Chamber and committees

The £31.3 million Building Standards budget for 2023-24 has been allocated for (a) Cladding remediation programme spend of £29.72 million; (b) research and professional advice on the building standards system spend of £0.38 million; (c) other spend of £1.20 million.

The Home Energy Scotland Grants and Loan Scheme does not directly accredit installers for external wall insulation, however we do require that businesses installing this measure are accredited to the PAS2030 British Standard

Since June we have published our Heat in Buildings Supply Chains Delivery Plan which sets out the practical steps that we are taking to support the growth of the green heat sector.

As part of our Supply Chains Delivery Plan, Skills Development Scotland are currently leading on pathfinder research to build the evidence base in the Glasgow City and Shetland council areas. This will build an understanding of forecast skills demand and identify gaps, providing a model for undertaking such an assessment in other areas. The pathfinder research will be complete spring 2023.

As part of this package of actions, we have also re-launched our previous 'Sustainable Energy Supply Chain Programme' as the ‘Green Heat Installer Engagement Programme’, with a dedicated focus on working with installers in the heat and energy efficiency supply chain.

Within the South Region of Forestry and Land Scotland, since 2007, the following estimated number of trees (based on normal planting densities per hectare), have been planted by Forestry and Land Scotland in each Local Authority Area:

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12852 on 10 January 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 .

The £2m was committed to be spent over this parliament (to March 31 2026). Of the £2 million previously committed at COP26, £1.7 million has been delivered through grants. £1 million was grant funded to the Climate Justice Resilience Fund (CJRF). Created in 2016, CJRF is one of the first major funding initiatives framed explicitly around climate justice, and one of few philanthropic players that works internationally on climate resilience. They have been selected as they have extensive experience of delivering rapid, community-based finance to address climate justice.

Through the Scottish Government’s partnership with the CJRF, five project in the Global South have been grant funded grants to date; £233k to Young Power in Social Action (YPSA), £228k to Helvetas Bangladesh, £205k to Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), £182k to Churches Action in Relief and Development (CARD) and £136k to the Loss and Damage Youth Coalition Youth Grantmaking Council (LDYGC).

Furthermore, £500k of the initial £2 million has been granted to The Scottish Catholic International Fund to directly support communities in our partner country, Malawi, facing losses and damage resulting from recent tropical storms. With participation and co-design at the heart of their programming, SCIAF and partners have built long-term relationships through the delivery of the SG funded Climate Challenge Programme Malawi with communities who are now experiencing severe loss and damages. SCIAF’s experience and existing relations will ensure Scottish Government funding has an immediate and much needed impact in Malawian communities.

Alongside grant funded projects on the ground, the Scottish Government identified a gap in global knowledge and understanding through extensive stakeholder engagement and as such, allocated part of the £2 million funding to further research on loss and damage. £75k has been awarded to the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) to investigate operationalising finance for Loss and Damage. A further £150k has been granted to the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) in Bangladesh for further research on loss and damage.

Final decisions on how the remaining unallocated funds will be spent will be made following stakeholder engagement and a thorough review of the global commitments made at COP27 to ensure that the Scottish Government creates maximum impact with our approach and does not duplicate funding efforts elsewhere.

We plan to publish this data early this year.

Officials are planning to undertake stakeholder engagement events early in 2023 in order to inform the delivery mechanism and selection criteria for this funding. Recommendations will then be put to Ministers in advance of any formal agreement being made with the aim of the selection process starting in Q1 of FY 23/24. Through this process, officials will deliver a participatory, co-designed programme that fully meets the needs of the communities that it seeks to serve. The minister is happy to update parliament once a ministerial decision is taken.

We have reached an agreement with social landlords on below-inflation rent increases for the next financial year.

Organisations representing social landlords have announced their members’ plans for average rent increases for 2023-24, which will keep rents significantly below private market levels.

Under the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) Act 2022, rents are effectively frozen in the social rented sectors until 31 March 2023. Decisions on future plans for the private sector rent freeze, as well as other measures contained in the Act, will be announced in the coming weeks.

Final budget allocations have not yet been made for FY 23-24.

Information on the number of dentists is provided by NHS Education for Scotland and can be found at: Data tables | Turas Data Intelligence (nhs.scot)

We do not hold information on country of origin of dentists, nor information on Dental Care Professionals as this group is in the main employed by independent dental practices.