Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government provides funding to both homeowners and landlords of properties through the Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan Scheme and the Private Rented Sector Landlord (PRS) Loan Scheme respectively.

For homeowners who already have a heat pump installed in their property, the HES Grant and Loan Scheme currently offers up to £6,000 (£4,750 interest free loan and £1,250 grant) funding for solar PV and up to £6,000 (£4,750 interest free loan and £1,250 grant) for battery storage as part of a package.

For landlords who already have a heat pump installed in their property, the PRS Loan Scheme offers funding of up to £5,000 loan for solar PV and up to £6,000 for battery storage. Loans to landlords with five or fewer properties are interest free whereas loans to landlords with six or more properties in their portfolio will attract an interest rate of 2.5%APR.

Inspiring Scotland will open applications for the new Autism Support Fund in the next couple of weeks. The application window will remain open for a period of 4 weeks and awards will be announced to recipients two to three weeks after applications close.

A total of 147 school builds were completed between 2016-17 and 2021-22. Figures for 2022-23 are not yet available.

Table 1 shows the breakdown by local authority. Only builds with a cost of £500,000 or more for primary and £1 million or more for secondary and special are included.

A breakdown by individual year is available from Table 7.1 in the school estate statistics supplementary data tables https://www.gov.scot/publications/school-estate-statistics-2022/documents/ .

Table 1: Schools built by local authority between 2016-17 and 2021-22.

Securing positive effects for biodiversity is one of six statutory outcomes for the National Planning Framework, as identified in section 3A(3)(c) of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997, as amended. National Planning Framework (NPF4) was adopted and published on 13 February 2023. Improving biodiversity is a cross-cutting theme which runs throughout NPF4. Our strategy and policies support development that helps to secure positive effects for biodiversity.

Current building regulations include a standard which promote sustainable development, including advice on how biodiversity can be well served as a topic in new school developments – this is published under Aspect 4 of our ‘statement of sustainability’, standard 7.1 in the Non-domestic Technical Handbook . We plan to revisit this topic, in the context of other ongoing activity, to understand further opportunities for building regulations to make a positive contribution to biodiversity within new developments.

National Planning Framework 4 Policy 3 (c), which relates to local developments, is underpinned by NatureScot’s Developing With Nature guidance published on 13 February 2023. This guidance includes 24 measures that development can incorporate to enhance biodiversity, one of which is Homes for Small Birds (measure 13).

The Swift Conservation website also provides guidance to the building industry on swift bricks and nest boxes Swift Conservation Homepage (swift-conservation.org) .

There is no single reason behind the increased rates of terminations of pregnancy shown in the 2022 Public Health Scotland statistics. Scottish Government is working with NHS Boards to explore this further.

Whilst the Scottish Government believes that all women should have access to abortion services should they require them, the Women’s Health Plan published in 2021 sets out a number of ways to reduce the risk of unintended pregnancies. This includes ensuring that women across Scotland have timely access to contraception, and to information which allows them to make informed decisions about their own sexual and reproductive health. We are working with NHS Boards to improve contraception provision for post-partum women, and also to encourage the take up of Long Acting Reversable Contraception (LARC) post-abortion care.

The Scottish Government’s Sexual Health and Blood Borne Viruses (SHBBV) plan for 2023-2026, which is due to be published towards the end of summer 2023, will include a focus on improving access to sexual health services across Scotland.

The tuition fee rates for first full-time undergraduate degrees in Scotland are £1,820.

Tuition fees in England and Wales can be up to £9,250 and £9,000 respectively.

The Women’s Health Plan: A plan for 2021 – 2024 aims to reduce health inequalities and improve health outcomes for women and girls. The Plan focusses on a specific set of priorities and thyroid conditions are not specifically mentioned in this iteration of the Plan.

However we do recognise that many women are significantly affected by the condition and we are committed to ensuring that people living with hypothyroidism are able to access the best possible support from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care. Information on symptoms and treatments are available at NHS Inform .

The priorities for any future Women’s Health Plan are not yet determined. Future aims and priorities will be developed in collaboration with women and girls, including our lived experience stakeholder group, clinical experts and relevant stakeholders alongside the most up-to-date evidence base.

The Scottish Government has commissioned the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) to identify treatment options for patients across Scotland, including in NHS Tayside, who are currently on waiting lists for the following urogynaecology procedures:

• Urethral Bulking
• Laparoscopic Colposuspension
• Fascial Sling

Working Collaboratively with clinical colleagues across NHS Scotland and CFSD we have agreed a plan that sets out how and when these patients will be treated by adopting a national approach to clear the waiting list. We aim to ensure all patients requiring a procedure is appointed and treated by late summer.

To provide future resilience, the national unit, based in CFSD, will support increased capacity for treatment within NHS Scotland and enable the development of training to build future sustainability within this highly specialist clinical area.

In terms of NHS Tayside, there are eleven patients waiting who required fascial sling surgery. These patients now have a treatment plan and will be seen by Spire Healthcare, Edinburgh. Spire Healthcare is expect to be able to treat all eleven patients by the end of August 2023.

From academic year 2023-24, the Scottish Government have updated the residency criteria for home fees status and student financial support in Further Education and Higher Education. This update means we can now consider applications for tuition fees, bursaries and/or loans from students with all forms of leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom providing they meet the other eligibility tests set out in Regulations. This extension of support has seen more groups of students become eligible, including those students granted leave on the British National (Overseas) visa route.

The Scottish Government does not have any immediate plans to waive the requirement for 3 years ordinary residence in the UK for this group.

Scottish Ministers are committed to re-opening the Independent Living Fund (ILF) 2015 Fund on the basis of affordability and sustainability. The Scottish Government will continue to actively consider re-opening the Fund as part of the annual budget setting process. Stakeholder engagement opportunities are planned in the coming months to strengthen communication, explain the funding position and stress that future options for the ILF Scotland 2015 Fund would be developed in co-design with disabled people and their representative organisations.