Chamber and committees

In a recent letter to the Minister for BEIS, Paul Scully MP, I urged the UK Government to deliver on its Good Work Plan commitments, which included measures to tackle one-sided flexibility, and to go further by raising the minimum wage to a real Living Wage and to put an end to the exploitative nature of insecure contracts. It is unacceptable that long overdue reforms to employment protections has been abandoned with the cancelled Employment Bill.

We continue to press the UK Government for the full devolution of employment powers in order to allow us to fully deliver our Fair Work ambitions.

The percentage of people in employment on a zero-hours contract (ZHC) in Scotland was 2.9% in Jan-Mar 2022, lower than the UK proportion which was 3.1%. However the proportion in both Scotland and the UK increased over the year, from 2.3% for Scotland and 2.7% for the UK in Jan-Mar 2021.

We firmly oppose the inappropriate use of zero-hours contracts and other non-standard types of employment that offer workers minimal job or financial security. We are using all the levers available to make Fair Work the norm in Scottish workplaces, including through our Fair Work First policy, which asks employers to commit to fair working practices including no inappropriate use of zero hours contracts.

We have also introduced a Living Hours Employer Accreditation Scheme for Scotland, recognising that as well as payment of the real Living Wage, the number and frequency of working hours and security of contract is critical to addressing in-work poverty.

No one should have to rely on charitable food provision which is why we have committed to publishing a plan on ending the need for food banks this Autumn.

We consulted on a draft plan earlier this year, which reaffirms our human rights approach – we prioritise action to prevent poverty and promote cash-first responses to hardship so that people have sufficient income to meet their needs and preferences.

Both the Trussell Trust and the Independent Food Aid Network have endorsed the cash-first approach, including through our Scottish Welfare Fund and low income pandemic supports.

Through the budget for 2022-23 the Scottish Government has allocated almost £3 billion to a range of supports that will contribute to mitigating the impact of the increased cost of living on households. This includes work to tackle child poverty, reduce inequalities and support financial wellbeing, alongside social security payments not available anywhere else in the UK.

INTOG is aligned to the Scottish Government’s commitment to delivering plan-led opportunities for offshore wind and marine renewables in Scottish waters. INTOG has been designed to facilitate both targeted oil and gas decarbonisation opportunities and provide a plan led approach to allowing smaller innovation type projects to access seabed. Something that is currently unavailable.

Whilst decoupling IN and TOG processes may allow one category of applications to proceed faster, the potential for cumulative impact and the need for plan-level assessments, to ensure negative impacts are appropriately managed, would not be removed and in fact may delay and complicate the assessments unnecessarily. As such, both components of INTOG will remain combined.

Everyone needs a safe, warm place to call home, but I know that news of energy price rises will cause many people to worry about their fuel bills. My foremost concern is for households who are affected by these price rises, particularly those who are in or at risk of fuel poverty.

I also know that many energy consumers have seen their direct debit payments increase during this time, some to an excessive degree based on their usage. Unfortunately, regulation in the gas and electricity supply markets remains reserved to the UK Government meaning the Scottish Government’s potential actions are limited.

Within this context we have remained in contact with the UK Government and the energy regulator, Ofgem to raise the concerns of Scottish consumers in light of the large scale changes we are seeing in the energy market.

The information requested is not yet publically available.

Scotland’s first three Early Cancer Diagnostic Centres (ECDC) are pilots to help inform wider roll-out of an optimal model for patients with non-specific symptoms suspicious of cancer.

All three Centres are using a nationally agreed minimum data-set, capturing patient identifiable data locally. A sub-section of this data will be published by the three Boards later this Summer to mark one-year since the early adopter sites were established.

Meanwhile, work is underway with Public Health Scotland to scope and progress the national data collection of ECDCs as more sites are expected to come on-stream.

Rent Service Scotland does not request nor hold official data on Landlords exiting the market.

The Heart Disease Action Plan (2021), sets out a strategic vision to ensure that everyone with suspected heart disease in Scotland has equitable access to timely and evidence-based diagnosis, treatment and care. Priority 2 in the plan contains a focus on improving access to diagnostics, including imaging.

There are no Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) guidelines for takotsubo cardiomyopathy. The decision to create, update and/or replace any SIGN guideline is made independently by the Evidence Directorate Work Programme Committee in Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS). Any group or individual can propose a guideline topic to SIGN. Guideline topics are selected on the basis of burden of disease, the existence of variation in practice, and the potential to improve outcomes.

Chief Scientist Office (CSO) is not currently directly funding research into Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy, though there is an active programme of research into this condition led by the University of Aberdeen. This research has taken place with Scotland-wide recruitment of participants with the support of NHS Research and Development which is funded by CSO.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07140 on 21 March 2022. 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

The potential of increased use of offsite construction (also referred to as modern methods of construction or MMC) is viewed as an opportunity for new build housing development with the potential to support industry and Government to deliver more homes, and to help us address challenges including workforce demand and diversity, the need to reduce waste, increase energy efficiency and improve quality while controlling cost pressures.

The Scottish Government already supports delivery of affordable homes across Scotland using a range of offsite methods, from timber frame construction through to fully modular development, and will continue to do so through our Affordable Housing Supply Programme. We are developing a business case for greater use of offsite construction in recognition of the significant opportunity that our ambitious 110,000 target for affordable homes by 2032 brings for social, economic and environmental benefits and the potential impact on funding, housing delivery and the supply chain of any new national approach.

The Scottish Construction Leadership Forum provides a major forum for Scottish Government/Industry interaction and involves our Innovation Centre, Built Environment – Smarter Transformation (BE-ST). The Skills and Workforce sub-group of the Forum is addressing a variety of upskilling areas, with a particular focus on the younger workforce: supporting apprentices and graduates in the industry and encouraging new entrants from diverse backgrounds to consider construction as a career of choice.

The BE-ST ‘Offsite Ready’ training programme is also helping to grow best practice and skills in offsite construction. Further details are available at www.offsiteready.com

The INTOG Initial Plan Framework has set out a series of geographic areas where no projects will be considered. This primarily affects the Innovation category of projects as Targeted Oil and Gas projects would naturally be located further offshore. These exclusions will help by ensuring projects are not located in areas that are more likely to negatively interact with other projects and on already sensitive receptors and thus delay adoption of the plan. Additionally, the planning and leasing processes have been designed to overlap to allow projects to progress as quickly as possible.

More specifically, all Innovation projects will also be required to deliver Supply Chain Development Statements setting out and committing to investment in supply chain for the project. Like ScotWind, these commitments will be subject to penalties if not met. Applications to Marine Scotland Directorate for relevant consents and licences for INTOG will also benefit from the streamlining work currently underway .