Chamber and committees

Details of the £10 million grant fund scheme - announced by the Deputy First Minister on 22 June to help tenants who have been financially impacted by the pandemic and are facing homelessness - are being developed at pace and we will provide further information in due course.

Housing to 2040 is Scotland’s first ever long-term national housing strategy and makes clear our ambition to deliver 100,000 affordable homes by
‎ 2031-32, 70% of which will be for social rent.

Local authorities as the statutory housing authority are responsible for assessing housing requirements in their area and setting out their plans to meet these requirements as part of their Local Housing Strategy and Strategic Housing Investment Plan.

The Scottish Government, through the Home Energy Scotland (HES) Loan and Cashback scheme, provides interest-free loans with up to 75% cashback grant funding for homeowners to replace fossil-fuel heating systems such as gas with low or zero emissions heating systems such as heat pumps.

To further support households to make their homes greener, we provide:

• free, impartial advice through Home Energy Scotland, including specialist home renewables advice;
• HES loans with up to 40% cashback for energy efficiency measures;
• the Green Homes Network which allows households to find out about the experience of others who have already installed measures; and
• the Renewable Installer Finder Tool which helps households find installers and suppliers in their area.

These advice and support schemes can be accessed through Home Energy Scotland, run by the Energy Saving Trust.

One of the three overarching objectives within Scotland’s Forestry Strategy 2019-29 is to Increase the contribution of forests and woodlands to Scotland’s sustainable and inclusive economic growth , with Improving efficiency and productivity, and developing markets identified as one of the six priority areas for action.

Scotland’s Forestry Strategy Implementation Plan 2022-22 includes a commitment to: Support the Scottish Forest and Timber Technologies Industry Leadership Group to deliver its strategy “Roots for Further Growthand increase the sector’s contribution to inclusive economic growth ; and a further commitment to: Work with construction industry professionals and others to identify opportunities to increase the use of wood products in construction .

As part of the current Programme for Government, we are committed to increasing the annual volume of Scottish timber going into construction from 2.2 million cubic meters in 2018 to 2.6 million cubic meters by 2022. We are working in partnership with the forestry sector to deliver this target by supporting research into timber engineering, increasing the understanding of timber as a building material among architects and supporting efforts to increase demand for home grown wood products through the Wood for Good initiative.

24,596 homes, which is 64% of homes assessed against benchmarks, have sought grant funding either at or below the relevant grant subsidy benchmark over the last five years. The table showing Affordable Housing Supply Programme Affordable Homes Approved At or Below Published Benchmarks has been placed in SPICe under BIB number 62585.

The table contains data submitted by delivery partners through our digital programme management system called HARP (Housing and Regeneration Programme) and provides the breakdown as requested. The analysis is based on information provided at tender approval stage which is when projects are assessed against benchmark grant subsidy levels. Only projects which have a relevant benchmark have been included i.e. social rent homes provided by Registered Social Landlords (RSLs), social rented homes provided by Local Authorities, and affordable homes for Mid Market rent provided by RSLs and their subsidiaries.

The legislative requirements for an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO) are set out on the Road Traffic regulation Act 1984 and the relevant procedures as contained in the Local Authorities' Traffic Orders (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 1999 (for local roads) or the Secretary of State’s Traffic Orders (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 1987 (for trunk roads).

If a Roads Authority wish to make an ETRO a permanent Traffic Regulation Order (TRO), the procedures set out in the relevant regulations shown above must be followed.

As part of the ongoing review into TRO procedures we have published a public consultation to gather feedback on some proposed changes to the Experimental Order Procedures and this can be found at Consultation on Traffic Regulation Orders - Scottish Government - Citizen Space ( https://consult.gov.scot)

The crew of the MV Arrow, whilst on a time charter with CalMac Ferries Ltd, will be employed by the vessel owner Seatruck Ferries Ltd.

Collective bargaining agreements are a matter for CalMac Ferries Ltd, its employees and the recognised trades unions. The crew of the MV Arrow are employed by the vessel owner, Seatruck Ferries Ltd. During discussion to “time charter” the MV Arrow, it was established that the crew will be paid the UK National Living Wage.

During the charter of the MV Arrow, Seatruck Ferries Ltd, the owner of the vessel, will be responsible for crew rostering as the crew are employed by them and not CalMac Ferries Ltd.

Transport Scotland has had no engagement with Glasgow City Council on the proposed final phase of the East End regeneration route.