Chamber and committees

I am pleased to announce that the successful Learning Estate Investment Programme Phase 3 projects are as follows:

1. Hazlehead Academy (Aberdeen City)

2. Mull Campus (Argyll and Bute)

3. Lochies ASN School (Clackmannanshire)

4. Lenzie Academy (East Dunbartonshire)

5. Carrongrange ASN School extension (Falkirk)

6. Forres Academy (Moray)

7. Chryston High School extension (North Lanarkshire)

8. Kirkwall ASN Centre (Orkney)

9. Brae Campus (Shetland)

10. Riverside and Letham Primary School (West Lothian)

I am grateful for all the bids that local authorities submitted. This newest phase of investment through our Learning Estate Investment Programme will continue to support local authorities, who maintain statutory responsibility for the school estate, to build modern, state of the art, learning environments.

The decision will mean that every local authority which has submitted a bid through the Learning Estate Investment Programme has now received funding for a project in Phases 1, 2 or 3.

The £2 billion Learning Estate Investment Programme follows on from the successful £1.8 billion Scotland’s Schools for the Future Programme, which delivered 117 new or refurbished learning facilities across Scotland.

As a direct result of Scottish Government investment, the proportion of schools in “good” or “satisfactory” condition has increased from 61% in April 2007 to 90.7% in April 2023.

We will now take forward further engagement and collaboration with COSLA to explore how we can address the remaining sub-standard condition schools, and schools required due to population growth, which remain a priority for local authorities across the country.

During Phase 5 of the CashBack for Communities (CashBack) programme (2020 – 2023), funding was awarded to the Scottish Professional Football League Trust (SPFL Trust). Their ‘Off the Bench’ project worked to provide young people in need of support with opportunities to access education, employment and build better futures.

The SPFL Trust provided onward funding to the Big Hearts Community Trust to support 23 young people in 2022. The main objectives set for Phase 5 CashBack projects were to:

• Support people, families and communities most affected by crime

• Support those most at risk of being involved in antisocial behaviour, offending or reoffending into positive destinations

• Support young people most at risk of entering the justice system

• Provide intergenerational support for parents, families and children impacted by Adverse Childhood Experiences

All CashBack projects are evaluated against their objectives. The independent evaluation of Phase 5 of the CashBack for Communities programme is due to be published by December 2023.

While we do not hold information on the number of households at risk of being disconnected this winter due to debt, we are clear that suppliers must exhaust all possible options to prevent this.

The power to take meaningful action to alleviate the effects of high energy costs on households over the long term, such as the introduction of a social tariff, sits with the UK Government. However, the Scottish Government continues to do everything we can, within the limited powers available to us, such as tripling our Fuel Insecurity Fund to £30 million for this year.

I also recently chaired three working groups focusing on rural, non-domestic and vulnerable (now known as priority) energy consumers, helping to identify and deliver collaborative actions to help mitigate the impact of the continued high cost of energy on households and businesses across Scotland.

I would urge anyone struggling with energy debt to contact Advice Direct Scotland on 0808 80 960 for free, impartial advice.

Policy responsibility for this issue is a devolved matter, and the potential introduction of any new legislation would be given careful consideration by Scottish Ministers.

The Scottish Government understands that the Animal Welfare (Responsibility for Dog Attacks) Bill would require a person in charge of a dog to take all reasonable steps to ensure that that dog does not fatally injure another dog. The Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 already makes it an offence for a person to cause unnecessary suffering to a protected animal, however the Scottish Government is open to considering if further provision is necessary in this area.

It is important that we take the time to work closely with industry, with investors and with our partners across the public and private sectors to ensure that we get our approach to this right. This process is already well-underway and will update the market once it has been completed.

Delivery of the £500 million Just Transition Fund remains ongoing with £75 million allocated to date, supporting projects and communities across the North East and Moray to create jobs, support innovation, and secure the highly skilled workforce of the future.

There will be an extensive programme of consultation as the Green Industrial Strategy is developed in line with our commitments within the New Deal for Business. We have already engaged with a number of organisations including Scottish Chambers of Commerce (SCC), Confederation of British Industry (CBI Scotland), Scottish Council for Development & Industry (SCDI), Federation of Small Business (FSB), Institute of Directors (IoD) and Scottish Financial Enterprise (SFE). We will continue to engage with stakeholders through our New Deal for Business Group and other mechanisms in order to shape the strategy.

We are already working closely with private and public sector partners, including developers and investors, through a variety of fora to ensure that together, we maximise the economic benefits that the offshore renewables sector can deliver for Scotland.

We are working closely our partners in the Enterprise Agencies and the Scottish National Investment Bank to develop an approach that will allow us to respond at pace to market needs. We will provide more detail to the market in due course.

Freight Sailings from Aberdeen

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) manage 204,782 hectares of woodland within the rainforest zone, of which 17,960 hectares are considered to be rainforest habitat, or of high potential to be restored to rainforest habitat. These consist of PlantLife IPA, and other areas of ancient woodland sites. Within the Rainforest zone 13,297 hectares of Scotland’s National Forests and Land are classified as plantations on ancient woodland sites (PAWS).

FLS will begin restoration of up to 780 hectares of priority rainforest area this year in Cowal, Argyll (Kintyre & West Loch Awe), Loch Lomond Basin, Wester Ross. Activity will include INNS control, PAWS restoration and deer management.

It is anticipated natural colonisation will occur within PAWS under restoration and generally throughout rainforest habitat following a reduction in deer densities, buffering zones for natural colonisation are being planned within Land Management Plans.