Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government will set out a strengthened framework of support in the forthcoming Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan in 2022, to support the growth of the marine renewables and offshore wind sectors, focused on funding for the infrastructure these sectors need, such as port upgrades.

Forecasts relating to future requests for award reviews and reassessments are set out by the Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC). The most recently published forecast of 26 August 2021 stated that 8,700 additional people could request that their award be reviewed due to their circumstances changing over the course of case transfer.

On the assumption that around 72% of these individuals could request their mobility award is reviewed, based on the current share of PIP award types, such requests could therefore be around 6,300 people following transfer to ADP from PIP.

The Scottish Government committed in the Programme for Government to develop an Export Plan for Renewables . This Plan will be developed in partnership with the industry and stakeholders, including Scottish Renewables. Consideration of an energy skills and services export target will be included as part of this process.

Through a combination of the £600 million Reaching 100% (R100) contracts, the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme and continued commercial coverage, every premises in Scotland will be able to access a superfast broadband connection.

We do not hold data on full fibre coverage across Scotland. However, Ofcom provides this data as part of the interactive report they produce alongside their Connected Nations updates. Their latest published information, including local authority area breakdown, can be found at https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/multi-sector-research/infrastructure-research/connected-nations-update-summer-2021/interactive-report .

There are no hydrogen powered ferries operating as part of either the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service or Northern Isles Ferry Service. Ferry industry workers are and will be appropriately trained to operate and refuel existing and future vessels deployed across the networks.

Scottish Government a) will increase the annual native woodland creation target from 3000 to 4000 hectares and commit to setting evidence-based targets for both native woodlands and natural regeneration as part of the 2022 Biodiversity Strategy.

Scottish Government are supporting this action through provision of SRDP grant for both planting of new woodland, and management of herbivores to encourage natural woodland expansion.

As indicated in the response provided in answer S6W-04126 on 12 November 2021, the Aerospace and Defence Industry Group (ADIG) is the industry-led successor body to the Ministerial-led Aerospace Response Group (ARG) and membership of ADIG was extended to all members of the previous group.

Secretariat to the ADIG is provided by the industry body ADS Scotland, therefore information regarding membership of ADIG is a matter for them.

We are aware that, following our successful public awareness campaign, there is significant public interest in carrying out work to comply with the new standard for fire alarms in all Scottish homes. It is, therefore, possible, that some retailers will have short term supply issues. We are also aware that some manufacturers may be affected by difficulties with imported components. However, 90% of the market share is met by manufacturers with a UK base using European components, and they have assured us that there is a sufficient supply of alarms available to meet the expected demand by 1 February 2022, when the new standard comes into force.

However, I would emphasise that when the legislation comes into force, it says that work should be done within a reasonable period, which takes into account individual circumstances. No home owner will be penalised if they are unable to do the work within that timescale.

The Scottish Government has made clear its support for our indigenous languages, including Scots. It is essential that those that wish to use the Scots language are given every opportunity to use the language of their choice. For many, Scots is the language of home and community and its use in other areas of Scottish life should be encouraged.

The Scottish Government provides around £460,000 of funding to various Scots organisations and Scots projects such as the Scots Language Centre, Dictionaries of the Scots Language, Association of Scottish Literary Studies, Scots Radio and Scots Hoose to develop and promote Scots and deliver high quality Scots language learning and resources to open up the educational access to Scots for young people. In addition, the Scottish Government works alongside Education Scotland and the SQA and they have worked to standardise, promote and make the Scots language more readily available in schools.

The Scottish Government is committed to taking the forward the manifesto commitments for a new Scottish Languages Bill which takes further steps to support Gaelic, acts on the Scots language and recognises that Scotland is a multilingual society. This work is at an early stage and we intend to consult in 2022.

The Heat in Buildings Strategy sets out that, to meet our emissions reduction targets, by 2030 the vast majority of the 170,000 off-gas homes that currently use fossil fuel heating systems, as well as at least 1 million homes currently using mains gas, must convert to zero emissions heating. Together these amount to around half of domestic properties, on top of the 11% of homes that currently use zero emissions heat. In addition, the equivalent of 50,000 non-domestic buildings, around a quarter, must also switch from fossil fuels to zero emissions heating, which will bring the total using zero emissions heat to around three quarters.

Our existing commitments are therefore broadly equivalent to those recommended by Scottish Renewables in terms of numbers of heating system conversions. However, at this time we have not adopted these as specifically renewable heat targets, in order to accommodate other sources of decarbonised heat. We will review our provisional minimum renewable heat target of 22% in the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan which we will publish for consultation in spring next year.