Chamber and committees

As previously set out in the Chamber, Scottish Government will take forward a comprehensive review of the arrangements in place for provision of financial support for patient travel. This review will take full account of the matters raised by Members.

Regrettably, this review has been delayed due to prioritisation of NHS recovery and remobilisation planning, and will be taken forward as soon as possible.

Special Advisers are appointed in accordance with Part 1 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 by the First Minister as a Special Adviser for the purpose of providing assistance to the Scottish Ministers.

Their specific responsibilities are as follows:

Fishing associations with members who are hand-dive operators regularly attend the SSSWG. Our national Regional Inshore Fisheries Group (RIFG) network is also strongly represented at the SSSWG and we continue to welcome the involvement of the hand-dive sector through this network or the fishers’ relevant association.

In April 2020 the Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) consulted on future support for low carbon heat, proposing the Green Gas Support and Clean Heat Grant schemes as successors. The Scottish Government responded to the consultation and has separately engaged with BEIS to press the need for replacement schemes to account for particular circumstances in Scotland.

BEIS published its response on the Green Gas Support scheme and associated levy in March 2021. BEIS is yet to issue a response on the Clean Heat Grant. These schemes will provide a reduced level of support to a narrower range of non-domestic heat decarbonisation projects.

The Scottish Government has allocated almost £1.6 billion over this parliament to heat and energy efficiency, including support for non-domestic projects. We already offer a loan and cashback grant offer for SME businesses via the Energy Efficiency Business Support Service and will invest up to £400 million over the next five years in large-scale heat decarbonisation infrastructure, as well as continuing to offer low interest unsecured loans for both district heating low carbon and renewable technology projects in Scotland.

Our commitment to tackling the climate emergency and transitioning to a net-zero society by 2045 is unwavering.

The Scottish Government is committed to review the role that incineration plays in Scotland’s waste hierarchy, and are considering options to take forward this review. Parliament will be updated on plans for this in September, when we will outline a timeline for the review.

I refer the member to the question S6W-02013 on 22 August 2021 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 .

I refer the member to the question S6W-01692 on 16 August 2021. 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 .

I refer the member to the question S6W-01692 on 16 August 2021. 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 .

On 11 November 2020, the Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning announced in Parliament the continuation of the Rural and Islands Housing Funds beyond March 2021 with up to £30 million available to support this demand led scheme as part of the five year Affordable Housing Supply Programme in the current parliamentary term.

The following table shows a breakdown of breaches of the Unsuitable Accommodation Order from 2017-18 to 2020-21 by local authority. Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 5 for disclosure purposes.

Data on temporary accommodation taken from the HL3 data collection is only available for all local authorities from 2017-18. Although some local authorities have provided data prior to this, there is not enough to provide a meaningful national picture and this data has not been subject to the rigorous quality assurance procedures required to finalise the data to official statistics standards.

Important:

Over the 2020-21 reporting period i) there was a significant change to legislation and ii) temporary exceptions were put in place at very short notice in response to COVID-19, both of which have had considerable impacts on the data. The urgency of having to adapt to the revised legislation without any specific guidance means that local authorities have reported inconsistencies in the information captured regarding breaches which is likely to affect comparability. For these reasons, these figures should be treated with caution.

Changes in legislation:

Prior to 5 May 2020, a breach was encountered when a household with a pregnant woman and/or child is in unsuitable temporary accommodation for more than 7 days. From 5 May 2020, this was extended to all households. Therefore, the total number of breaches across the year 2020/21 will include those based on both old and new legislation.

Covid-19 exceptions:

Temporary exceptions were put in place to allow local authorities to provide households with accommodation in response to COVID-19.

The legislation noted that a placement was not considered unsuitable if:

• a person in the household has symptoms of coronavirus and the household requires to isolate; or
• the accommodation is required to provide temporary accommodation to ensure that a distance of 2 metres can be maintained between a member of the household and a person who is not a member of the household in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus; or
• the local authority is unable to place the household in suitable accommodation as a result of the impacts of coronavirus on temporary accommodation supply in the area, provided that where a household includes a child or a pregnant woman the household is not placed in unsuitable accommodation for more than 7 days.

(To note: the third of these only came into effect on 30th September 2020, halfway through the 2020-21 reporting period.)

A household placed in unsuitable accommodation for longer than 7 days where an exception did not apply must still be recorded as a breach.

Number of breaches of the Unsuitable Accommodation Order, by local authority: 2017-18 – 2021-2020