Chamber and committees

The NUS report raises significant issues and no student should find themselves without somewhere to live. While the Scottish Government has no direct role in provision of student residential accommodation we are determined to work with partners to improve accessibility, affordability and standards in this area. Ministers have now considered the recommendations from the review of purpose built student accommodation and will make an announcement in the New Year.

In addition we are taking action to help students and have confirmed an uplift of £2,400 to the main undergraduate support package for the academic year 2024-25. This follows the £900 uplift applied to the package this academic year.

Students are also able to apply directly to their college or university for Discretionary Funding should they be experiencing financial hardship.

The Scottish Government is committed to a just transition to net-zero by 2045 in which no-one is left behind. Engagement with business to develop and implement policies is key to delivery of that commitment and is an extensive cross-government effort which is undertaken on both a case by case basis, and structurally across government. For example of the latter, the First Minister Co-Chairs the Investor Panel which covers just transition and net zero; the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands Co-Chairs the Agricultural Reform Implementation Oversight Board; the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy Co-Chairs the New Deal for Business Group.

We are also engaging widely on the development of our Just Transition Plans, including with businesses and their representative organisations. A dedicated series of engagement on Sectoral Just Transition Plans for the Built Environment and Construction, Transport, and Land Use and Agriculture was undertaken with SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) in summer 2023.

In 2024 we will be continue our engagement on development of our new Adaptation Programme and new Climate Change Plan and a new Green Industrial Strategy will help businesses realise the enormous economic opportunities of the global transition to net zero.

I have been meeting with housing convenors across the country to discuss the challenges they face in responding to homelessness and reducing the number of households in temporary accommodation. We are investing at least £60 million in 2023-24 in the national acquisition programme to help local authorities and registered social landlords acquire properties for use as high quality, affordable, permanent homes. We are also asking social landlords to maximise the use of existing homes and increase allocations to homeless households.

The Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) undertakes structured conversations with social landlords, working alongside them to support compliance. The SHR has highlighted actions councils can take to respond to the current challenges in homelessness and will continue to monitor, assess and report on councils’ performance in discharging their duties to people who are homeless. All local authorities should make best efforts to meet their statutory obligations and the SHR will engage with councils to promote improvement where this is possible.

The Scottish Government is absolutely determined to address levels of homelessness and improve the supply of social and affordable housing.

Subject to parliamentary approval, we will invest £556 million in affordable homes across Scotland next year and continue to work with partners to increase the delivery of more affordable homes, the majority of which will be for social rent, including supporting acquisitions of existing properties. We will also invest £35 million in specific action to prevent and end homelessness, in addition to homelessness funding provided through the local government settlement. Alongside those efforts, we will work with the financial community – both across Scotland and beyond – to attract private sector investment into Scotland and help deliver more homes.

The Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) provides a snapshot of the domestic housing stock in each survey year, including the construction age, built form and energy efficiency, as well as estimates of fuel poverty.

As the 2020 SHCS was suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic and results from the 2021 External+ SHCS were published as experimental statistics the 2019 SHCS provides the most recent official statistics on fuel poverty.

Due to the increases in global energy prices in 2022 and 2023 and the lack of recent data on fuel poverty from the SHCS, we have produced scenario modelling of fuel poverty rates This is based on uprating modelled fuel bills from the 2019 SHCS in line with more recent energy prices and accounting for the other support available to households. We estimate that from January 2024, with the price cap for the typical dual-fuel household paying by direct debit at £1,928, and including the impact of the Cost of living payments [1] , that around 840,000 (34%) households in Scotland will be in fuel poverty. Of this around 570,000 (23%) will be in extreme fuel poverty.

Table 1: Estimated number of households in fuel poverty January 2024 to March 2024

Scottish Ministers are accountable to the Scottish Parliament for the activities of the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) and its use of resources at a strategic level. The Scottish Government is responsible for developing the policy and regulatory framework for the protection and improvement of Scotland's water environment which SEPA have a duty to regulate and enforce.

