Chamber and committees

The Food Security and Supply Taskforce met for the third time on 20 April and continues its work to monitor, identify and respond to any potential disruption to the food and drink supply chain resulting from to the impact of the war in Ukraine. The Taskforce plans to publish details of its work in the near future.

The Scottish Government is committed to accepting the majority of recommendations in the Dame Elish Angiolini review, many as specifically set out, but with scope to explore options where other routes or mechanisms may achieve the desired outcome. We will consult on recommendations which will, or are likely to, require legislation this year including that there should be a statutory duty of candour.

‎ As published in the most recent thematic progress report in December 2021, initial discussions with operational partners and staff associations have taken place on this recommendation ahead of the full public consultation. We will continue to engage with stakeholders throughout the consultation period and will provide updates through the thematic progress report, with the next due to be published in June 2022.

Richard Lochhead: The Scottish Government is determined everyone with long COVID gets the care and support that is most appropriate for them - regardless of their gender. NHS Scotland is already providing support and care across the full range of NHS services, including primary care teams and community-based rehabilitation services with referrals to secondary care where necessary.

We understand many unpaid carers have required extra support balancing work and care during the pandemic and we have made it very clear that employers should use carer’s leave flexibly in these circumstances. We are promoting awareness and flexibility for unpaid carers in the workplace through the Carer Positive initiative.

Flexible working practices are another way to support women in the workplace and is especially important for those with health concerns and those with caring responsibilities– particularly women, to whom the balance of caring still too often falls.

The Scottish Government funded Flexibility Works in 2021-22 with £94,850 to support and promote the development of flexible and family friendly workplaces. We are developing a programme of further support this year which will include offering vital advice and support to business and organisations on the benefits of flexible working practices such as working from home, hybrid and remote working.

In September 2021, the Scottish Government also introduced new criteria in its Fair Work First approach, asking employers who are receiving public sector grants and delivering public contracts to commit to offering flexible and family friendly working practices – helping people to balance work and family life.

We have worked in partnership with NHS 24 to develop a long COVID information resource on NHS Inform, in order to provide people living with long COVID with clear and accessible guidance about self-management. This resource includes specific advice on navigating a return to work.

The Scottish Government’s approach to zero emissions heat technologies is based on a wide range of evidence, including modelling of the suitability of different technologies across the whole Scottish housing stock, and consideration of wider energy system interactions.

We maintain an active Heat in Buildings Research Programme to identify gaps in our knowledge base and produce high-quality research to understand the challenges and solutions in the heat transition.

We have commissioned research to examine the potential of energy storage technologies to reduce running costs for households using zero emissions heat. The research considers how bill savings can be made by pairing storage technologies with onsite generation, and by storing off-peak electricity for later use. This research will be published in 2022.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07562 on 19 April 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 .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07568 on 19 April 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 .

Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) provide an assessment of the theoretical energy performance of existing and new buildings. They are generated by accredited EPC Assessors, belonging to Assessor Organisations approved by the Scottish Government. EPC assessors are required to have the necessary skills and expertise to operate the software that produces EPCs according to the standardised national methodology (SAP) developed by the UK Government and used by the Scottish Government. SAP produces indicative recommendations on how to improve the EPC score– which can include low carbon heating technologies where they are cost effective (however energy efficiency measures are currently prioritised).

The Scottish Government recognises that at present, the information presented on EPCs needs to be reformed, in line with the recommendations of the Climate Change Committee. That is why we have consulted on reforming EPCs to ensure that the metrics and recommendations align with our net zero target. This includes reforming the current energy efficiency metric, which has often incentivised fossil fuelled heating ahead of zero emissions heating solutions. We are now completing further research and intend for reformed EPCs to provide additional information on suitable zero emissions heating systems, and to provide information on the costs associated with such systems, together with energy efficiency measures, and their impacts on the costs of heating a building. As part of our wider proposed legislative programme, we will consult further on the detail of our proposals and will ensure that accredited EPC assessors have the skills needed to produce the reformed certificates.

Building owners can also seek further specialist advice on low carbon heating options beyond those generated in an EPC from a heating specialist or Building Service Engineer (represented by the professional body CIBSE). The Energy Savings Trust, Home Energy Scotland and Zero Waste Scotland provide further information and advice on low carbon heating on the behalf of the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested. The data we receive from Police Scotland for production of the Recorded Crime in Scotland National Statistics is a simple count of the numbers of crimes and offences, for each local authority, which the police have recorded and cleared up in each financial year. We do not receive further details on the characteristics and circumstances of individual crimes, including the age of any victim(s).

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07565 on 19 April 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 identification, assessment and management of people with long-term effects of COVID-19 in Scotland is guided by the UK-wide clinical guideline developed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) and the Royal College of GPs.

This guideline is clear that there is no requirement to prove previous COVID infection via a positive test in order to access an assessment or be considered for referral for further investigations or specialist input.

The Scottish Government is actively supporting the implementation of the clinical guideline in Scotland, including through our long COVID ‘Implementation Support Note’ and our collaboration with SIGN on its online ‘Decision Support Tool’ on managing the long term effects of COVID-19.