Chamber and committees

Full electrification of the line between Edinburgh Haymarket and Aberdeen is not an absolute prerequisite for achieving the decarbonisation of Scotland’s railway by 2035. As set out in the answer to question S6W-03041, however, it remains the expectation that the East Coast Main Line between Edinburgh Haymarket and Aberdeen will be fully electrified.

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

Since the launch of the Young Person's Guarantee in November 2020, we have invested an additional £130 million which aims to provide at least 24,000 new and enhanced opportunities to support young people find and sustain employment.

The Guarantee is not a standalone programme and is building on our already significant investment into education, employability and skills. Therefore we are working with partners to produce a rigorous Measurement and Evaluation Framework that will support our understanding of the Guarantee's impact across a range of economic, education and equalities outcomes.

The framework will build upon a range of existing reporting mechanisms, including Skills Development Scotland's (SDS) Participation Measure, which recently reported a record annual participation measure figure , with 92.2% of 16-19 year olds participating in education, training or employment from 1st April 2020 to 31st March 2021. Other sources of information underpinning the framework include the regular reporting of Apprenticeships statistics from SDS and work completed by the Scottish Funding Council on Further/Higher Education provision.

As part of this work, we published the Guarantee's Key Performance Indicators on 28 July 2021 alongside the Implementation Progress Report . We also expect to shortly restart publications of the Local Authority Youth Labour Market Dashboard and Snapshot Participation Measure.

We will be announcing more details on the framework in the coming weeks.

The Scottish Government published a consultation on the Regulation of Electricians on 23 November 2020 which closed on 12 February 2021. An analysis of responses has been undertaken and report published on 23 March 2021. A link to the report, and submitted responses, where consent has been given to publish the response, can be found on the consultation webpage at http://consult.gov.scot/energy-and-climate-change-directorate/a-consultation-on-the-regulation-of-electricians .

The Scottish Government is currently considering its response to the consultation and key stakeholders will be updated in due course.

More widely, working with officials, the Electrical Contractors' Association of Scotland (SELECT) and the National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting (NICEIC) have introduced a new Single Certificate of Construction designed to help simplify the process of electrical certification in Scotland. The new multi-page document now combines all relevant certificates of construction and electrical installation, confirming that associated building warrant electrical work undertaken is fully compliant with all aspects of Scottish building regulations. Such work aims to improve efficiency and productivity across the industry as well as encourage greater use of certification schemes in Scotland.

All data collected associated with deer culled on National Forests and Land (NFL) is recorded in FLS Wildlife Management System (WMS) database. The following table is derived from this database. This is managed by robust supervision of cullers and checks to match the juvenile GPS data to the adult female GPS data; however there are many factors that may influence the ratio demonstrated in the following below.

The Scottish Government is committed to ending our contribution to climate change within a generation. Our Programme for Government sets out our aim to generate 50% of Scotland’s overall energy consumption from renewable sources, and to have decarbonised our energy system almost completely by 2050.

Our vision and roadmap for the energy sector includes a Just Transition Plan for Energy at the heart of our refreshed Energy Strategy, publishing as one coherent document in spring 2022.

On our ambitions for offshore wind, we were clear in our policy statement published in 2020, that we have an ambition of up to 11GW of offshore wind by 2030. ScotWind bids are currently being assessed by Crown Estate Scotland with results of successful bidders known in early 2022 but this will provide us with a strong pipeline of projects. From that we want to ensure that economic benefits and supply chain opportunities are seized upon in Scotland.

This is why in August, the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC) published its Strategic Infrastructure Assessment (SIA) for Offshore Wind. The report has five main recommendations which are directed at both the sector and government, and the primary recommendation focusses on bringing the manufacturing of floating offshore wind platforms to Scotland through creation of a Scottish Floating Offshore Wind Port Cluster, with ports acting in partnership to provide the required infrastructure area and capability needed to attract manufacturers to use Scottish ports and invest in Scotland.

I look forward to SOWEC taking forward next steps on the recommendations set out in the report.

Decisions on future local government finance settlements will be the subject of negotiations with COSLA on behalf of all 32 local authorities and announced as part of the outcome of future Scottish Budgets and/or Spending Reviews.

In 2021-22, South Ayrshire Council will receive a total funding package of
‎ £232.7 million to support local services, which includes an extra £6.3 million to support vital day to day services, equivalent to an increase of 2.9 per cent compared to 2020-21. To date, the council have been allocated an additional £30 million to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, through the local government settlement - over and above their regular grant payments.

Transport Scotland officials meet bus stakeholders, including both Stagecoach and First, on a fortnightly basis. This has recently included discussion on the impact of driver shortages on service provision. Bus operators receiving emergency COVID-19 funding are contractually obliged to run a range of pre COVID mileage, any deviation from which has to be agreed with Transport Scotland. They are also required to consult and cooperate with local transport authorities as to their service plans. These terms are set out in public service contracts with operators and a model contract is available on the Transport Scotland website at: https://www.transport.gov.scot/public-transport/buses/covid-19-support-grant/

I welcome the report from the Climate Emergency Response Group and its emphasis on delivering action to tackle the climate emergency. The Scottish Government continues to work constructively with the Climate Emergency Response Group (CERG) on delivering the change required to end Scotland’s contribution to climate change within a generation. To that end, I have already met with CERG representatives to discuss their most recent report and its recommendations. On such matters, my officials continue to engage with the group on a regular basis.

I thank CERG for their continuous work offering recommendations to the Scottish Government and for their part in ensuring the climate emergency remains at the top of the political agenda.

Transparent masks have the potential to bring significant benefits in aiding communication and the Scottish Government is supportive of their introduction where appropriate. We are aware that NHS England have previously trialled transparent masks in non-clinical settings.

Earlier this year, a new technical specification for the design and performance requirements of transparent masks was established. The UK Four Nations PPE Review Group has a role to review any products submitted for approval and NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) is actively engaging in this process and working to ensure masks can be made available as soon as possible.

The Pig Producers Hardship Support Scheme was set up to compensate pig producers who were paid £15 less per pig by Quality Pork Processors at Brechin, between 8 February and 31 March 2021. It opened for applications on 30 August and closed on 26 September, and eligible applicants will now have received their payments. We will not be extending the Scheme at this time.

Following the announcement from Defra on a Private Storage Aid scheme and positive ongoing discussions with our pig industry we are putting in place our own Private Storage Aid scheme in Scotland to further aid the industry. This will help to alleviate the backlog of pigs on farms, and reduce any potential welfare issues. In addition the levy bodies in Scotland and England are providing the pig sector with a levy holiday for the whole of November.