Chamber and committees

(a) No notifications have been received since issue of the provision in April 2021. Monitoring is only on receipt of such notifications. (b) No intention to publish such information but it will be summarised as part of reporting on the consultation on external wall systems which includes the onward use of BS 8414. This is scheduled to close 08 October 2021.

We have been able to introduce a policy of exempting people from self-isolation where they arrive from an amber list countries and have been fully vaccinated as part of the UK rollout. Those who have been exempted must show evidence at the point of entering Scotland that they have received a full course of the vaccine and 14 days have passed since the final dose. The exemption from amber list country for fully vaccinated individuals only applies to self-isolation and day 8 tests, and those applicable must still follow the other rules, including taking tests prior to their departure and on or before day 2 once in Scotland.

This change applied to people coming into the country from 19 July onwards and therefore those who arrived in Scotland before then are unable to leave self-isolation until they have completed the 10 days or are otherwise exempt.

No information has been formally received by Scottish Government regarding how much material shortages and increased contractor prices in the construction sector are impacting householders redeeming Home Energy Scotland Loan offers.

The Scottish Government has committed to dedicate £100 million funding, of the £180 million Emerging Energy Technologies Fund, to accelerate the development of the hydrogen economy in Scotland over the next five years and support the realisation of our ambition for 5GW installed hydrogen production capacity by 2030. More details on the proposed design and scope of the Fund will be published alongside the Hydrogen Action Plan later this year.

The Private Rented Sector Landlord (PRSL) Loan was launched in April 2020. The following table shows the total number of applications received, the total number of offers made and the total number of expired offers. These figures represent the total number from launch to the end of June 2021, and relate to the location of the applicant.

The Scottish Government is committed to working closely with local authorities on the shared national endeavour to tackle the global climate emergency by achieving net zero emissions by 2045, recognising that local climate action is crucial to achieving our national climate ambitions.

Through the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, we have provided new powers for local authorities to introduce Low Emission Zones to improve air quality. We are also providing other forms of support to local government including the Green Growth Accelerator which will unlock £200m of investment in local authorities for emissions reduction infrastructure, and supporting local authorities to develop Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies and accompanying delivery plans.

More broadly, the joint Local Governance Review with COSLA is considering how powers and resources are shared between national and local government, to ensure that we are doing all we can to achieve our shared national outcomes.

The information requested is not held centrally and is a matter for the Parole Board for Scotland.

The Scottish Government does not hold this data. However, information is published annually in the Standards of Service for Victims and Witnesses Annual Report. For the past three years where information is available the number of in-person representations that were made is as follows:

2020-2021* 16

2019-2020* 27

2018-2019 18

*Due to Covid restrictions some meetings have been held remotely.

The Scottish Government does not hold the data requested.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is responsible for issuing Victim Notification Scheme packs. They have advised that the number of packs issued over the last 3 years is:

2018-19 1,880

2019-20 1,788

2020-21 1,158

Eligible victims can register for the scheme at any time. The Scottish Prison Service have advised that the numbers of victims who have opted to register for the scheme in the last 3 years, are as follows:

2018-19 443

2019-20 472

2020-21 306

The most recent reconviction rates show that 29% of people with a Community Payback Order (CPO) imposed in 2017-18 were reconvicted within a year, which is the lowest rate since they were introduced. These statistics are not typically broken down in regard to different requirements within CPOs such as unpaid work or supervision. However, Justice Analytical Services published ‘Community Payback Orders: What the Unit Level Data Tells Us So Far’ in February 2020 which found that the reconviction rate for those given unpaid work between 2012-13 and 2014-15 was 33% where this was accompanied by justice social work supervision, and 27% where it was not. These figures compare with 41% for those given orders with no unpaid work. While no conclusions can be drawn about the impact of unpaid work on offending behaviour, this may suggest that individuals who do not have unpaid work imposed are likely to have more complex and entrenched issues to address and may have greater likelihood of reoffending.

Overall, CPOs are an important aspect of a sustained focus on prevention and effective community interventions which has helped see Scotland’s reconviction rate fall to its lowest level since comparable records began more than 20 years ago.

CPOs offer opportunities for rehabilitation by requiring individuals to tackle the underlying causes of their offending behaviour. They also deliver real benefits to communities, and while capacity to deliver unpaid work has been significantly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, around 9 million hours of unpaid work have been carried out since CPOs were introduced.