Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government engages with local authorities on a range of issues related to climate change on a regular basis, including local authority target setting and reporting requirements, and the Climate Change Plan and Climate Change Plan update. This engagement includes meetings that were held during the formulation of the Climate Change Plan update, and now includes discussions on sectoral issues such as the development of Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies (LHEES), the decarbonisation of transport and the development of a circular economy.

Additionally, the Scottish Government engages with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers (SOLACE), the Sustainable Scotland Network, and the Scottish Cities Alliance. For example, a meeting was held on Wednesday 7th July with COSLA on the Climate Change Plan update commitment to reduce car kilometres by 20% by 2030.

The Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) is a partner in a build-to-rent joint venture with Edinburgh City Council called “Edinburgh Living” which is providing mid-market rent properties and market rent homes across the city. To date, more than 250 families have moved into quality affordable homes with the long-term aim to provide 1,500 new mid-market rent and market rent homes over the next few years.

In 2017, the Scottish Government put in place a package of measures to support the growth of the Build to Rent Sector in Scotland. That package included a Rental Income Guarantee Scheme and SFT was appointed by Scottish Government to manage applications to the Scheme. However, no formal application was made to the Scheme in three and a half years and the Scheme was closed. The BtR sector is now growing without further Scottish Government intervention.

Dates the Scottish Government has met with and currently plans to meet with airports are included in the following table.

The Scottish Government places great importance on the range of services Arms Length External Organisations (ALEOS) provide and believes everyone should have access to these services as we move towards recovery. However, as independent corporate bodies it is for local authorities to decide when and what services will be offered, and it is for the locally elected representatives to make these decisions. It is also the responsibility of individual local authorities to assess the financial viability of their own ALEOS.

The Scottish Government for our part have allocated Scotland's local authorities an additional £1.5 billion in direct support through the local government finance settlement and councils have also been granted additional financial flexibilities to address the financial pressures caused by COVID-19.

Furthermore, the 2021-22 Local Government Settlement of almost £11.7 billion provides a cash increase in local government day to day spending for local revenue services of £375.6 million or 3.5 per cent.

Since the outset of the pandemic, the Scottish Government has taken an evidence-based approach to our measures on overseas travel, informed by the latest data and evidence provided on a UK-wide basis by the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC), as well as Scotland-specific data from Scotland’s Test and Protect system, and clinical advice from Scotland's Chief Medical Officer. 

The greatest risk of COVID-19 infection are passengers arriving from red list countries, who are required to enter managed isolation in a quarantine hotel. There is no exemption anywhere in the UK for oil and gas workers arriving from red list countries. 

There is an exemption for oil and gas workers arriving from amber list countries to undertake work on critical infrastructure in Scotland. They are still required to take a pre-departure test before travel, complete a passenger locator form before travelling to Scotland, book and take a testing package for days 2 and 8, self-isolate at home for 10 days when not at or travelling to and from a place where they are required to undertake the activities this exemption applies to and show a letter to Border Force from their employer outlining the work they will be doing.

Scottish Government annual statistics on the number of household applicants on local authority or common housing register lists as at the end of March each year from 2001 to 2019 are published at

https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-scotland-2019-key-trends-summary/ , with detailed local authority level Excel tables available at https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-management-of-local-authority-housing/ .

More recent figures as at March 2020 are not yet available due to a delay in the publication of annual housing statistics for 2020 due to the impacts of COVID-19 on data provision and staff resourcing.

The annual statistics figures are sourced from local authority data returns that provide information on the number of applicants on local authority or common housing register lists (excluding stock transfer authorities), and will include households using choice based lettings where the application details registered as part of these schemes are considered to form part of the main housing register. Some applicants will be on more than one waiting list, and therefore the total figures presented will include an unidentifiable level of multiple counting of applicants.

Separate survey based estimates of the proportion of households on housing lists or using choice based letting are published as part of the Scottish Government Scottish Household Survey outputs, with local authority level figures available in Tables 3.18a and 3.18b at https://scotland.shinyapps.io/sg-scottish-household-survey-data-explorer/ . Note that the Scottish Household Survey figures are based on the proportion of households reporting to be on any type of housing list, which will include housing association lists as well as council lists.

The Scottish Household Survey figures are subject to sampling variation, especially at a local authority level, however the results are not subject to any double counting issues. In addition the figures cover all local authorities, including stock transfer authorities, so they provide the most reliable national level estimates available.

The published figures for the number of households on housing lists or using choice based lettings equate to an estimated number of households as presented in the following table.

Note that the Scottish Household Survey figures in Table 1 include households who are already living in the social rented sector who are looking to transfer to another social rented home, as well as households looking to move into social rented properties from other housing tenures.

Table 1: Scottish Household Survey: Estimated number of households on a housing list, 2013 to 2019.

(Figures for 2013 to 2016 include households on a housing list. Figures for 2017 to 2019 include households either on a housing list or who are seeking social housing using choice based lettings)

Transport Scotland and the Department for Transport (DfT) are continuing to engage regularly to align their work to enable a shared understanding of the cross border benefits and challenges of options to extend Borders Rail to Carlisle. As committed to within the £350 million Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal, the Scottish Government, through Transport Scotland, is progressing the evidence base for extending the Borders Railway through the second Strategic Transport Projects Review. Alongside this, the UK Government’s Department for Transport is progressing complementary work with a wider UK perspective.

The amount spent by the Scottish Government on woodland creation in the years 2016-2021 is set out in the following table:

The Scottish Government is progressing wide reform of the planning system, including implementation of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019; preparation of Scotland’s fourth National Planning Framework; a review of permitted development rights and a programme of digital transformation of planning services, with a focus on efficient processes, delivering good quality development and positive outcomes.

In keeping with our statutory assessment obligations, work on a Strategic Environmental Assessment and Habitats Regulations Appraisal to inform the emerging National Planning Framework 4 is currently underway. We will also consider the likely health effects of proposed national developments as part of the SEA process. We have also commissioned consultants to undertake an independent assessment of the likely impact of each proposed national development’s lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions on achieving national greenhouse gas emissions reductions targets.