Chamber and committees

I have agreed a joint statement with the BMA on face to face appointments that will be published later today.

As they have for many years, face-to-face appointments form part of a hybrid model also including video and telephone consultations. While we all aspire to return to greater availability of face-to-face, many patients will also wish to continue with telephone or video consultations. In joint communication with the BMA I have set out my expectation that recent changes to guidance should result in an increase in GP face-to-face appointments.

Rather than setting an arbitrary return date, what is most important is that appointments are agreed through shared decision making, balancing patient choice and clinical judgement.

Later this year we will consult on our Low Income Winter Heating Assistance which we plan to introduce next winter.

We want people to have benefits they can rely on so this new £50 benefit will replace the unstable Cold Weather Payment provided by the DWP. The payment will bring stability and security for around 400,000 low income households who will now be able to rely on getting help with their fuel bills every winter and not rely on it being cold enough for long enough to get a payment.

This benefit is a clear example of where we are using our limited powers over social security to improve the lives of people and increase their incomes.

With the statutory procedures completed, Transport Scotland is progressing through the necessary governance approval procedures that require to be completed before any procurement process for the A737 Improvements at Beith project could begin. Once this process is complete, The Transport Minister will write to the member with an update on plans for delivery of the project.

The Scottish Government acknowledges that publication of this report has been delayed due to our pandemic response efforts. We will be publishing the Independent Expert Working Group report on 6 October 2021.

Under the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 education authorities in Scotland have a statutory duty to consult and plan on delivery of early learning and childcare (ELC) ( part 6 section 50 ) and on the delivery of day care and out of school care ( part 8 section 55 ) in their local area, at least every two years. Locally-led consultation and service planning is essential to ensuring funded ELC offers that meets local demand and circumstances.

In addition, the Scottish Government has undertaken a number of research exercises to understand parents’ and carers’ needs and preferences at a national level. Over the last three years these include:

• Parents' views and use of early learning and childcare , published in August 2018, in which findings were drawn from an online survey and a telephone survey of parents. The study explored the views and experiences of parents and carers with children under the age of six across Scotland, to inform the expansion of ELC in Scotland. The report found that at the time, nearly 9 in 10 parents (88%) used some form of funded provision and that most combined this with paid and/or informal provision.
• Annual questions about use and affordability of childcare in the Scottish Household Survey for households with a child aged under 11 years old on. The latest report, Under Use of Childcare, published in September 2020, found 79 per cent of households with a child aged two to five years used some form of childcare in 2019.
• Out of school care parent survey , published on 30 August 2019. The report found that use of out of school care was similar across both term-time and the school holidays, with more than half of parents using term-time care (58%) and holiday care (61%). Half of all parents (50%) used both, while 23% used neither.
• Most recently, the Financial Sustainability Health Check of the childcare sector in Scotland, which was published on 31 August, collected information from providers on demand for their services. At the time of the survey (May 2021) overall levels of demand (measured as occupancy levels) were lower for all types of service compared to March 2020. The largest reduction in demand had been in school age childcare (SAC) only services. However, the report also found that demand had generally held up better for services delivering funded ELC than for non-funded services. More detailed information on reported demand can be found in Section 2 of the supporting Analysis and Evidence paper.

In 2019 the Scottish Parliament set ambitious climate change emission reduction targets to net zero emissions by 2045 and a 75% reduction by 2030. This means that by 2030, emissions from homes and buildings will have to fall by 68% against current levels. Transforming the way we heat our homes and buildings, in order to meet these legally binding targets, will touch the lives of almost everyone in Scotland.

The Scottish Government recently consulted on the draft Heat in Buildings Strategy which states that by 2030 around 50% of homes will need to convert to a zero or low emissions heating system, including the vast majority of 167,000 off-gas homes that currently use high emissions oil, LPG, and solid fuels.

A number of respondents offered their support for the consultation paper’s suggestion that the immediate focus should be on low and no regrets interventions and that one of these should be the deployment of individual building heat pumps in buildings off the gas network which currently use high carbon heating fuels. However, there was also concern that the combination of being off-gas grid and living in a hard-to-treat property presents risks around increased fuel poverty.

