Chamber and committees

The ‘technical solution’ referred to will not impact on our commitment to doubling Scottish Child Payment. This increase, forecast to benefit 111,000 children under age 6 this year, is included within the annual uprating regulations that will come into effect on 1 April.

Separately we have committed to extending Scottish Child Payment to 220,000 older children - aged 6-15 - by the end of this year when it is expected around 430,000 children living in low income households could be eligible. Our initial analysis suggests that this payment when fully rolled out, could lift 40,000 children out of poverty, reducing overall child poverty by an estimated 4 percentage points in 2023-24.

In order to extend Scottish Child Payments to 6-15 year olds it is essential that the UK Government provide us with the data we need in order to establish eligibility for the Payment.

The strong preference of the Scottish Government has consistently been to extend the existing interfaces, which are currently in place to support delivery of the Scottish Child Payment for under 6s. The DWP’s position is that, in contrast to delivery of Child Disability payment and Adult Disability Payment where the ongoing use of existing interfaces has been authorised, the extension of Scottish Child Payment to under 16s should be built to align with their new strategic solution. This carries a higher degree of risk to our delivery timeline, as the DWP’s new strategic solution is still in the design phase, but we have joint mechanisms in place to monitor and track that risk.

I refer the member to the question S6W-05690 answered on 9 February 2022. 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 .

We expect the expert panel to be assembled in the coming months and to consist of a broad range of stakeholders. There are a diverse range of issues to be considered including biomass availability, competing demands, technology readiness, environmental and sustainability issues. Representation and format for the panel are yet to be agreed.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05691 on 9 February 2022. 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 .

Payments to Abellio ScotRail Ltd. during the current transitional period are currently covered by the Emergency Measures Agreement, which includes provisions concerning financial transparency and to ensure value for money.

ScotRail’s May 2022 timetable, benefiting from careful consideration of the consultation feedback, is significantly better than the May 2021 timetable, with 150 more services per day. The aim is to build weekday passenger capacity to more than 590,000 seats, ensuring ScotRail Trains Ltd operate a more sustainable and more robust financial footing.

We are committed to significantly increasing annual rates of peatland restoration in Scotland. We have committed £250 million for peatland restoration over the period 2020 to 2030 and this sends a clear signal of the Government’s intent to restore peatlands to help address the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. Peatland Action, a Scottish Government-funded programme delivered by NatureScot and other delivery partners, provides technical and logistical support to land owners and land managers to support their scale-up and delivery of peatland restoration. We are developing further support to drive this new industry in rural areas and engage with crofting communities; we are also gathering evidence on how to target restoration activity to ensure maximum value for money, emission reduction savings and a just transition.

The North East Economic Recovery and Skills Fund (NEERSF) launched in August 2021. Projects will continue to September 2022 and following this, we will provide a report on the full period.

The first interim performance reporting from the delivery partnership was received in December 2021. These reports covered progress from 7th October to 30th November, when delivery remained in early stages. In that initial two month period 490 individuals and over 40 businesses were supported.

Once the new standard comes into force, the Scottish Government will collect data on fire alarms in Scottish homes in future iterations of the Scottish House Condition Survey. Following the Scottish Government’s mass media awareness campaign in 2021, we know there are high levels of awareness and home-owners will have taken steps to fit the necessary alarms.

Information on the number of homes that have interlinked fire alarms is not currently collected as part of the Scottish House Condition Survey. This standard has already applied to private rented homes and new build homes for over a decade. Social landlords also have a programme of works underway to ensure their tenants have the necessary alarms fitted.

The Scottish Government’s Home Energy Scotland (HES) loan scheme provides up to £15,000 for energy efficiency improvements plus up to £17,500 for zero emissions heating and micro-renewables and up to £6,000 for battery storage. Cashback grants are available with the loans of up to £7,500 on zero emissions heating systems plus up to £6,000 for energy efficiency measures.

We have committed to replacing the cashback offer in 2022-23 with a grant scheme to support energy efficiency and zero emissions heat improvements.