any support needed for the reduction of carbon emissions across all 32 of Scotland’s local authorities.

Since 2015-16, around 180 listed Scottish public bodies, including all local authorities, have been required to report annually on compliance with their statutory climate change duties. The Scottish Government funds the Sustainable Scotland Network (SSN) to produce an annual analysis of the submitted reports, which shows progress on emissions reduction. This includes analysis of progress across a number of areas of public sector climate action, including on transport fuel, electricity and waste reduction. Reported emissions from the public sector continue to decrease, with Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions down 28.5% since mandatory reporting began in 2015-16.