Chamber and committees

The Scottish Ministers take collective responsibility for all decisions reached by the Scottish Government, and will continue to do so in future, including on our commitment to phasing out the need to install new or replacement fossil fuel boilers, in off-gas areas from 2025 and in on-gas areas from 2030, subject to technological developments and decisions by the UK Government in reserved areas.

As set out in the Heat in Buildings Strategy, we will phase out the need to install new or replacement fossil fuel heating systems, in off-gas grid homes from 2025 and in on-gas areas from 2030, subject to technological developments and decisions by the UK Government in reserved areas.

The Scottish Government will consult further on this proposal during 2022.

Business Improvement Districts are business partnerships which vote to invest collectively to deliver local economic growth. There are currently 38 operating in Scotland covering town and city centres as well as themed areas such as digital, food and drink, and tourism. Business Improvement Districts in Scotland have consistently raised just over £6 million on average per annum in core levy.

People who received their vaccination during the early stages of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme started to receive booster injections from 20 September. This follows advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) which advised that the booster dose can be given alongside the flu jab and should be offered no earlier than six months after completion of the primary vaccine course.

Frontline health and social care workers were able to book their appointment online at NHS Inform from 20 September. Residents in care homes for older people were also being offered both flu and COVID-19 boosters from this date. Adults aged 70 years and over and adults aged 16 and over who are on the highest risk list (previously known as the shielding list) are being contacted, either by letter or by their GP.

All those aged 16 to 49 years with underlying health conditions, adult carers, unpaid and young carers, adult household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals and all adults over 50 will be able to book online soon.

As most younger adults will only receive their second COVID-19 vaccine dose in late summer, the benefits of booster vaccination in this group will be considered by the JCVI at a later time when more information is available.

We have worked closely with CoSLA and others to develop this fund. Local authorities will report progress with administering the Tenant Grant Fund to the Scottish Government, on a quarterly basis. This means the first official reports from local authorities on their use of the Tenant Grant Fund, will be available early next year. In the meantime, we will remain in close contact with CoSLA to ensure that this new grant fund reaches those in need.

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.

The Scottish Government has released almost £5.3 million to NHS Highland to support the Health Board to support planned care for 2021/22. Of this more than £822,000 was allocated to support the delivery of orthopaedic procedures.

A further £701,000 was allocated to NHS Highland to enable the Health Board to deliver an additional day case procedures, a proportion of this activity will be utilised for orthopaedic procedures.