Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the energy efficiency of all types of buildings across Scotland as part of the long term Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme (SEEP). A key element of SEEP will be to ensure that we have a workforce with the right skills, in the right places and numbers, including in rural and island locations, to deliver the programme’s aims. We will publish a routemap on the future direction of the programme next year.

Energy Saving Trust (EST) work with key partners to provide skills training to help businesses, particularly those in remote rural and island areas where the supply chain is relatively sparse, gain the necessary skills and certifications to operate in the energy efficiency and renewables market.

Further, through the HEEPS: Area-Based Schemes we have distributed funding based on an assessment of need, which means that remote areas, including all island communities, receive more per head of population to tackle fuel poverty than those on the mainland.

We continue to work with the six local authorities who are represented on the Islands Strategic Group, to ensure any proposals for change are sufficiently flexible to respond to their unique but varied local circumstances. We will also look at opportunities for innovation, including using digital technology to overcome travel and distance barriers.

Section 9 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act makes provision about the support and assistance to be provided to victims of trafficking. It contains no restrictions based on the nationality of the victim. Current support to victims funded by the Scottish Government is not restricted on the basis of nationality and there is no intention to change this.

Section 9 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 obliges the Scottish Government to ensure support is provided to victims of human trafficking for a minimum specified period, or until there is a conclusive grounds decision, whichever comes first. Section 9 of the Act – which was unanimously passed by the Scottish Parliament – also permits discretionary support to be provided outwith those parameters, including in cases where a conclusive grounds decision takes place before the specified period ends. The Scottish Government already liaises with service providers to ensure that victims are given the support they need for as long as necessary, including beyond the relevant period should that be necessary, and will continue to do so taking particular account of the needs of individual victims.

The Scottish Government will liaise with all parties with an interest to ensure that the Regulations to be brought forward provide the best possible support for victims recovered in Scotland. However, consideration of immigration status will remain the responsibility of the UK Government.

This Government has always prioritised tackling fuel poverty and is committed to ensuring that everyone in Scotland lives in a warm home that is affordable to heat.

We are delivering our commitment to make half a billion pounds available over the next 4 years and, by the end of 2021, we will have allocated over £1 billion pounds since 2009 on tackling fuel poverty and improving energy efficiency.

We will publish shortly a consultation on a new, long-term fuel poverty strategy, including a new target, which will feed into the Warm Homes Bill which we plan to introduce in Year 2 of this Parliament.

The Far North Line Review Team was established by the Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy and Connectivity in December 2016 to consider opportunities to improve overall performance and make the most of this important asset for passengers, for sustainable freight transport, and for the communities and businesses along its length. As part of its remit, the Review Team is considering whole system rail improvements which can be considered for the rail investment strategy beyond 2019. The Scottish Government is also promoting rail freight through its rail freight strategy Delivering the Goods which looks at new and efficient ways of transporting goods in addition to building strong and lasting partnerships to grow existing and new markets.

The Freight Facilities Grant scheme remains open for applications. As a state aid approved grant scheme, it is currently in the process of being re-notified to the European Commission. Any new applications will be determined following this process.

The Scottish Government is preparing a full statistical release which will include answers to these questions which we expect to publish on 8 December 2017. The provisional estimate for Scotland is 563,000 acres, but the data are undergoing quality assurance before the final publication will be made including local authority and Scottish Parliamentary Constituency breakdowns.

The Scottish Government is preparing the first official statistical publication 'Estimate of Community Owned Land in Scotland, 2017'. We expect to publish these first official estimates to be published on 8 December 2017.

Since financial year 2013-14, Community Broadband Scotland has allocated £3,703,000 of Scottish Government funding towards payment of grants. Of that total, £3,553,946 has been issued, leaving Community Broadband Scotland with an underspend of £149,054. The breakdown per year is as follows: