Chamber and committees

Our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, to be published next year, will provide a roadmap for the future of Scotland’s energy system. We will co-design this Plan with the workers, businesses and communities most impacted by the net zero transition, including those within or associated with the nuclear energy industry. Workers, unions and the communities they are part of have always been at the heart of a just transition and will continue to be so. Together, we must provide certainty for those affected as we set out how the economic and social impacts of Scotland’s changing energy system will be managed.

We will outline the sequencing for specific Just Transition Plans in the new year, and as part of that, will explore if there are any sub-sectors of the energy system that would benefit from a standalone Plan.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all school-aged children and young people in Scotland have access to a digital device by the end of this parliament. Given the scale and complexity of this programme of work, the 100 days commitment was to commence planning not to deliver the devices.

In 2020/21, we provided £25 million of funding to councils across Scotland to tackle digital exclusion, resulting in over 72,000 pupils receiving a device to support their learning.

The following table shows the number of devices distributed via that funding, as reported by individual local authorities.

The total number of electric vehicle charging points installed at each building on the core Scottish Government Estate is in the following table. Each charging point can charge 2 electric vehicles at the same time except the charging points at Bonnington, Atlantic Quay and Kirkwall which are single points.

We have always been clear from the outset, that the funding provided in 2021-22 would be for 1 year only.

This was funded from the Covid consequentials afforded to us by the UK Government. The scheme was designed to help public bodies, local authorities and communities prepare for the 2021 season and provided some seed funding to support rangers and temporary infrastructure. It was necessary given the challenges faced in 2020 with little international travel opportunities and a large desire for domestic countryside visits.

The fund was extremely successful. A list of successful awards can be found here: Better Places Green Recovery Fund - Successful Projects | NatureScot

Going forward however, we continue to focus on long term solutions. For example, to date our Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund is supporting projects across the country to the tune of £15m. This includes permanent infrastructure such as car parks, toilets and waste disposal facilities, each with a 10 year minimum life span. We plan to continue this fund into 2022-23.

The work of the Visitor Management Steering Group will also continue. For more information please see: https://www.visitscotland.org/about-us/what-we-do/working-in-partnership/visitor-management-plan .

Information on the number of offences recorded by Police Scotland under the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 is provided in the following table.

Table 1. Offences of Protection of livestock from dogs, by local authority, 2012-13 to November 2021.

The latest annual data available, published in March 2020, estimates that 24% of children lived in relative poverty, after housing costs, in Scotland in the period 2017-20.

These statistics predate the impact of Covid-19 on the financial security of families and the removal of the £20 per week uplift to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credits. Data covering the first year of the Covid pandemic (2018-21) will be published by the end of March 2021.

We recognise the challenge faced in reaching the interim child poverty targets for 2023-24, that is why we have declared a national mission to tackle child poverty and have committed concrete action including the doubling of the Scottish Child Payment from April 2022.

The Scottish Government will publish the second Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan by the end of March 2022, setting out a range of actions which will put us on a critical path to the targets set.

A statutory review as required by section 11F of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 is currently underway which will be complete early in 2022.

We are also currently developing the scope for a wider review of aspects of snaring including the question of a ban. Details of this review will be announced in due course.

The Scottish Government is committed to upholding the highest standards of animal welfare and we shall, of course, engage widely with stakeholders as part of this work.

The number of days spent at sea for the Marine Protection Vessels is as follows:

The information requested is not held by the Scottish Government.

The information requested is not held by the Scottish Government.