Chamber and committees

Information on entrants to Scottish universities and colleges from deprived areas is published by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) in the annual ‘Report on Widening Access’ statistics publication.

It provides the proportion of undergraduate entrants to Higher Education at either college or university. 2021-22 data will be published in Spring 2023.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14430 on 9 February 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

While the powers to take meaningful action sit with the UK Government, the Scottish Government is doing all it can to support non-domestic energy consumers with high energy bills.

Our Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) has added a Community Buildings Fund which supports communities and other eligible organisations to improve the heating systems in their buildings and reduce energy bills. This includes funding up to a maximum of £80,000 and includes energy efficiency measures, zero emissions heat and also small-scale generation where there is a clear benefit to the community organisation.

Additionally, the First Minister chaired two energy summits last year attended by energy suppliers, advice agencies and third sector representatives, and which discussed collaborative actions to support non-domestic consumers with energy costs.

We will continue to work with partners to identify what more we can do within the powers available to us to mitigate the impact of high energy costs upon non-domestic consumers including community organisations.

I have commissioned an urgent review of the environmental impacts and management of single-use vapes. Zero Waste Scotland will lead on the review, which will examine available evidence and consider potential options to tackle the issue.

The review will consider of a range of approaches, including options to enhance the safe recycling of disposed products and device components, such as lithium batteries.

We will consider the evidence and expert advice and bring forward policy options in due course.

The Scottish Government recognises and shares the music sector’s concern with the decision to reduce the breadth of cultural music programming on Radio Scotland. Certain musical forms, such as piping or jazz, are not traditionally thought of as mainstream musical offerings and it is essential that the BBC listens to the concerns of the music sector so that audiences are able to continue to enjoy pipe and jazz music on BBC Radio Scotland.

The Scottish Government maintains its strong commitment to young and establishing musicians, including through its long-standing investment of over £140m since 2007 in the Youth Music Initiative. This helps young people across Scotland to access music-making opportunities, and supports them to go on to careers in the music industry.

The Scottish Government will continue to press the BBC to deliver on its commitments to commission high-quality, distinctive Scottish output, including in relation to music.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. While the Scottish Government does collect statistics on homelessness, these do not include specific information relating to student homelessness.

A full review of the homelessness data collections aimed at bringing these up to date, improve consistency and better meet user needs is ongoing. As part of this, the appropriateness and feasibility of gathering information on student status will be fully and carefully considered.

A Fairer Scotland Impact Assessment (FSIA) looked at the additional initial outlay on ONS Household groups. This was both as a percentage of a grocery shop as well as a percentage of mean net income. The results can be found in the Annex A of the FSIA at:

https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/consultation-paper/2019/09/deposit-return-schemme-scotland-regulations-accompanying-statement-proposed-regulations/documents/fairer-scotland-impact-assessment/fairer-scotland-impact-assessment/govscot%3Adocument/fairer-scotland-impact-assessment.pdf

I have commissioned an urgent review of the environmental impacts and management of single-use vapes. Zero Waste Scotland will lead on the review, which will examine available evidence and consider potential options to tackle the issue, including the potential for single use vapes to be subject to a deposit return mechanism.

We will consider the evidence and expert advice and bring forward policy options in due course.

This information is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government committed in this year’s Programme for Government to consult in the coming year on our proposals for the Heat in Buildings Bill. This consultation will include details on how we plan to phase in a minimum energy efficiency standard across Scotland housing stock, including details on trigger points such as point of sale.