Chamber and committees

Police Scotland have confirmed that the increase in claims received by NFU Mutual from Scotland for the 2022/23 period can largely be attributed to a particular 'spike' during that period including the theft of farm machinery, GPS units and an increase in quad bike thefts. A significant proportion of the machinery that was taken with investigations ongoing.

The Scottish Government continues to work with partners across the Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime (SPARC) and through the continued expansion of the local partnerships against Crime (LPARCS) across Scotland.

These partnerships share intelligence on organised crime groups operating across borders, providing specific ‘target hardening’ information to the rural and farming community on how to best secure and prevent theft of equipment. They also demonstrate crime prevention measures in relation to the marking, tracking and securing of farm machinery and tools, including in the highest impacted areas.

We launched a new Social Isolation and Loneliness Fund on 8 March 2023. This funding is helping organisations to create opportunities for people to connect with one another in our communities. 53 projects are currently operational across Scotland, delivering projects within communities that are diverse and are responding to local needs. Disabled people are one of the priority groups targeted by the Fund.

Our analysis of the fund informs us that 20 out of the 53 funded projects are targeted at disabled people and to date 1529 disabled people are benefitting from the services provided by these projects.

We will continue to evaluate the fund and learn what further interventions are required for disabled people who experience loneliness.

We recognise loneliness impacts on different demographics as stated in ‘A Connected Scotland’ and we are using this strategy to bring together the different parts of Government that can make a real difference in tackling loneliness. This is evident in approaches delivered by both Creative Scotland and Sport Scotland, both Government funded bodies, who invest and support people to connect by enabling access to inclusive activities.

The information requested is not held centrally by Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government collects information on the types of temporary accommodation provided or arranged by the local authority which a household makes a homelessness application to. Information on the location of this accommodation is not collected. Temporary accommodation data by local authority is released on an biannual basis as part of the Homelessness in Scotland statistics

A table with the information requested has been placed in SPICE bib number 65255.

I met Beatrice Wishart in July 2023 to discuss the work carried out by Dogs Against Drugs (Shetland) and have corresponded with her since. Dogs Against Drugs (Shetland) receives funding from the Scottish Government-funded Shetland Alcohol and Drugs partnership and has previously received a one-off grant from the Serious Organised Crime Community Grant Scheme. I have agreed to provide a further one-off grant of £30,000 to help meet current pressures while my officials assess the longer term funding position against an extremely challenging financial climate.

Regrettably, a start date for the review is not confirmed at this time. It is important that the review of the guidance on patient travel expenses reimbursement is considered within the context of wider reform on access to health care which is already in progress. This will inform both how and when the review is taken forward.

In 2023 we prepared the draft Transport to Health plan and have been engaging with Health Boards, Regional Transport Partnerships and other partners to take forward a range of commitments to improve joined up working on transport to health. The plan will be published in September and a workplan has been agreed.

The Marine Directorate is adequately resourced to deliver against the First Minister's priorities and to meet its core Statutory and Regulatory obligations. We continually review our workforce management plan to ensure we are recruiting to match our delivery. Although we do not hold the vacancy information requested, you can find a variety of Scottish Government workforce information online, including the latest Scottish Government Workforce Statistics. Scottish Government Workforce Statistics March 2024 – gov.scot

There are no plans to mandate the installation of solar panels on all new buildings in Scotland.

Standard 6.1 (energy demand) of Scottish building regulations set challenging overall energy targets for new homes. This has, in recent years, contributed to an increased presence of solar panels on new buildings and new homes in particular. These regulations do not, however, require the installation of such technologies.

Energy targets are set through application of a ‘notional building’ specification for domestic and non-domestic properties. Where the heating system proposed has an efficiency of no greater than 100%, this specification includes an element of onsite generation in the form of photovoltaic panels, which contributes to improved energy targets.

Following revision of standards on 1 February 2023, building regulations encourage the proportionate and effective use of on-site generation of power as part of a new building specification, recognising only that portion of generation which can be used or stored at the building, excluding any energy exported to the grid.

For financial years 2020-21 to 2023-24, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17940 on 30 May 2023. 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.

For 2024-25, the allocated budget for Private Rented Sector Landlord Loan Scheme is:

The topic of Scottish independence was not discussed.