Chamber and committees

Local authorities are obliged by law to offer the minimum of temporary accommodation, advice and assistance to anyone at risk of homelessness. Anyone who is threatened with or experiencing homelessness should contact their local authority in the first instance.

We already have a national strategy to end homelessness and rough sleeping in Scotland, which was updated in October 2020. Our Ending Homelessness Together action plan, backed by funding of £100 million between 2018-26, demonstrates our commitment to end homelessness in Scotland and we publish an annual report to show the progress being made to tackle these issues.

The Scottish Government is committed to bringing forward a Student Accommodation Strategy for Scotland which, in part, will be informed by a review of Purpose Built Student Accommodation, now underway. We will look to develop and incorporate this alongside and within the Rented Sector Strategy. This will include issues such as supply, affordability and wider planning and regulatory issues.

We do not believe an enhanced kerbside scheme could deliver the level or rate of improvement that we will see through Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). Packaging recycling rates have stalled, including for glass, and the current producer responsibility system is not driving improvement.

In terms of public awareness, now that the implementation date of 16 August 2023 has been confirmed by the Scottish Parliament, we will work closely with Circularity Scotland Ltd to ensure that there is widespread understanding of DRS before the scheme is implemented.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that police and local authorities continue to have the powers and resources needed to address antisocial behaviour in our communities. This includes investing in prevention and early intervention.

No single approach will tackle all antisocial behaviour and that is why we support a range of activities which includes the use of Antisocial Behaviour Orders (ASBO’s) and Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN’s) alongside diversionary and early intervention activities in appropriate circumstances. We encourage agencies to work in partnership to address the issues being faced by communities and work with them to address these issues, including dealing with those who are persistent offenders.

The Energy Strategy and Just Transition plan will refresh the 2017 Energy Strategy, and deliver Scotland’s first Just Transition Plan. It will take a whole-system view of how the sector must evolve to drive our transition to net zero, with a specific focus on actions needed to meet our 2030 interim target. The revised timeline will allow robust evidence and analysis to be produced and take account of ongoing projects, which are progressing at pace in response to the rapidly evolving global energy environment. It will also allow time for us to engage meaningfully with stakeholders in line with our wider approach to just transition.

In September 2021 Defra announced plans to facilitate gene editing (GE) in plants for research trials, and after that to review the regulatory definitions in England of a genetically modified organism (GMO) to exclude organisms produced by gene editing and other genetic technologies if they could have been developed by traditional breeding. This was despite the majority of respondents to a public consultation on genetic technologies in England rejecting this proposal. In March 2022, the Statutory Instrument to facilitate gene editing for research trials passed and Defra is now preparing primary powers to change the GMO definition.

While we are keeping abreast of both scientific and judicial reasoning on the decoupling of products of novel genomic techniques, such as gene editing, from GMOs, the definition of a GMO has not changed in Scotland. Gene edited organisms are legally considered GMOs.

Should the EU move to change its regulatory framework, as in other matters, we will consider the implications for Scotland as details become available. The Scottish Government is committed to maintaining alignment with EU laws and standards, supported in part by powers in the Continuity Act that ensure Scottish Ministers can make secondary legislation to achieve this. This means that we will continue to align with the EU where appropriate and in Scotland’s interest, including the protection and advancement of the high environmental standards that both Scotland and the EU enjoy.

Scotland’s climate targets are, rightly, highly ambitious and agriculture has a key role to play in meeting Scotland’s net-zero target for carbon emissions by 2045. The Climate Change Plan Update (CCPu) sets out a detailed, clear and credible pathway to meeting emissions targets over the period to 2032.

The Scottish Government has not commissioned Strathesk Resolutions to undertake a mediation process between employers and trade unions.

The organisation has undertaken a Lessons Learned exercise to identify factors that have led to dispute in the college sector in recent years, and has provided recommendations on the future operations of national bargaining in Scotland.

The report, alongside the Scottish Government's response, will be published in due course.

SEPA conducts assessments of Invasive Non Native Species (INNS) that affect the aquatic environment through River Basin Management Planning (RBMP) status assessments and routine impact monitoring, carried out as a subset of the wider condition assessment. The location of INNS (riparian plants) is mapped during morphology surveys and data is also collated from verified external datasets such as the National Biodiversity Network (including records submitted via Scotland’s Environment Website).

As directed by the Scottish Government, SEPA’s INNS assessments are currently of those species on the UK Technical Advisory Group (UKTAG) high impact list. At Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) and other designated sites NatureScot undertakes INNS assessments (including non-aquatic species) through their routine condition assessments.

As of 4 May, 2,108,468 households in Scotland have successfully submitted their response to Scotland's Census 2022.

It is essential we maximise participation and ensure that everyone is heard and their needs captured. That is why the census online completion site remains open and support through both the free helpline (0800 030 8308) and field teams will remain in place.

National Records of Scotland will also continue to accept paper returns for this short extension period - until end May.

The benefit cap is a UK Government policy that sets a limit on the total annual payment a household can receive from means-tested benefits. The Scottish Government cannot amend this policy but we can provide support to benefit-capped families through the discretionary housing payment system. Our aim is to mitigate the cap as fully as possible within the parameters set by UK legislation on discretionary housing payments.

We are working with local authorities to identify good practice in benefit cap mitigation and agree how to best support those affected. This additional funding will be rolled out as early as possible this year. Estimates show around 4,000 households are capped and we will work with local authorities to identify those.

The Scottish Government welcomes the publication of the IEA’s 10-Point Plan to Cut Oil Use as a useful contribution to ongoing global policy development on net zero and energy sector volatility. It contains a range of actions which can be taken by consumers, businesses and public sector actors. The IEA report asserts that if adopted in full by all advanced economies, it would reduce consumption by 2.7 million barrels a day within the next four months, relative to current levels. The publication underlines the importance of reducing the need for private car travel, which the Scottish Government is addressing through our target to reduce car kilometres by 20% by 2030 – a truly world-leading commitment. Our route map to achieving this commitment was published in January and provides a framework for people to choose alternatives to car journeys, including sustainable online options; choosing local destinations; switching to walking, wheeling, cycling or public transport where possible; and to combine a trip or share a journey.

The Scottish Government’s position is clear that unlimited extraction of fossil fuels is not consistent with our climate obligations and we have consistently called on the UK Government, to urgently re-assess all approved oil licenses where drilling has not yet commenced against, our climate commitments. By refusing to recognise this, whilst demonstrating a failure of leadership to support an acceleration of low carbon heating and home energy efficiency measures, the UK Government’s new Energy Security Strategy has completely failed to take into account the agreements made at COP26, particularly in view of the UK’s continuing role as COP president in the run up to COP27, advice from its own statutory advisors, and the most recent alarming report from the UN’s IPCC. In Scotland, we will continue to focus on reducing reliance on fossil fuels and our overall energy demand while accelerating the deployment of renewable energy, creating a true just transition for our existing workforce and a greener, fairer future for everyone.