Chamber and committees

Work is ongoing to ensure the vaccine status of those who volunteered for clinical trials in Scotland is correctly presented on the vaccine database. A letter confirming their involvement in the trials is being issued to those who participated. Any participant who has not yet received a letter should contact their respective research team. The letter can be used for domestic purposes as proof of trial status. However, it’s important to note that we have no plans at present to make vaccine certification a requirement of access to services in Scotland.

Housing to 2040 is Scotland’s first ever long-term national housing strategy and makes clear our ambition to deliver 100,000 affordable homes by
‎ 2031-32, 70% of which will be for social rent.

Local authorities as the statutory housing authority are responsible for assessing housing requirements in their area and setting out their plans to meet these requirements as part of their Local Housing Strategy and Strategic Housing Investment Plan.

Details of the £10 million grant fund scheme - announced by the Deputy First Minister on 22 June to help tenants who have been financially impacted by the pandemic and are facing homelessness - are being developed at pace and we will provide further information in due course.

The Covid-19 test kits are home PCR kits provided by NHS Test & Trace. The cost of the kits is set by the UK Government and the process managed through its contract with the travel management company CTM.

Currently, the Scottish Government does not allow use of private test providers for international travellers arriving into Scotland from green and amber list countries.

We are having on-going discussions with the UK government on using private test providers and exploring ways to allow private testing for travellers coming to Scotland provided we are confident in the flow of data into contact tracing services and that all positive test results are analysed to identify any variants of concern.

The full Native Woodland Survey of Scotland (NWSS) data set has been available for free download from the Scottish Forestry open data web pages since January 2020.

Prior to that it has been available on the Forestry Commission Scotland web pages since 2014.

The proportion of Home Energy Scotland loan offers that have expired during the Covid-19 pandemic compared to the previous three years is:

As set out in our update to the Climate Change Plan, we will take steps to improve waste data by working with the UK Government, other devolved governments, and agencies such as SEPA, to develop and implement the electronic waste tracking system. This step change in the quality and timeliness of waste data will support decision-making and underpin the key building blocks required to reduce emissions and drive delivery on existing waste and recycling targets.

A joint consultation is being planned for this summer on behalf of all four nations of the UK. This consultation will seek views on how and when mandatory digital waste tracking should be implemented.

Rapid rehousing transition plans (RRTPs) are developed and owned by each local authority in Scotland, working with their partners. The Scottish Government asks each local authority to complete an activities and spend template each year, requesting information about the implementation of RRTPs. The areas covered in the template include the development of Housing First, prevention activity, the use of temporary accommodation, the availability of settled accommodation and yearly spend.

The Scottish Government carries out a review of these templates, including any additional information provided from updated RRTPs, and feedback is provided to each local authority. The Scottish Government is currently reviewing local authority submissions for 2020/21 and feedback to the local authorities will be issued during August 2021. A report on the implementation of RRTPs will be submitted to the Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group (HPSG) later this year.

This process provides assurance to the Scottish Government about the development and implementation of RRTPs across Scotland and supports our continued partnership in tackling homelessness. While local authorities and their partners are best placed to develop and implement plans based on local circumstances, the areas covered in the activities and spend template allow the Scottish Government to review how plans support national homelessness policy objectives.

No meetings with Yes.scot campaign employees have taken place with the First Minister, the Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, or Special Advisors.

For all woodland creation proposals, applicants are required to undertake land surveys as part of their due diligence. This due diligence includes surveying for peat soils, including deep peat. Where peat soils are found, further more intensive surveys are required, to produce a detailed soil survey map which is submitted to Scottish Forestry for approval. Depending upon the distribution of peat and peat depths across the proposal area, further peat surveys may be required before a contract for woodland creation is approved and a final detailed peat and soil survey map is accepted. At this time, a species and constraints map is also agreed and areas of deep peat are excluded from the agreed contract. We have released new cultivation guidance on 26 July and this will prevent the use of high impact cultivation techniques on peat and organo-mineral soils over 10cm.

Applicants and agents use existing soil survey maps for Scotland as a baseline ahead of beginning on site land surveys. Subsequently areas of deep peat are demarcated on site and cultivation contractors are provided with soil and species maps to ensure cultivation is undertaken in line with the agreed contract.