Chamber and committees

Following an open procurement exercise, in June 2022 the Building Research Establishment (BRE) was commissioned by the Scottish Government to develop potential options for new EPC metrics; model the Scottish housing stock against these new metrics, propose a system to map the new metrics to a 1-100 and A-G scale, and identify the improvement measures needed to retrofit dwellings to achieve high EPC ratings in the new metrics.

This work was concluded in March 2023 and we intend to publish BRE’s report alongside our forthcoming EPC reform consultation. The fee was £93,768.

During the consultation process for the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy, the Scottish Government convened the inaugural meeting of the Flytipping Forum, of which Police Scotland is a member and the purpose of which is to support co-ordinated action to tackle flytipping.

The National Litter and Flytipping Strategy has been co-designed in partnership with Zero Waste Scotland, Keep Scotland Beautiful and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. Furthermore, during the development of the Strategy, the Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime, chaired by Police Scotland, has been regularly engaged on the strategy’s progress and provided the opportunity to feedback on consultation proposals.

The Strategy will soon be published, following on from which the Flytipping Forum will be convened to discuss the strategy’s content and priority actions.

During the consultation process for the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy, I attended the inaugural meeting of the Flytipping Forum, the purpose of which is to enable ongoing engagement between policy makers and stakeholders to support co-ordinated action to tackle flytipping. Membership of the Forum includes Scottish Land and Estates, National Farmers Union Scotland, Woodland Trust Scotland, Keep Scotland Beautiful and Police Scotland as well as local authority representation through a combination of CoSLA, SOLACE and further relevant networks.

I have been carefully considering responses to the consultation, and continue to engage on litter and flytipping issues as part of my engagement with local authorities, third sector organisations, community groups, and industry bodies. The Strategy will soon be published , following on from which the Flytipping Forum will be reconvened to discuss its implementation.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Prison Service.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on how much money has been raised from fixed penalties issued for the offence of littering or flytipping.

This detailed information can be obtained by contacting individual issuing authorities.

The Scottish Government recognises the pressure on household budgets which is why both last year and this, we have allocated almost £3bn to support policies which tackle poverty and protect people as far as possible during the ongoing cost of living crisis.

Our commitment to ongoing investment and the support measures implemented are, not specific to, but inclusive of, people with a learning disability as valued citizens of Scotland.

In addition we have launched a dedicated Cost of Living portal, signposting to helpful information across a range of subjects including energy and bills; debt and money; children and families; and health and wellbeing.

The Scottish Government also continue to fund a variety of key stakeholder organisations such as Scottish Commission for People with Learning Disabilities (SCLD), Down’s Syndrome Scotland (DSS) and PAMIS who provide general specialised support and advice for people with learning disabilities and their families and carers across a number of platforms and in a range of accessible formats.

An Estate Strategy and Carbon Management Plan for Scottish Government core buildings is under development to support our asset planning and the future investment decisions required to improve the energy performance of our buildings and deliver the Heat in Building Strategy and Net Zero targets.

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering energy saving projects across its estate, such as reduced use of natural gas, improved insulation, more efficient boilers, and the installation of solar panels. In the last 18 months, two projects to remove gas heating, install insulation, install triple glazing and solar PV were completed at our Thainstone and Tweedbank buildings. Additionally, LED lighting was installed at Victoria Quay and SASA in Edinburgh. The EPC's for these buildings will be updated in due course.

Feasibility studies are currently being carried out for other owned buildings on our estate.

Scottish Government has recently appointed an external professional advisor to provide guidance on the scope of building condition surveys required for Scottish Government buildings. It anticipates receiving details of the scope within approximately 8-10 weeks, surveys will be instructed immediately thereafter and in line with Scottish Government Procurement guidelines. The time to complete the surveys will be dependent on the scope provided, number of buildings and procurement guidance.

The Scottish Government has engaged extensively with industry regarding the proposed reform of the Energy Performance Certificate rating system. Engagement work over the past year has included, but is not limited to, the below events with the highlighted organisations.

Engagement has occurred in previous years. This includes through our earlier consultation in 2021, which incorporated workshop events which were open to stakeholders to attend as well as traditional responses.

We are intending to publish a second consultation containing our final proposals this summer, and will continue to engage with all stakeholders during this process.

The health and welfare of children waiting for paediatric appointment remains a priority for the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on blood tests, nor paediatric phlebotomy appointments. This information will lie with NHS Lothian.

We meet regularly with all Health Boards, including NHS Lothian, to discuss any challenges impacting activity and to provide any necessary support. As part of these discussions we have engaged with the Board on this issue. NHS Lothian are working to increase the number and timeliness of appointments available, while any urgent requests are addressed as a priority.

We continue to work closely with all NHS Boards to maximise capacity and reduce the time people are waiting for appointments and treatment. We have already seen a huge effort by our NHS to clear long waiting times, with the number of new outpatients and inpatient/day-cases seen in the quarter to March 2023 at the highest level since the start of the pandemic.