Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government remains committed to ensuring that everyone who needs it can access seamless, timely and high-quality palliative care.

We are currently developing a new National Strategy for Palliative and End of Life Care for Scotland. As part of this work, we are reviewing the information and evidence we have, and need, to develop the strategy. This includes gathering data on current and projected needs for palliative care at a population level, mapping services and support across Scotland, and building on our understanding of people’s experiences of palliative and end of life care.

The outputs of this work will give us a clearer picture of the delivery and accessibility of palliative care across Scotland, and will inform a new strategy that reflects what really matters to people experiencing serious illness, dying and bereavement.

The Scottish Government tracks the participation of children between 8-10, 11-12 and 13-15 in sport via the Scottish Health Survey.

The Scottish Government does not track the participation of children aged between 10 and 15 in cultural activities.

The Scottish Government publishes details of all awards made from the Fund to Local Authorities and Registered Social Landlords at https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-longer-term-resettlement-fund/pages/list-of-approved-projects/

(a)The Scottish Government supports the installation of solar panels on public sector buildings through the Scottish Green Public Sector Estate Decarbonisation scheme which provides several funding routes for public sector organisations to decarbonise their buildings.

In the 2022-23 financial year, the final outturn allocations to the schemes were as follows:

• Warmer Homes Scotland - £42.5 million
• Area Based Schemes - £41.7 million
• Home Energy Scotland - £22.4 million

Housing to 2040 sets out a vision for what the Scottish Government wants homes and communities to look and feel like for the people in Scotland. We set out an ambitious vision that by 2040 everyone living in Scotland would have access to a safe, warm, affordable, high quality and energy efficient home that meets their needs in the place they want to be.

The 2014 Housing (Scotland) Act introduced a provision for 'tenants of houses which are held by a social landlord and which the social landlord selecting its tenants considers to be under-occupied' as one of the reasonable preference groups social housing landlords must take into account when allocating tenancies. This supports social landlords to make best use of their housing stock and giving priority to social rented sector tenants who are under-occupying their home is one way of doing this, by encouraging downsizing and releasing larger homes for households who need them.

We recognise that downsizing is a personal choice, and that people may find it difficult to leave a property that has been their home for some time. Scottish Government guidance to social landlords encourages them to take a proactive approach to support tenants to consider whether their current home meets their needs and to consider whether a move might help them live independently for longer.

The private rented sector can provide tenants with greater flexibility in terms of size and location, and enable a tenant to rent a property which meets their needs and circumstances and downsize when appropriate. Where a tenant is eligible for Local Housing Allowance (LHA), the LHA rate and the amount of support they receive depends on their individual circumstances. This may influence the size of property they can afford to rent.

The Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 (‘the 2022 Act’) is emergency legislation and is intended to provide support to tenants through stabilising rents and providing additional evictions protections for a time limited period. The provisions it contains are temporary, with the ongoing necessity to review the measures to make sure they remain proportionate in relation to the cost crisis.

Whilst we are committed to taking forward longer-term reform to the rented sector, the 2022 Act would not have been an appropriate legislative vehicle to take forward more fundamental changes to the rented sector. Parliament agreed to an accelerated timescale for the Bill, recognising the urgency of the circumstances and the temporary nature of the provisions. More fundamental reforms would not have been consistent with that urgency and with the highly-focused scope of the Bill.

The 2022 Act ensured that the majority of tenants - including those who are part of a joint tenancy in an applicable private rented sector tenancy - are protected by the temporary emergency measures, by capping in-tenancy rent increases.

We remain committed to delivering a New Deal for tenants. As part of that consultation, we sought views on the existing approach to ending joint tenancies and any impact this is has on tenants to inform our considerations.

The Scottish Government have invested over £65 million in ChargePlace Scotland (CPS), Scotland’s public charging network, which now has more than 2500 publicly available charge points, over 90,000 member registrations and over 2.3 million successful charging sessions recorded in the last 12 months.

The figure of 7977 does not relate to ‘complaints’. This was the total of number of customer service tickets raised by the ChargePlace Scotland helpdesk over the 12 month period.

There are many reasons why a ticket can be raised, but these are not always a complaint and do not necessarily relate to issues which affect the operation of the charge point itself. If it relates to a ‘fault’, then that fault may be reported by more than one member of the public and this will also be reflected in the figures. Ticket and fault information are published monthly on the ChargePlace Scotland website for the general public to view.

The Heat in Buildings Strategy published in October 2021 set out a pathway to achieve zero emissions from all buildings in Scotland by 2045. As part of a phased approach, our ambition is to see domestic buildings meeting energy efficiency standards of equivalent to Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) band C by 2033, where this is technically feasible and cost effective. We are currently consulting on reform of EPC design to support our emissions reduction aim. Scotland’s non-domestic buildings are hugely diverse, we are working with partners such as Local Energy Scotland to ensure that each non-domestic building has the advice and support required to lower their energy demands and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

We recognise that approaches to regulating energy efficiency standards of Scotland’s listed buildings must be balanced with respecting and preserving the special characteristics of those buildings and places.

We also recognise it may be more challenging for some homes and buildings to meet the energy efficiency standards than for others. We are working with stakeholders, including Historic Environment Scotland, to consider our approach to buildings which are listed or in conservation areas.

There may be circumstances in which the scale and range of measures possible may vary from the standard required. These circumstances include, but are not limited to, the method of construction, cost of measures required, the measures having an unacceptable negative impact on the fabric or structure, or the need for, but lack of, third party permissions.

The Heat in Buildings Strategy, published in October 2021, set out a pathway to decarbonise Scotland’s buildings by 2045. The Scottish Government’s ambition, as part of a phased approach, is to see homes reach a minimum energy efficiency standard equivalent to EPC C by 2033 and transition away from the use of direct emission heating systems by 2045.

We are seeking to achieve this through a combination of clear regulations and financial support. These proposals, and any measures which accompany them, will be both fair and proportionate.

In Scotland, civil and political rights are protected by the Human Rights Act 1998, alongside provisions in the Scotland Act 1998. These rights derive from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). There is an overarching duty on Ministers to comply with the law, including international law and treaty obligations. Any legislation introduced by the Scottish Parliament will be compliant with these Acts.