Chamber and committees

The Housing for Varying Needs design guide offers good practice in the design of homes in order to help them achieve a degree of flexibility, suit people of varying needs, be convenient to use, and be fit for purpose. Where possible, all new affordable homes delivered through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme are built to Housing for Varying Needs standards.

As set out within the Housing to 2040 route map, we are reviewing the Housing for Varying Needs design guide. We want the guide to help better meet the needs of an ageing population, help people to live in their home for longer, consider a wider range of needs, and learn lessons from the pandemic by recognising the importance of outdoor space, and space for home working or study.

We plan to consult on proposed changes to the guide over the coming months and will wish to engage with disability groups and those with experience of living in homes delivered to Housing for Varying Needs standards, as well as those involved in the delivery of new homes.

Once complete, the review of Housing for Varying Needs will inform the introduction of building standards in 2025-26 to underpin a new Scottish Accessible Homes Standard, which all new homes will need to achieve, regardless of tenure.

The Scottish Government continues to prioritise investment in health and social care and to work with health boards to address financial pressures across the system. Investment of over £73 billion over the Resource Spending Review period, and a further £1.3 billion capital investment to 2025-26, will support recovery and redesign of services and delivery of a financially, environmentally and socially sustainable health service.

The upcoming NHS Climate Emergency and Sustainability Strategy calls for Health Boards to focus on energy efficiency measures and the generation of on-site renewable electricity through solar panels and wind turbines. Short and medium term reductions in electricity use will provide reductions in cumulative emissions, i.e. the total emissions resulting from the NHS over the period, as well as limiting energy bills.

The Scottish Government’s Heat in Buildings Strategy sets out that its Green Public Sector Estate Decarbonisation scheme will invest a minimum of £200 million between 2021-2026 in public sector energy efficiency and decarbonisation improvements. Health Boards have successfully applied for funding in the first round of that scheme and will be supported to apply to future rounds as well. Up to £50,000 of pre-capital funding is also available per organisation to carry out measures such as energy audits to inform the development of energy efficiency and transition programmes.

NHS Board’s baseline revenue allocations are set out annually in the Scottish Budget, as published on the Scottish Government’s website. In addition, resource and capital spending limits are reported in Board’s annual accounts, which are published on their websites.

Since 2018-19, funding for frontline boards has increased by 17.4%.

The Scottish Government allocates funding to territorial NHS Boards based on the NRAC formula. The NRAC formula takes into account factors in addition to population levels, including relative deprivation and need for healthcare in different NHS Board areas.

Since 2012-13, almost £2.6 billion additional funding has been committed to those NHS Boards below their NRAC parity levels, bringing all boards to within 0.8% of parity.

More information on the NRAC formula is available at: Resource Allocation Formula in Scotland - Finance - Data & intelligence from PHS (isdscotland.org)

I know that the energy price increases we have seen recently will be concerning to many Scottish consumers, not least of all those in vulnerable circumstances.

I also know that consumers using prepayment meters pay a higher tariff for their energy. Unfortunately, regulation in the gas and electricity supply markets remains reserved to the UK Government meaning the Scottish Government’s potential actions are limited.

We are doing what we can within our reserved powers. We have extended our Fuel Insecurity Fund through 2022-23 and made available a further £10m to support those facing fuel insecurity. The Fuel Insecurity Fund includes support for the Fuel Bank Foundation to expand their existing Fuel Bank network in Scotland, to provide same-day support to prepayment meter users at risk of imminent self-disconnection We will seek to ensure that those receiving help are not just provided with financial support but that they are also connected with wider advice and support on energy efficiency, income maximisation and how to reduce energy bills.

The Investing in Scotland’s Future: Resource Spending Review confirmed that the Scottish Government will work closely with COSLA to agree a New Deal for Local Government, in advance of the next financial year. This will be based on the twin pillars of a new Fiscal Framework and an accompanying partnership agreement with Local Government. The New Deal will also build on the Local Governance Review, and help to bring a sharpened focus on ensuring the review arrives at a set of findings which can transform local democracy in Scotland.

The underspend against HM Treasury Scottish budgets for each financial year since 1999 is provided in the following table:

The Scottish Government is fully committed to helping the Scottish hydrogen sector develop.

Following publication of the draft Hydrogen Action Plan in November 2021, a 10 week consultation was conducted to allow stakeholders adequate time to provide their views and feedback on the draft plan and its associated impact assessments. Officials are currently revising the draft Hydrogen Action Plan to take account of this feedback and we will be publishing our final Hydrogen Action Plan later this year. The Hydrogen Action Plan will outline our work to promote hydrogen activity and to develop the hydrogen economy in Scotland.

The draft Hydrogen Action Plan committed £100 million hydrogen funding for 2022-2026 through the Emerging Energy Technologies Fund (EETF). In June 2022, we launched the first tranche of the EETF via the £10 million Hydrogen Innovation Scheme. The remaining £90 million hydrogen investment programme is expected to launch in Autumn 2022 and will focus on supporting rapid renewable hydrogen production from Scotland’s abundant renewable energy resources.

The Scotland Reserve was established following the 2016 Scotland Act and was effective from 1 April 2017. Amounts allocated annually to the Scotland Reserve since 1 April 2017 are included on the table below as well as details of all other movements within the Scotland Reserve during the relevant financial years.

In line with the requirements of the Scotland Act 1998, Boundaries Scotland must report its recommendations to Scottish Ministers by 1 May 2025. The timing of the review is otherwise a matter for Boundaries Scotland but it is likely that it will start the review this autumn with initial consultation taking place in the first half of 2023.

The European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) scheme allows EU citizens visiting Scotland, including volunteers, to access immediately necessary NHS healthcare at no charge, other than for certain dental and ophthalmic treatments in common with the general population. The EHIC scheme also makes provision for the treatment of long term conditions, such as kidney dialysis or oxygen therapy, which can be arranged with NHS Boards in advance of travelling to Scotland.