Chamber and committees

Scottish Ministers are finalising an agreement with Crown Estate Scotland for a percentage transfer of CES’s previous year's gross revenue to its capital account in 2023-24 and 2024-25. This will be set out in a Ministerial Direction which will be published on the Scottish Government website.

In the 2021 Heat in Buildings Strategy, the Scottish Government committed to reforming Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) to ensure they drive the energy efficiency improvements we need and to incentivise zero direct emissions heating. The need for this work was recently reemphasised by the Climate Change Committee. The team working on the development of the proposed new energy efficiency ratings system comprises of staff at the following Scottish Government Pay Grades:

1 x C2

1 x C1

2 x B3

1 x B2

This team is overseen by a member of staff at Senior Civil Service grade SCS1. Staff are not working solely on EPC metric development and have other responsibilities.

The Scottish Government has not recently assessed the level of safeguarding in place regarding named persons defined under the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003.

The Act allows the patient to have a right to choose whether to have a named person or not. The purpose of a named person is to allow someone to look after a patient’s interests when they are subject to compulsory care and treatment. However, where there are concerns that a person is not suitable to act as a named person then the Act allows for action to be taken. People, such as a patient’s mental health officer, a welfare attorney, a guardian, relatives or anyone who has an interest in the patients welfare, can apply to the Mental Health Tribunal to have a named person removed from the role if they feel that they are unsuitable.

The Scottish Mental Health Law Review made a number of recommendations regarding the operation of the named person provisions under the Act which the Scottish Government will give further consideration to as part of our response to the Review.

An Estate Strategy and Carbon Management Plan for Scottish Government core buildings is under development to support our asset planning and the future investment decisions required to improve the energy performance of our buildings and deliver the Heat in Building Strategy and Net Zero targets.

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering energy saving projects across its estate, such as reduced use of natural gas, improved insulation, more efficient boilers, and the installation of solar panels. In the last 18 months, two projects to remove gas heating, install insulation, install triple glazing and solar PV were completed at our Thainstone and Tweedbank buildings. Additionally, LED lighting was installed at Victoria Quay and SASA in Edinburgh. The EPC's for these buildings will be updated in due course.

Feasibility studies are currently being carried out for other owned buildings on our estate.

Following an open procurement exercise, in June 2022 the Building Research Establishment (BRE) was commissioned by the Scottish Government to develop potential options for new EPC metrics; model the Scottish housing stock against these new metrics, propose a system to map the new metrics to a 1-100 and A-G scale, and identify the improvement measures needed to retrofit dwellings to achieve high EPC ratings in the new metrics.

This work was concluded in March 2023 and we intend to publish BRE’s report alongside our forthcoming EPC reform consultation. The fee was £93,768.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on how much money has been raised from fixed penalties issued for the offence of littering or flytipping.

This detailed information can be obtained by contacting individual issuing authorities.

Scottish Government have recently appointed professional experts to prepare a scope for future surveys. Final security checks are currently being completed and thereafter it is anticipated that the 6 week programme to develop a scope will be completed by September 2023.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all people living with kidney disease are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.

Psychosocial support is an element of person-centred care and covers the need to consider a wide range of factors that affect a person’s wellbeing. We recognise that primary care is the first and often the main point of contact for many people in their diagnosis and care journey. Our strengthening of Scotland’s primary care workforce through the recruitment of multi-disciplinary teams is making it easier for people to access frontline care local to them. We have now recruited over 3,000 professionals including community nurses and physiotherapists, with increased funding of £170m this year to support further development of multi-disciplinary teams in primary care.

We will continue working to identify how to drive up standards of care in chronic kidney disease care, using data from the Scottish Renal Registry, in order to maximise the care, treatment and quality of life for everyone living with the disease across Scotland.

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

Our commitment to ongoing investment and the support measures implemented are, not specific to, but inclusive of, people with a learning disability as valued citizens of Scotland.

In addition we have launched a dedicated Cost of Living portal, signposting to helpful information across a range of subjects including energy and bills; debt and money; children and families; and health and wellbeing.

The Scottish Government also continue to fund a variety of key stakeholder organisations such as Scottish Commission for People with Learning Disabilities (SCLD), Down’s Syndrome Scotland (DSS) and PAMIS who provide general specialised support and advice for people with learning disabilities and their families and carers across a number of platforms and in a range of accessible formats.

We recognise that the physical impact of living with kidney disease can have a significant impact on a person’s mental health and wellbeing. Living with an incurable, long-term condition can be deeply distressing. The Scottish Government’s new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy, due for publication shortly, will set out a long-term vision, and a set of outcomes, for the mental health and wellbeing of the population.

One of the key outcomes for the Strategy is to ensure people with mental health conditions, including those with co-existing physical health conditions, experience improved quality and length of life. In order to achieve this, we will work with partners to develop actions that will see improved provision of services, including talking therapies, and support to people with long-term physical health conditions for their mental health and wellbeing.

In addition to this, the National Education Scotland and Scottish Government developed The Matrix: A Guide for Delivering Evidence-based Psychological Therapies in Scotland to support NHS Boards in planning the range, volume and quality of psychological therapies required to meet Scottish Government commitments. The Matrix is due to be refreshed in 2023 but already includes a section specifically on chronic kidney disease and includes a recommendation for talking therapies for those with moderate to severe mental health problems.