The Scottish Government hold regular liaison meetings with SEPA to provide policy support and facilitate effective strategic engagement. These are supplemented by other regular dialogue and communications in relation to SEPA’s duties, responsibilities and performance. SEPA determine the amount of resources allocated to meeting their statutory obligations through their Annual Operating Plan in each year in agreement with the Scottish Government.

Both the Scottish Government and SEPA take all necessary steps to ensure that their relationship is developed and supported in line with the jointly agreed principles set out in the statement on ‘Strategic Engagement between the Scottish Government and Scotland’s NDPBs’ and in accordance with the ‘Scottish regulators’ strategic code of practice’.

The Minister previously stated that the Retail Strategy, specifically the action on fair work, was the route by which the Scottish Government wished to promote fair work practices across the whole retail sector. An approach to fair work is a priority action for the Retail Industry Leadership Group and this will pursue better conditions for all retail workers.

Therefore, New Year's Day trading can be discussed in relation to the approach on fair work if raised by members, and we welcome the continuing, constructive collaboration of the trade unions and other stakeholders in developing a fair work strategy through the Retail Industry Leadership Group and Fair Work Working Group to best realise our mutual ambition to deliver fair and rewarding jobs for retail workers.

Fair Work is at the core of the Retail Strategy, benefitting retail business by making them more attractive to workers, and more resilient, productive and profitable. Any decision on New Year’s Day trading will balance our Fair Work ambition with prevailing economic conditions which remain difficult for the retail sector.

The Retail Industry Leadership Group (ILG) was established to drive and support delivery of the actions set out in the Retail Strategy, in particular on improving fair work across the sector. Its purpose is to represent the views of the industry and we value its independent analysis. The views and recommendations of the ILG is just one of the matters that Ministers take into account when determining how to proceed on any given policy issue.

Fair work means secure employment with fair pay and conditions, where workers are heard and represented, treated with respect and have opportunities to progress.

Our vision, shared with the Fair Work Convention, is for Scotland to be a leading Fair Work Nation by 2025, where fair work drives success, wellbeing and prosperity for individuals, businesses, organisations and society. We deeply value the ongoing collaboration with USDAW and their stakeholders, and we view our continued engagement through the Retail Industrial Leadership Group and Fair Work Working Group as essential in ensuring we reach our ambition for fair work.

While employment law remains reserved to the UK Government, we will use our Fair Work policy to promote fairer work practices across the labour market in Scotland.

We want to put fair work principles at the heart of the retail sector. This is a key theme of the Retail Strategy, and the ongoing work of the Fair Work Working Group.

Were employment powers devolved, we could do more to protect and enhance workers’ rights, tackle poverty and increase fairness through legislation. In the absence of these powers we are committed to promoting a fair work strategy produced in collaboration with the retail sector and trade unions.

I would like to reiterate what my predecessor, Tom Arthur, stated on this matter and affirm that the Scottish Government is receptive to any suggestions for non-legislative routes that could be explored. We would be willing to consider any proposal from USDAW that could progress this endeavour.

The Scottish Government deeply values ongoing collaboration with USDAW and we view our continued engagement through the Retail Industrial Leadership Group and Fair Work Working Group as essential in ensuring we reach our ambition for fair work to drive success, wellbeing and prosperity for individuals, businesses, organisations and society.

Scotland now has the highest number of designated Bathing Water sites ever, with the vast majority classified as good or excellent and 98% overall achieving the bathing water quality standards.

Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS) published its Designation of Bathing Water Sites in Scotland Summary Report on 4 December. This the summary report and will be followed by the publication of a full report providing additional details on the background, information reviewed, ESS assessments, and the outcomes achieved.

ESS concluded in the report that that the Scottish Government’s approach to interpreting a large number of bathers in designating new bathing water sites had not affected Scotland’s performance, in comparison with other parts of the UK. They also made a small number of recommendations on minor improvements to the application form and guidance. Action to address these recommendations is underway.