Chamber and committees

As part of the tripling of the Fuel Insecurity Fund, announced by the First Minister this year, an assessment of impact to date on Fuel Poverty Act 2019 statutory targets is being considered by officials to inform next steps and advice to Ministers. This is part of a wider long-term holistic and sustainable approach to addressing poverty, and investment in change.

The Fuel Insecurity Fund (FIF) has been and continues to be a direct lifeline for tens of thousands of households, providing emergency short-term crisis support to those at risk of self-rationing their energy use, or self-disconnecting entirely. Since being established in the winter of 2020, as part of the wider Winter Support Fund, a total of £33.595 million in support has been distributed from the FIF through our third sector delivery partners.

Our Tackling Fuel Poverty strategy sets out the actions towards meeting our statutory targets as set out in the Fuel Poverty Act 2019. We are presently consulting with the Scottish Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel in respect of next steps with our strategy.

Official statistics on fuel poverty in Scotland are published as part of the annual Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS). However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the most recent available figures relate to 2019, and so predate the establishment of the FIF. The SHCS for 2021 is due to be published on 30 May.

CalMac Ferries Limited have provided details that the repair to the Isle of Arran exhaust leak in April 2023 incurred a cost of £1,212.54.

This cost was included within their vessel maintenance budget.

The Scottish Government plans to publish a draft of the next Climate Change Plan in November 2023, with a final version due by March 2025.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17176 on 9 May 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Modern Apprenticeship statistics are published on the Skills Development Scotland (SDS) website at Modern Apprenticeships | Skills Development Scotland . Year-end statistics for 2022/23 are expected to be published in May 2023.

The proportion of individuals who completed their apprenticeship, known in the published reports below as ‘achievement rate’, are published by SDS at the following links:

Foundation Apprenticeships - https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/media/50223/foundation-apprenticeship-report-2022-published-version.pdf

Modern Apprenticeships - https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/media/49237/modern-apprenticeship-statistics-quarter-4-2021-22.pdf

Graduate Apprenticeships - https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/media/49924/graduate-apprenticeship-annual-report-2022-final.pdf

Earlier years data can be found in older publications.

As Circularity Scotland is a private company, support arrangements they have with their members is a matter for them and it would not be appropriate for the Scottish Government to intervene in such commercial arrangements between private companies. Only the very largest producers (those making more than 10 million units per year) are required to underwrite costs. We are grateful to all businesses for the investment they have made in preparing for the launch of the deposit return scheme and this investment will be important for the success of the scheme when it launches on 1 March.

Circularity Scotland advise that only the very largest producers (those making more than 10 million units per year) are required to underwrite costs. As Circularity Scotland is a private company, contractual arrangements they have with their members, including any payments as part of their producer agreement, is a matter for them and it would not be appropriate for the Scottish Government to intervene in such commercial arrangements between private companies.

The Scottish Government has statutory requirements in the UK Marine Strategy to develop and implement pathway action plans to reduce the risk of introduction and spread of invasive non-native species (INNS), and to improve monitoring and surveillance to detect new non-indigenous species (or INNS) introductions, particularly at high-risk locations. The Scottish Government provides significant funding to tackle INNS, for example this includes part funding the Scottish Invasive Species Initiative, which is an ambitious £3.24 million partnership project tackling invasive non-native species alongside rivers and water courses.

Scottish Ministers, NatureScot, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency and Scottish Forestry have statutory powers to enforce the Wildlife and Countryside Act UK (1981), using the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act (2011), which make it a criminal offence to release, plant or cause a species to be outwith its native range. This applies across all aquatic environments.

There are currently no plans to review or amend the law in this area. Responsibility for local authority museums rightly rests with each local authority. Local authorities must use resources as efficiently as possible and deliver services effectively to ensure taxpayers get the best possible value.

Table 1 below provides the gross teaching funding allocations per Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) place in college in cash and real terms (2022-23 prices), since 2007-08. Please note that data between the periods of 2007-08 to 2012-13 and 2013-14 to 2022-23 are not directly comparable due to a change in methodology of how FTEs in college were calculated.