Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government recognises the pressure on household budgets which is why both last year and this, we have allocated almost £3 billion, to support policies which tackle poverty and to protect people as far as possible during the ongoing cost of living crisis.

We are continuing to support free welfare, debt and income maximisation advice services with funding of over £12.3 million allocated this year.

In particular, the Scottish Government is investing over £6.67 million of funding to support free debt advice services in Scotland, part of our wider package of funding for income maximisation, welfare and debt advice services.

A further £2.3 million is being made available, through the Scottish Legal Aid Board under the Early Resolution and Advice Programme (ERAP), to offer direct assistance and legal representation for people at risk of or facing court action connected to debt related eviction or repossession. This includes in-court advisors based in Sherriff courts across Scotland.

Additionally, the Home Owners Support Fund, currently the only such scheme in the UK, offers support to those on low incomes who are at risk of falling behind on their mortgages and facing repossession or eviction. The Fund sits alongside advice services and legal aid support for homeowners.

This investment provides households across Scotland with a holistic, multi-channel offering, ensuring they are able to access advice and support in a manner which suits their needs.

As set out in the Bute House Agreement, and our response to the Salmon Interactions Working Group report, we are committed to improving the regulatory framework which applies to fish farm containment and escapes. We note calls in the Salmon Interactions Working Group report for escapes to be regulated by licence. We will consider this in forming our policy options, including how the Technical Standard for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture would fit within or alongside any enforcement regime. The publication and introduction of a new technical standard is our immediate priority.

We are spending every penny of consequential funding we receive on this programme of work, with spend to date of over £3.6m and the anticipated whole-life cost approximately £400m.

Spending information and quarterly updates were published in July 2023 and is publicly available at Single Building Assessment programme: spending information - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . Work is underway on a stock census to evaluate buildings and explore ways to minimise cost and maximise revenue to ensure the programme can deliver its objectives in full, efficiently and in a reasonable timeframe.

The Joint Working Group on Sources of Local Government Funding and Council Tax Reform is exploring proposals for meaningful changes to be introduced to Council Tax, this includes the consideration of approaches to longer term reform of the Council Tax system.

The Scottish Government have provided local authorities with nearly £13.5 billion of funding in 2023-24, a cash increase in local government day to day spending of over £793 million which represents a real terms increase of £376 million or 3 per cent.

In October 2021 we published our response to the Salmon Interactions Working Group (SIWG) report, and we are continuing to progress delivery of those commitments, which include action to minimise the escape of farmed fish to help protect Scotland’s wild salmonid populations.

Alongside our response to the report of the SIWG, the Marine Directorate published its first assessment of genetic introgression in wild salmon in 2021: A national assessment of the influence of farmed salmon escapes on the genetic integrity of wild Scottish Atlantic salmon populations | Marine Scotland Data Publications.

This was the first report as part of the National Introgression Programme for Scotland (NIPS) and based on sampling undertaken in 2018/2019. NIPS is an ongoing nationwide project that is researching the link between fish farm escapes and introgression in wild salmon populations.

In 2021 a second NIPS survey was conducted across the country with samples and data from this is currently being analysed. A further NIPS survey was also initiated in 2023 and sample collection is now underway. Analysis of the NIPS surveys from multiple sampling years will provide a picture of temporal changes in levels of introgression.

We remain committed to working with the sector to reduce the risk of escapes from fish farms, including through the revision and publication of the Technical Standard for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture, and the introduction of penalties where escapes occur with the ultimate aim of redistributing this money to support wild salmonid conservation and research.

The Scottish Government provides funding annually to Health Boards for smoking cessation and prevention services, but this funding isn’t split for adult and child smoking cessation and prevention services.

This funding is provided as part of a wider Outcomes Framework budget allocation to Health Boards to cover a range of outcomes – in 2023-24 this outcome framework funding totalled £74.1 million.

The table below sets out the Outcome Framework budget allocations for the last 5 years for Health Boards, which is then for Individual Health Boards to determine the allocation of and final expenditure from this budget. For illustrative purposes,‎ c£9-10 million per annum is notionally included as part of the Outcome Framework budget allocation for smoking cessation and prevention.

The Scottish Government is providing £4.3m of funding in 2023-2024 to expand the network of Climate Action Hubs across the country. The Hubs empower communities to engage in collective climate action, supporting peer-to-peer learning and helping groups to take advantage of funding opportunities. The network has now been expanded with Climate Action Hubs in Highland, Orkney and Shetland (Highlands & Islands Climate Hub), Fife, Moray and the Outer Hebrides in addition to Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire (NESCAN). In most other areas of Scotland, hubs are expected to launch by the end of the financial year, ensuring wide coverage of the country.

The Scottish Government is also committed to supporting the growth of community energy through CARES, which aims to help communities engage in and benefit from the energy transition to net zero. The scheme has advised over 900 organisations and offered £60 million in funding to over 680 projects. It has supported the installation of 57.9MW of renewable energy, and has supported a wide range of projects from community owned wind and hydro to decarbonising community buildings and installing solar PV on faith buildings.

The Scottish Government also supports communities through other initiatives, for example the Investing in Communities Fund (ICF), a multiyear communities fund that is delivered as part of the Empowering Communities Programme. The fund targets the most disadvantaged communities to deliver projects, services and activities that address poverty and disadvantage on their own terms.

The main changes between MHDGN 2022/02 and MHDGN 2023/01 are listed in the ‘Introduction’ section of MHDGN 2023/01. Both guidance notes continue to be available on the Scottish Government website for reference purposes.

I refer the member to the answer to S6W-20272 on 17 August 2023. In addition, the EIR response referenced alludes to comments made by the Scottish Government regarding the logistics and infrastructure sections within the application documentation.

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