Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government since 2010 has provided funding to the Energy Saving Trust to deliver the Domestic chargepoint scheme, this scheme provides grant funding to support individuals across Scotland install electric vehicle home chargepoints.

To date Energy Saving Trust have provided 433 grants with a value of £137,423 to individuals across the Scottish Borders to install electric vehicle chargepoints.

The Scottish Government recognise the negative impact that noise disturbances can have on building occupiers. In response to queries regarding such issues Building Standards Division has previously published 'Noise - Guidance on Home Improvements' which provides advice to those considering the installation of hard surface floor coverings (such as laminates, wood, or tiles) and the benefits of providing suitable underlay materials.

Further guidance on improving sound insulation within homes can be found within 'Housing and Sound Insulation: Improving existing attached dwellings and designing for conversions' (Edinburgh Napier University) which sets out good practice on how to upgrade separating walls and floors to improve sound insulation performance. Individuals seeking to make improvements to the sound insulation of their properties are encouraged to seek advice from an acoustics professional to ensure appropriate solutions to reducing noise levels from their neighbouring properties.

Where noise from neighbouring properties is deemed excessive, individuals are encouraged to liaise with their local authority to seek specific advice on such matters.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-34739 on 5 February 2021. 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 .

The Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (NDRHI), which supported district heating development, closed to new applicants on 31 March 2021. However provisions were made to allow some applicants to commission up to 31 March 2022, in response to disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Through the Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme (LCITP) we have awarded over £20 million of capital grant funding to help unlock seven heat network projects, all of which intended to apply for the NDRHI. Since the closure of the NDRHI to new applications the LCITP has provided grant support for the development of Investment Grade Business cases for zero emission heat networks being taken forward without RHI support.

A Non-Domestic Rates Relief of 90% for new heat networks run by renewable sources was introduced in April 2021, around the same time that the Non-Domestic RHI closed to new applicants. This relief will remain in place until 31 March 2024. This is in addition to the existing 50% relief for all heat networks which has been extended to remain in place until 2032.

As set out in our Draft Heat Networks Delivery Plan, we are committed to providing capital support to heat networks. The successor to the LCITP will launch this year, and we have committed to investing at least £400 million through this programme for large-scale heat infrastructure including heat networks.

In total 585 applications for the Women in Agriculture Practical Training Fund were received. Of this:

- 460 applications were approved.

- Where an application was not approved (125 applications), there was always a reason provided, specific to the application and if sought clarification and discussion on this reasoning was provided.

- There have been no appeals. A number of applications were asked to provide additional information, and where provided the application was reviewed in light of the additional information.

The Scottish Government since 2010 has provided funding to the Energy Saving Trust to deliver the Low Carbon Transport Loan, this interest free loan has supported individuals and businesses across Scotland purchase new electric vehicles.

As of the 23 rd November 2021, 141 loans have been provided to individuals and businesses across the Scottish Borders to support the purchase of new electric vehicles to the value of £3,946,087.

We work closely with the childcare sector representative bodies and appreciate the challenges faced by settings in relation to recruitment and retention. We are already providing support to all parts of the childcare sector with regard to recruitment and retention challenges. For example, we have invited those whose registrations to work in childcare have lapsed in recent years to re-join the sector; we are providing work experience in the sector via the National Transitional Training Fund; and our national recruitment campaign provides resources to assist with local recruitment. We continue to support the childminding sector as set out in Our Commitment to Childminding Report, which can be found at: Our commitment to childminding: report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

We will work in partnership with all parts of the childcare sector to develop delivery plans for school-aged childcare and funded early learning for one year olds and to ensure that the appropriate support is in place. We have also committed to developing a new, five-year Workforce Strategy for the childcare sector. The strategy will address recruitment and retention challenges to build on the support already available, taking into account our commitments to build a system of wraparound childcare and further extend early learning.

(a) As per the guidance on Discretionary Housing Payments and the guidance on the GOV.UK webpage, anyone receiving Industrial Injuries Benefit (and equivalent payments made as part of a War Disablement Pension or the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme) are exempt from the benefit cap. Therefore, all local authorities should disregard this payment as income when assessing applications for housing related benefits.

(b) The Council Tax Reduction Regulations instruct that armed forces independence payments should be fully disregarded as income in the calculation of council tax reduction. Therefore, all local authorities should disregard these payments as income in relation to applications for council tax reduction.

The Waste (Scotland) Regulations require all schools in Scotland to take all practicable steps to recycle as much of its waste as possible. Provision of recycling facilities within state schools is the responsibility of Scotland’s local authorities. The regulations require waste producers, including schools, to separate and present for collection the key dry recyclables (glass, metal, plastic, paper and card) and food at source.

To support schools, Zero Waste Scotland has produced a Resource Efficiency Guide for Schools , which includes advice on waste management and potential initiatives to reduce waste and improve recycling.

As part of the Curriculum for Excellence, under the theme of Learning for Sustainability, many schools are engaging with the Eco-Schools Scotland programme . This is a seven step curricular-relevant programme to support schools in considering and tackling environmental issues. Schools must evidence their work through a focus on litter and waste minimisation plus two other Eco-Schools topics. Those schools who successfully complete the programme are awarded a Green Flag.

On 17 November, I announced the first of our landmark investments from the £70m Recycling Improvement Fund. The Fund was launched to support local authorities improve recycling infrastructure and maximise the quality and quantity of recycling, including help with aligning recycling collections to Household Recycling Charter’s supporting Code of Practice, to help make it easier for householders to recycle the right things and encourage high levels of citizen participation in waste prevention, recycling and reuse.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of reported incidents that may be homophobic in nature. Data is available on the number of police recorded hate crimes that include an aggravation for sexual orientation, the vast majority of which were found to be for prejudice towards the gay and lesbian community in 2018-19.

The Scottish Government published a study on the characteristics of police recorded Hate Crime in February 2021. The table below shows the number of sexual orientation aggravated hate crimes recorded by Police Scotland from 2014-15 to 2019-20, for (a) North Ayrshire, (b) Inverclyde and (c) Scotland. The number of hate crimes with a sexual orientation aggravation presented below is higher than the figures provided in the aforementioned study. This is because the table also includes hate crimes that have multiple aggravations (one of which is sexual orientation).

The study also looked in more detail at the prejudice shown by perpetrators. In the vast majority (94%) of sexual orientation aggravated hate crimes in 2018-19 the perpetrator showed prejudice towards the gay and lesbian community. In over two-thirds (69%) of crimes the words used or actions taken by the perpetrator showed a prejudice towards the gay community, with a further quarter (25%) showing prejudice towards the lesbian community. In 2018-19, the study showed that 39% of sexual orientation aggravated hate crimes had a Police Officer as a victim. Due to the sampling design, information at local authority level is unable to be calculated.

A second study into the characteristics of police recorded hate crime is due to be published in 2022. This will provide the same type of detailed disaggregated data and information on police recorded hate crimes for the year 2020-21.