Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to the recruitment of a minimum of 1,500 additional staff to support the operation of Scotland’s National Treatment Centres (NTCs) and is supporting a range of activity to achieve this.

The recruitment data we are currently collating is management information and not suitable for publication. However, we are committed to exploring how this data can be published at a future date following with the opening of Centres in Fife and Forth Valley in early 2023.

In line with European best practice for scheme administrators of deposit return schemes, Circularity Scotland Ltd is a private company independent of the Scottish Ministers. The Scottish Ministers have no powers to require Circularity Scotland Ltd to publish the methodology used to set retailer handling fees for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme.

The requested information on how much has been spent on providing (a) staff bank cover and (b) agency staff cover by NHS board since March 2014 can be found on the following link: NHSScotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence (Bank and Agency) tab.

The Cost of Living Crisis represents an unprecedented challenge and is undoubtedly having an impact on communities across Scotland. Effective fire safety, to prevent fires and reduce their impact, remains a priority for the Scottish Government and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) and this was reflected in the latest Fire and Rescue Framework published earlier this year: Fire and rescue framework 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Our Programme for Government set out to use our Emergency Budget Review to double our Fuel Insecurity Fund to £20 million, which has helped households at risk of self-disconnection, or self-rationing their energy use, since late 2020. Support is provided to people either as fuel vouchers, or via direct payments to their energy suppliers, and is available to people on any tariff type and using any kind of fuel.

The Scottish Government has produced Home Fire Safety advice which can be found here: Home fire safety - Fire and rescue - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . SFRS also have fire safety advice relating to candle use on their website: Scottish Fire & Rescue Service (firescotland.gov.uk) .

Waste collection is the responsibility of individual local authorities and they are best placed to make decisions regarding the provision of waste and recycling services in their area.

The Scottish Government supports strong trade unions in Scotland and recognises the importance of collective bargaining in improving terms and conditions, and respects the right to strike. However, we would always encourage unions and employers to work collaboratively to resolve disputes.

The Scottish Government has allocated £336 million this year (2022-23) to heat, energy efficiency and fuel poverty measures including £119 million targeted at fuel poor households. Our resources are delivered through long-standing programmes that have successfully assisted over 150,000 households in or at risk of fuel poverty to access energy efficiency adaptations.

We have recently expanded the capacity of Home Energy Scotland to enable them to help an extra 12,000 households a year with free, impartial advice.

Our national fuel poverty scheme, Warmer Homes Scotland, is focussed on supporting households living in fuel poverty – or at risk of fuel poverty – by installing insulation and heating measures into individual properties. WHS has a record annual budget for 2022-23 of £55 million. Additionally, recently agreed changes to the eligibility criteria for WHS have made around 110,000 more households eligible for this assistance across Scotland.

The Scottish Government has significantly expanded funding for welfare advice to reduce benefit take-up gaps in Scotland. In the current year (2022-23) we have allocated over £12.5 million to support the provision of free income maximisation, welfare and debt advice. This vital funding ensures that people who are struggling the most can access the support they need in a way that works for them including face to face, online or over the phone.

The Scottish Government ran a national financial support campaign between January and March this year, beginning with a focus on maximising benefit take-up, and including signposting for debt advice and affordable credit.

The Scottish Government has launched a 'cost of living' portal to help people find out what support and benefits may be available depending on their own personal circumstances, for example for families with children or older people. This will streamline advice and support links from multiple sources of support into one page, including reserved support which is often under claimed by older households. We will ensure the promotion of this resource through all relevant existing campaigns.

The Scottish Government is also launching a Scotland-wide public information campaign to highlight help and support available to individuals as well as energy efficiency measures for households to minimise cost.

Scottish Water’s Improving Urban Waters Route Map published in December 2021 sets out clear timescales for the publication of spill data from monitored combined sewer overflows. The route map is published on Scottish Water’s website at https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/About-Us/News-and-Views/2021/12/211221-Urban-Waters-Routemap

Specific commitments in terms of increasing reporting of spill data from monitored CSOs are:

• by December 2022, for monitored CSOs where data is already currently reported to SEPA, publish spill data annually, identifying the main reason for the spills where possible (e.g. heavy rain, blockages or a flow issue at the treatment works). [153 monitoring locations]
• by December 2023, publish spill data annually for all other monitored CSOs. [circa 200 additional monitoring locations but will increase in line with new monitors delivered through a commitment made in this same route map]
• by December 2024, publish near real-time spill data for all monitored CSOs.

Scottish Government officials have been working closely with officials across the Scottish Government, UK Government and stakeholders to make Turing better reflect the needs of Scotland. The Scottish Government has also engaged with national bodies of eligible sectors for funding to encourage Scottish organisations to proceed with applications in line with the application window set by the Turing scheme.

The Scottish Government’s position remains that the Turing Scheme does not match the breadth and scope of Erasmus+. This scheme offers no provision for inward mobility to the UK, no staff inward or outward mobility, or provision for Adult Learning, Youth Work or Sport, resulting in reduced opportunities for all our students, staff and young people, in particular our most disadvantaged groups.

Table 1 presents the number of properties with a liability for the higher property rate before reliefs are awarded, broken down by local authority and property class. Table 1 has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre under Bib No. 63637.

The Scottish Government does not hold property level data on industry sectors. Property class is a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, and does not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a property.

The Scottish Government’s Programme for Government 2021-22 included a commitment to create a centre of excellence for rural and remote medicine and social care, with scoping work starting in 2021-22.

The Scottish Government has been working closely with NHS Education Scotland (NES) over recent months to carry out extensive scoping and consultation with stakeholders. NES has submitted a business case for the Centre that could be operational in Spring 2023. The Scottish Government is evaluating the business case and considering next steps. Decisions about operational matters, including where staff for the centre would be located, will be made in due course.