Chamber and committees

Work to increase standardisation since the Scottish Government’s Infrastructure Investment Plan for Scotland 2021-22 to 2025-26 was published, can be seen in the announced Invitation to Tender (17 December 2021) for two new ferries for Islay and the continuing work as part of the Small Vessel Replacement Programme (SVRP) that will see up to 7 vessels replaced on the west coast as part of Phase 1 of the programme.

Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) are taking forward the SVRP and are currently working with the appointed naval architects (Navalue) who are providing consultancy services for the concept design stage as well as investigating and evaluating the feasibility of designing low emission ferries to be in line with the Scottish Government climate change and standardisation commitments.

We also continue to support the vessel resilience funding that can be spent on replacing obsolete equipment on existing vessels.

We continue to engage extensively with CalMac Ferries Ltd on a regular basis concerning timetables, and through the twice yearly timetable consultation process.

As part of the Ardrossan project; Transport Scotland continues to meet with and provide support to CalMac Ferries Ltd in the development of service continuity plans for the Arran ferry service when it temporarily relocates to Troon.

A small number of contracts between ScotRail Trains Ltd. and Abellio is expected to be in place from 1 April to ensure the continuity of rail services in Scotland from 1 April 2022.

In particular, a contract for the continued use of the Abellio Shared Services Centre will maintain employment for staff in its Glasgow office.

We continue to engage extensively with the Arran Ferry Committee on timetable matters through the twice yearly timetable consultation process, which has recently concluded with regard to the Winter 2022 timetable, and additionally through the Ardrossan Task Force which met most recently on 23 February 2022.

In the coming months CalMac Ferries Ltd will undertake a public consultation regarding service continuity plans for Arran ferry services when they temporarily relocate to Troon.

The number of households who have received assistance to purchase under the Open Market Shared Equity Scheme can be found in the attached Affordable Housing Supply Programme out-turn reports and data.

More homes: Affordable Housing Supply Programme - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government does not record if homes are new build or existing homes.

There is approximately 400MW of solar PV operational in Scotland, equating to 3% of total operational capacity.

As of 2020, there are at least 60,000 domestic level solar PV installations in Scotland with a capacity of just over 200MW, and around 8000 solar thermal installations.

Of the remaining operational Solar PV, approximately 12,000 of these are community and locally owned PV installations. With around 3500 community and locally owned solar thermal projects, these are typically found across housing associations, public sector, communities and other charitable organisations.

The Scottish Government does not hold this data on commercial or ground mounted only solar PV schemes.

There is approximately 350 MW of solar capacity in pipeline in Scotland, including 32MW in planning, 44MW under construction and 281 awaiting construction, representing 2.25% of the overall renewables pipeline in Scotland. This will take the total capacity of both installed and pipeline of solar in Scotland to in the region of 750MW.

Since May 2021, the Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group (HPSG) has met on one occasion, 5 November 2021. Meetings take place once every quarter, subject to parliamentary and local government business, with the next meeting scheduled for March.

A meeting scheduled for June 2021 was cancelled following the Scottish Parliament election to allow time to determine portfolio responsibilities. The meeting scheduled for September 2021 was postponed until November 2021 to accommodate parliamentary business and ensure the co-chair from COSLA was available. The next meeting, which was scheduled to take place in February 2022, has been postponed until March 2022 to accommodate parliamentary business and ensure the co-chair from COSLA was available.

The delivery of the Ending Homelessness Together action plan is on track as demonstrated in our annual progress report, which was laid in Parliament in October 2021. The plan has been welcomed by stakeholders, including HPSG members, who are responsible for overseeing the development and delivery of the plan.

We have not asked local authorities to undercut doors in schools, nor was £300,000 provided to them specifically for these purposes.

My letter to the Education, Children and Young People Committee setting out the example scenario was not guidance, and has not been issued to local authorities. The letter stated:

“In order to calculate the £5m schools/ELC ventilation fund, we have assumed an example set of remedial measures which could be taken for each problematic space although this will vary depending on local decisions.”

and

“ It is very important to note that these costs will of course vary significantly in practice, as the precise remedial measures used in each problematic space should be informed by local circumstances and expert assessment by local authority teams .”

An undercut of a door was therefore clearly indicated as only one element of an example set of remedial measures used to calculate the up-to-£5m fund. The other elements that formed part of the example were temporary use of an air cleaning device and installation of small mechanical ventilation units.

Inclusion of the potential for a door undercut in the example is fully in line with expert advice. This makes clear that undercuts (small gaps at the bottom of a door) allow air pressure to be equalised on each side of the door, to ensure that additional force on one side does not make the door difficult to open. This includes cases where the pressure increase caused by mechanical ventilation systems – another key element of the example scenario – could impair the normal safe operation of a door. It was for this reason that this element was included in the example scenario used to generate costings.

Local authorities are fully aware that they should undertake any remedial work in line with Scottish Government guidance on ventilation and expert input. Our guidance already makes clear that when implementing any Covid-safety measures, local authorities must continue to adhere to legal obligations with regard to health and safety, including fire safety. It is of course for local authorities as duty holders to ensure appropriate consultation with all relevant authorities when undertaking works in school buildings.

The example scenario used to generate overall costings for the up-to-£5m funding was developed with input from the Scottish Futures Trust, and drew on the costings that had already been developed for the Business Ventilation Fund with input from the expert Covid-19 Ventilation Short Life Working Group.

As was made clear in the letter to the Committee, an undercut of a door was only one element of the example set of remedial measures used to calculate the up-to-£5m fund. The other elements that formed part of the example were temporary use of an air cleaning device and installation of small mechanical ventilation units.

Inclusion of the potential for a door undercut in the example is fully in line with expert advice. This makes clear that undercuts (small gaps at the bottom of a door) allow air pressure to be equalised on each side of the door, to ensure that additional force on one side does not make the door difficult to open. This includes cases where the pressure increase caused by mechanical ventilation systems – another key element of the example scenario – could impair the normal safe operation of a door. It was for this reason that this element was included in the example scenario.

My letter to the Committee stated explicitly:

“In order to calculate the £5m schools/ELC ventilation fund, we have assumed an example set of remedial measures which could be taken for each problematic space although this will vary depending on local decisions.”

and

“ It is very important to note that these costs will of course vary significantly in practice, as the precise remedial measures used in each problematic space should be informed by local circumstances and expert assessment by local authority teams .”

An undercut of a door was therefore clearly indicated as only one element of an example set of remedial measures used to calculate the up-to-£5m fund.

All local authorities have been informed of their potential allocations from the up-to-£5 million fund. Our funding letter makes clear that remedial action should be undertaken in line with guidance on ventilation, with problematic spaces prioritised for action.

Once remedial action in priority spaces has been prioritised, funding can also be used to further support CO2 monitoring requirements, or to undertake other remedial work on ventilation.