Chamber and committees

At this time, none of the outstanding PFI projects have returned operating plant to Scottish Water as they have not yet reached the end of their contracts. The first one to do so will be in May 2022.

Scottish Water Horizons does not operate any plant previously returned from PFI projects. However, in 2018, SW Horizons Holdings Ltd (SWHH) acquired the Aberdeen PFI project companies. This was to protect the operational and environmental performance of the plants over the remaining 13 years of the PFI contract as the previous owner had indicated that they intended to sell the project to a party that did not have experience in operating wastewater treatment works.

The companies acquired included £46.5million of external bank debt funding. The acquisition cost was funded by SWHH and not Scottish Water, so customers were not impacted by the acquisition. Due to the contractual restrictions associated with the external bank debt, these PFI companies have continued to operate under the same structure as before, albeit now owned and controlled by the Scottish Water Group and have been integrated into Scottish Water Group operations to the extent permitted by existing contractual arrangements.

Since the acquisition by SWHH, the operational and environmental performance of the PFI project has continued to improve and, following the refurbishment of the sludge digester and CHP engines, there has also been a very significant increase in renewable energy generation and consequent carbon reduction. Further integration of the PFI project into Scottish Water operations is under active consideration. This would require repayment of the remaining external bank debt of some £33million and would therefore require to be justified by an appropriate cost/benefit business case.

Scottish Water has not loaned any money to Business Stream (SWBS). Scottish Water Business Stream Holdings Ltd (SWBSH) loaned £10million to Business Stream (SWBS) in April 2020 as part of a pre-existing funding facility. Following the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, precautionary Covid-19 funding facilities were put in place for SWBS during 2020-2021. As part of these funding arrangements, the existing £10million loan was converted to equity, thereby strengthening the financial sustainability of SWBS. This £10m was from previous profits earned by SWBS and paid as dividends to SWBSH. To date no further loans have been made to SWBS and there has been no requirement for SWBS to access the precautionary Covid-19 financial support arrangements. Scottish Water customers have not been impacted by these funding arrangements.

Business Stream has continued to support its customers by providing a range of measures to help ease the financial burden for those that have been impacted most by the pandemic, including offering flexible payment plans and an enhanced version of the industry’s charging Deferral Scheme.

A range of considerations have been taken into account by Scottish Water to set charge levels for 2022-23 including the level of inflation, potential council tax increases, the economic circumstances of customers, customer views, the cash balances of the business and the implications for charges across the rest of the 2021-27 regulatory period.

In Scotland, water charges continue to be linked to council tax bands to ensures that charges are the most progressive in the UK. Higher banded houses are usually expected to be occupied by higher income households and so linking water charges to council tax band will generally reflect ability to pay. In addition, the linkage to Council Tax means that many discounts and exemptions which apply to Council Tax - principally to ensure affordability - are also available for water and sewerage charges (for example single occupant discount, student exemption).

The Principles of Charging for 2021-27 were published on 7 December 2020 and include measures that seek to protect those least able to afford water charges by increasing the maximum discount under our existing water charges reduction scheme (WCRS) from 25% to 35% - this should protect those households from any charge increases across this period. These changes are expected to provide an extra £86 million financial support over the 2021-27 period. Currently over 470,000 households receive some level of council tax reduction. Revised arrangements are expected to nearly treble the number of households that are eligible to receive a reduced water and sewerage bill because of their financial circumstances.

The Scottish Government has a corporate correspondence system. Correspondence addressed to Ministers and requiring a response is added to the system on receipt.

Correspondence from MSPs is routinely answered by Scottish Government Cabinet Secretaries and Ministers. The Health and Social Care portfolio has experienced a huge and unprecedented increase in correspondence over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. In order for MSPs to receive timely responses, much of the correspondence previously signed by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and Minister for Public Health, Women’s Health and Sport is being reviewed on their behalf by Scottish Government Deputy Directors. This remains under review and normal process will resume when volumes allow for timely responses.

The Scottish Government aim to respond to ministerial correspondence within 20 working days. Performance is monitored at local and corporate levels of government.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05371 on 10 January 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-05371 on 10 January 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 focus of Scottish Government remains on pandemic response and supporting the NHS and its entire workforce through this challenging winter and beyond. The wellbeing of the entire workforce of the NHS is a key priority which is why, in the current financial year, the Scottish Government has made over £12 million available to support the wellbeing of the workforce.

The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care meets regularly with representatives from BMA Scotland, and other trade unions, to discuss and agree actions to support the entire NHS workforce. The next meeting between the Cabinet Secretary and the BMA will take place on 10th January. In addition there is a regular tripartite forum with Scottish Government, BMA and NHS employers which has a focus on all aspects of junior doctors working lives, and agrees and implements actions to improve these.

Through this group several important actions have been implemented including abolishing junior doctors working more than seven days in a row, and ensuring no junior doctors works for seven night shifts in a row.

We have agreed with BMA Scotland that we will work through this group to explore how we can implement the recommendations contained within the Junior Doctors - 48-hour Maximum Working Week (Without Averaging): Expert Working Group Report. This group will also consider the recommendations in the BMA report Supporting Junior Doctor Wellbeing – Now and for the Future .