Chamber and committees

The First Minister announced on 17 December that funding will be made available to businesses in the food and drink chain supply chain, including food and drink wholesalers, who were affected by hospitality cancellations as a result of the additional public health measures introduced in December.

We are in the process of developing funding criteria and guidance in collaboration with the Scottish Wholesale Association, and we will ensure this information is publicised widely as soon as we can so that businesses can consider whether they may be eligible to apply.

Spend obtained from the Scottish Procurement Information Hub under the Business Subsector Category of Furniture by each department has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 63098) as a table.

It is not possible to determine from the information contained within the Scottish Procurement Information Hub whether the payment was for “new furniture”.

The objectives of the ten-year £500m Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray are to support and accelerate energy transition, create good, green jobs and maximise the region’s future economic potential. This reflects our determination to tackle the climate emergency and mitigate the impacts of that transition for communities across Scotland. We are therefore working at pace to deliver our sectoral, regional and site plans for a just transition.

As this is a new Fund, we are currently undertaking detailed policy design work and implementation planning ahead of the new financial year. The delivery of the Fund will be supported by a programme of engagement with partners, communities and other stakeholders across the North East and Moray and be underpinned by the principle of co-design. Further updates will be shared as this engagement develops.

Further to the Level 3 data provided throughout the Budget document, Level 4 data can be accessed via the spreadsheet titled ‘Scottish Budget: 2022-23 - Level 4 Data’, available here: Scottish Budget 2022 to 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . A breakdown and description of what the £49.1 million for the Climate Action and Just Transition Fund is allocated toward can be found in the NZ, E & T tab on Row 90.

We published our response to the recommendations of the Just Transition Commission’s final report on 7 September 2021 which is available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/transition-fairer-greener-scotland/. This confirms our commitment to implement the recommendations of the Just Transition Commission in full, and includes our national just transition planning framework which is guiding our approach to delivery with partners across Scotland. A list of recommendations made by the Commission in their final report and the associated actions are set out on pages 11 - 28.

As referred to in the document, the Scottish Government will also provide an annual ministerial statement to Parliament. This will give a comprehensive update on actions taken across Government to support a just transition, including progress on the Commission’s recommendations.

We published our response to the recommendations of the Just Transition Commission’s final report on 7 September 2021 which is available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/transition-fairer-greener-scotland/ .

We know that recent energy price rises will cause people to worry. My foremost concern is for households affected by these price rises, particularly those who are in or at risk of fuel poverty. It is worth noting that the setting of tariffs in the gas and electricity markets is reserved to the UK Government and subsequently we have called for action from the UK Government to address these issues. We are committed to using our available powers to support consumers however, that is why we are making £10 million available to help people struggling with their heating costs this Winter.

I would also encourage anyone struggling with their energy bills to get in touch with Home Energy Scotland for advice on how to reduce their fuel costs.

Our Fuel Poverty Strategy, published on 23 December, details how we aim to meet our statutory fuel poverty targets, as set out in the Fuel Poverty (Targets, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Act 2019 ("the 2019 Act"). The 2019 Act requires us to meet our 2040 targets both nationwide and within each local authority area, so we recognise that local authorities will be key partners in our efforts to achieve our fuel poverty goals.

Local authority fuel poverty and extreme fuel poverty rates are used to determine the funding allocations for our Area Based energy efficiency schemes (ABS), which are delivered in partnership with local authorities, ensuring money is distributed according to need.

Local authorities are currently required to set out their plans for how to tackle fuel poverty in their Local Housing Strategies (LHS). We will be refreshing our guidance on the fuel poverty requirements of the LHS to reflect the approach taken in our Fuel Poverty Strategy. In future local authorities will also be required to produce Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies (LHEES), within which they will set out how poor energy efficiency will be removed as a driver of fuel poverty.

This technical guide is an example of Historic Environment Scotland’s important and pioneering work in climate change research. The guide is positive in addressing the common assumption that older buildings are harder to treat, and enables the owners of traditional and historic properties in Scotland to make informed choices about the options available to improve energy efficiency.

The Fuel Poverty Strategy was published on 23 December.

The Strategy sets out a range of comprehensive actions that will be taken to tackle the drivers of fuel poverty and meet the Scottish Government’s commitment to eradicate it as far as reasonably possible by 2040 as required by the

2019 Fuel Poverty Act.

Work to deliver the actions within the Strategy will be overseen by the new statutory Scottish Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel, membership of which was also announced on 23 December.

The existing Scottish Household Recycling Charter has been designed to cover and encourage reuse. As set out in the Programme for Government, we are committed to evaluate the Household Recycling Charter with COSLA, and review its Code of Practice to ensure it reflects current best practice and makes it easier for households to recycle and reuse

Work to develop a waste route map to 2025 and beyond is also considering how to further support reuse given its importance within the waste hierarchy.