Chamber and committees

The £10m Tenant Grant Fund is part of a package of measures available to local authorities to prevent homelessness, alongside other support such as Discretionary Housing Payments and advice on maximising income. The grant will co-exist alongside the £10 million Tenant Hardship Loan Fund and be open to eligible private and social tenants.

As there is no one single solution, both the loan and grant can provide support to different people in different circumstances, to assist them during the pandemic recovery period.

The Grant is available for local authorities, who can consider all the circumstances and support available, to pay rent arrears for those most in need with the aim of preventing homelessness and creating sustainable tenancies.

In comparison, the Loan fund will continue to offer loans responsibly to applicants who can demonstrate that they can afford to make future loan repayments spread over a number of years. The loan is not suitable for all but, where it is, the interest free terms and long repayment period can help tenants who are struggling but not necessarily at risk of losing their tenancy, to get back on their feet.

We want people to access the most appropriate form of support for them and encourage tenants in difficulty to seek advice and assistance on their housing circumstances as soon as possible.

The priority for the new National Public Energy Agency will be to accelerate the transformational change in how we heat and use energy in homes and buildings in Scotland. We need to see the decarbonisation of heating systems of 1 million homes and 50,000 non-domestic premises between now and 2030.

We remain supportive of the future potential for a public energy company in Scotland - and, through the Agency, will support others with an interest in exploring options to take this forward, including those with a local focus.

Development of the agency will be a collective effort, requiring input from a range of stakeholders across the public, private and third sectors. We will continue working collaboratively with local authorities as part of this process, given their key role in supporting local heat and energy efficiency measures. This will facilitate existing shared ambitions to further empower local communities and to develop new zero carbon heating solutions to be rolled out through both national support, and regional and local approaches.

The Scottish Government will publish a series of impact assessments which, amongst a range of other issues, consider the effect that the actions we have set out in the Heat in Buildings Strategy will have on fuel poverty.

These impact assessments have been taken into account in the development of the Heat in Buildings Strategy, and will inform our programmes and specific policies – including in our commitment to phase out the installation of fossil fuel heating systems.

Any subsequent legislation required to deliver on our commitment to phase out the installation of fossil fuel heating systems will also be subject to appropriate impact assessments and consultation. This will allow the Scottish Parliament the opportunity to fully scrutinise the impacts of our proposals.

We will also publish our Fuel Poverty Strategy later this year and, as per the Fuel Poverty (Targets, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Act 2019, we will publish a report on our progress towards meeting the statutory fuel poverty targets every three years.

No date has been set to close the Tenant Hardship Loan Fund (THLF) to new applicants. The THLF will continue to be part of the range of support available for tenants, alongside the Tenant Grant Fund, to help those struggling to pay their rent due to the pandemic.

We engaged closely with islands communities as part of the policy-development process for DRS, culminating in an Islands Communities Impact Assessment ( Deposit return scheme for Scotland: islands communities impact assessment - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ).

We consider that our design for DRS takes full account of the needs of businesses, including retailers, operating in islands communities. In particular, the DRS scheme administrator will be required to collect containers free of charge from retailers to ensure they do not incur costs associated with transporting scheme articles for recycling.

The breakdown of Scottish Government funding through Zero Waste Scotland, to support Local Authorities aligning their services with the Household Recycling Charter, is outlined in the following table:

Since my answer to question S6W-03274, a further £24.5 million has been provided from the £120 million Recovery and Renewal Fund, bringing total allocations to date to over £74.5 million, including:

• £40 million for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) to address waiting times this year, increase access to and enhance services, including for those with complex needs;
• £15 million to grass roots community groups via a Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund to help tackle the impact of social isolation, loneliness and mental health inequalities;
• £5 million to address Psychological Therapies waiting times this year;
• £5 million to implement the recommendations of the Eating Disorders Review;
• Almost £2 million to roll out digital innovations, including online access to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

The following table provides a breakdown of allocations by the key themes in the Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan, as well as funding provided for key dementia, learning disability and autism priorities.

Pension Credit is reserved to the UK Government and, therefore, the Scottish Government has not corresponded with local authorities or COSLA in relation to raising awareness about claiming pension credit or supporting people to do so.

The Scottish Government funds the Citizens Advice Network in Scotland to deliver the Money Talk Team Income Maximisation Service. This is a money advice service that includes advice about all benefits, including pension credit. We have undertaken three national marketing campaigns to make people aware of the service.

Flu and COVID-19 are completely different diseases caused by different viruses and is why there are different recommendations for those who are eligible for flu vaccination and those who should be offered both COVID-19 and flu vaccination.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination & Immunisation (JCVI) is a scientific committee and they give advice based on scientific evidence, with a number of in-depth considerations and recommendations made on COVID-19 published recently.

The evidence is clear that people with asthma are at a higher risk of flu related complications but this is not true for COVID-19 unless they are on repeated courses of oral steroid medication. This means that the vast majority of asthmatics are not at a higher risk of COVID-19 disease or its complications.

The Scottish Government’s draft Heat in Buildings Strategy proposed that any regulations requiring the installation of zero emissions heating systems would be phased in, with all building owners being required to comply by 2045.

The draft Strategy specified that it may be appropriate to require earlier compliance from, for example, those using high emissions fuels like heating oil or coal (which are more prevalent in off-gas grid areas).

The draft Strategy was subject to consultation from 5 February to 30 April 2021, and questions 48 and 49 specifically asked for views on the regulatory actions and timescales proposed.

An analysis of the consultation responses can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781802014464 .

As set out in our final Heat in Buildings Strategy, published on 7 October 2021, the Scottish Government will consult in further detail on our commitment to phase out the installation of fossil fuel heating systems during 2022.