Chamber and committees

While the restrictions on the number of people who can attend live events have been relaxed from 24 January, I understand it will take time for audience confidence to be rebuilt.

The Scottish Government is keen to encourage audiences to return to cultural events. The First Minister held a media visit at the Scottish Opera on 2 February. The First Minister welcomed the return of live events and encouraged people to support theatres and other aspects of the arts.

The Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs & Culture is giving the opening address at the Association of British Orchestras conference on 9 February. Mr Robertson will highlight during this speech the need for audiences to feel confident in returning to cultural events.

The Scottish Government is keen to work with stakeholders, including the performing arts and live music sector, to seek opportunities to encourage audiences to return to cultural events, in line with current guidance for public places.

The following table sets out Scottish Government funding offered to the SSN Secretariat since 2018-19:

Having been delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, our Fuel Poverty Strategy was laid in Parliament on 9th November and subsequently published on the Scottish Government's website on 23rd December.

As required by the Fuel Poverty (Targets, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Act 2019, the Strategy sets out the actions we are already taking to tackle fuel poverty, as well as outlining the further measures we believe will be necessary to meet our ambitious targets for reducing fuel poverty. This includes actions to address each of the four drivers of fuel poverty: poor energy efficiency of the home; high energy costs; low household incomes; and how energy is used in the home.

The Scottish Budget 2022-23 sets out almost £2 billion of low carbon capital investment in Scotland’s public infrastructure, including almost £350 million to drive forward our commitment to decarbonise the heating of 1 million homes and £124 million capital investment to support high quality active travel in walking, wheeling and cycling infrastructure.

Audit Scotland operate independently from the Scottish Government. The Auditor General has highlighted seven themes in their Strategic Priorities and Future Work Programme, including Climate Change. For more information on Audit Scotland please visit Audit Scotland | Audit Scotland (audit-scotland.gov.uk) .

The Scottish Government does not have plans to produce a joint net zero delivery framework with local authorities. We continue to support public sector leadership on the climate emergency through ongoing engagement with key bodies such as the Sustainable Scotland Network, Scottish Leaders Forum, COSLA, Environment and Economy Leadership Group and the Scottish Cities Alliance.

The Scottish Government’s Climate Change Plans include proposals and policies to deliver Scotland’s emissions reduction targets and the updated Climate Change Plan, published in December 2020, sets out a framework for all sectors of society to contribute to our journey to net zero including the role that local authorities and other parts of the public sector must play. This is supported by a legislative framework for local authorities delivery of net zero, where local authorities are required to report annually on their climate duties. Looking ahead, we have committed to publish our next Climate Change Plan in the first half of this Parliament.

There are currently no cases of Avian Influenza in any goose species recorded on Islay.

The barnacle geese present on Islay are from the Greenland population and mixing between these and the Svalbard population in the Solway is rare.

The Islay population are well monitored and are managed using an adaptive management approach, which can respond quickly to any changes in the situation.

As I confirmed on 1 February, based on the ongoing disruption arising from Covid, the SQA has taken the decision to invoke the Scenario 2 contingency and revision support will be made available in early March.

This revision support will complement the significant modifications to courses and assessments that the SQA have already made to take account of the expected disruption to learning this year.

The timing of the revision support gives learners the opportunity to complete the learning for their courses and focus on their coursework before their attention moves more fully to preparing for exams. It is important that teaching and learning is not narrowed too far in advance as this would negatively impact the learners’ breadth of knowledge and understanding as well as the next steps in their learning. In addition, the timing allows SQA to fully align the revision support with the question papers which are still being finalised.

Further information regarding the 2022 exam diet preparation, including the approach to exceptional circumstances, grading and appeals as well as support for learners, was included in my statement on 1 February 2022 and can be found at: Meeting of the Parliament: 01/02/2022 | Scottish Parliament Website .

The Bioenergy Policy Working Group have met six times since the Bioenergy Update was published in March 2021.