The Scottish Government has a strong offer of fuel poverty support suitable for those in rural and island areas. Both Warmer Homes Scotland and our Area Based Schemes, which target fuel poor households, take a “zero emissions first” approach to the provision of new heating systems. Ending the provision of new oil/LPG systems through these schemes, in favour of offering low carbon alternatives, is a further step on this path to phasing out these polluting technologies. This year we have increased funding to a record £50 million for Warmer Homes Scotland (an increase from £32 million in 2020-21) and £64 million for our local authority led Area Based Schemes (an increase of £9m compared with 20-21).

The shared policy programme also commits to provide additional support for rural and islands homes which require bespoke and targeted advice.

Households eligible for assistance under Warmer Homes Scotland will be offered low-carbon alternatives, where these are technically appropriate for the property. These include High Heat Retention Heating Systems, Air Source Heat Pumps, Ground Source Heat Pumps, Micro-hydro, Micro-wind and Micro-CHP systems (Micro-CHP systems are not suitable for off gas grid properties). Some of these measures may be of particular benefit to households living in rural and island areas that are not served by the gas grid. Warmer Homes Scotland operates a national pricing mechanism, meaning that rural and island homes aren’t disproportionately affected.

Since April 2021 our Area Based Schemes have included additional funding to provide low carbon and micro-generation measures as part of a whole house approach. Local councils are encouraged to offer these measures to households living in or at risk of fuel poverty, where this is technically feasible and will result in lower energy bills. We also provide additional funding and support for remote rural and island communities to reflect the delivery challenges in these locations, including higher installation costs.

The shared policy programme also commits to provide additional support for rural and islands homes which require bespoke and targeted advice.

The Care Inspectorate for Scotland are responsible for setting and reviewing the ratios for all childcare setting in Scotland. Usually, childminders can care for a maximum of eight children at any one time under the age of 16 years, of whom a maximum of six children will be under 12 years, no more than three children will be under primary school age, and only one child will be under one year old.

The number of children cared for at any one time includes the childminder’s own children or family members, whether or not they are present in the service. Evidence indicates that these ratios provide good outcomes for children.

In discussion with a setting, The Care Inspectorate may vary the adult to child ratios to take account of special circumstances that support the best outcomes for children, such as the presence of siblings under the age of one, the presence of children with additional support needs or the layout of the premises being used. Ratios will also be varied where more than one childminder works from the premises, or the childminder employs an assistant.

Guidance was last published on these ratios in 2018. It was last reviewed in 2019.

Our Commitment to Childminding , published in January 2021, sets out how the Scottish Government will continue to work with partners to promote childminding as a positive career choice and as a choice for parents and carers when they decide the most appropriate childcare option for their family.

This includes promoting childminding careers by working with employability bodies, including the Department of Work and Pensions and Skills Development Scotland, and exploring the opportunities to ensure that Early Learning and Childcare students are exposed to the career options of childminding within student placements during the course of their study.

The Scottish Government will continue to monitor trends in the number of childminding services and to ensure that our approach reflects the evidence obtained from the recently published Financial Sustainability Health Check . We also want to ensure that childminders continue to play a vital role in ongoing delivery of the 1140 programme and in how we implement our new Programme for Government Commitments for one and two year olds over the course of this Parliament.

No households have had their replacement oil or LPG boilers or heating systems cancelled as a result of the Scottish Government and Scottish Green Party shared policy programme commitment to immediately end public subsidy for oil and LPG boilers.

All Warmer Homes Scotland and Home Energy Scotland Loan applications with committed offers signed prior to 6 September 2021, for either replacement oil/LPG boilers or heating systems, will have these honoured and receive their installations/loans. No local council has reported plans to install an oil/LPG boiler or heating measure as part of their Area Based Scheme.

Home Energy Scotland ended recommendations and referrals to Scottish Government schemes for the replacement of oil and LPG boilers from 6 September 2021. From this date, customers will receive advice on lower-carbon alternatives to oil and LPG that are suitable for their homes.

Warmer Homes Scotland surveys ended the recommendation of oil and LPG systems on 6 September 2021. As a result, no further letters offering either replacement oil or LPG boilers or heating systems were sent from 6 September 2021.