Chamber and committees

In accordance with CalMac Ferries Limited (CFL) terms and conditions, and Passengers' Rights Regulations, concerning the rights of passengers when travelling by sea and inland waterway, the operator does not have liability to reimburse passengers for unused accommodation as a result of cancelled ferry services. However, if a sailing is cancelled or delayed due to reasons within the operator’s control, and passengers require to pay for overnight accommodation, the operator will reimburse these costs in line with Passenger Rights regulations.

In circumstances where passengers have paid for accommodation that was unused due to ferry cancellations, they are advised to reclaim these costs through their travel insurance.

A guide to Sailing Disruption and Passenger Rights Claims can be found on CFL’s website at the following link: https://www.calmac.co.uk/travelling-with-calmac/help-for-passengers/passenger-rights .

Due to the pandemic, the work to address the recommendations published by the Parliamentary Working Group was postponed. In January this year a revised timetable was published on the Scottish Government website and the revised timetable can be accessed via this link Tenement Maintenance Timetable .

The full-time equivalent of teachers in temporary posts in each year since 2006 is shown in the following table.

Details of the £10 million grant fund scheme - announced by the Deputy First Minister on 22 June to help tenants who have been financially impacted by the pandemic and are facing homelessness - are being developed at pace and we will provide further information on the delivery and applications process for the fund in due course.

The Housing First Pathfinder programme started in August 2018 across six local authority areas with Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire working in partnership. Up until 30 June 2021, a total of 531 people have accessed Housing First tenancies and support through this programme. Over the course of the final year of the Housing First Pathfinder Programme, which ends on 31 March 2022, each local authority is working on the mainstreaming arrangements to deliver their Housing First programme going forwards.

In line with the objective of upscaling Housing First across Scotland outlined in the 2018 Scottish Government/COSLA Ending Homelessness Together Action Plan (and retained in the 2020 updated Action Plan), local authorities have been asked to consider and implement the Housing First model as a default approach to housing and supporting those with more complex needs as part of their Rapid Rehousing Transition Plans (RRTPs). Information on the delivery of RRTPs, including Housing First, is provided to the Scottish Government by local authorities on an annual basis.

The Scottish Government has also developed a dedicated Housing First monitoring framework to capture progress on Housing First across all 32 local authorities. The monitoring framework will collect information on Housing First tenancies from 1 April 2021 on a quarterly basis. The Scottish Government will publish the first quarterly progress update on Housing First tenancies across Scotland in September 2021.

From the Housing First monitoring framework and RRTP information, the Scottish Government can report that 22 local authorities currently have a Housing First programme in place, and a further 6 local authorities have indicated that they are in the process of developing their programme which will commence during 2021-22.

At 31 March 2021, Scottish Water reported leakage at 463 Megalitres per day – a reduction of over 55% since 2006. Scottish Water continues to invest to maintain and replace assets to further drive down leakage.

Part 7 of the Water Resources (Scotland) Act 2013 allows Scottish Water to make a water shortage order if it believes there is a serious deficiency of water supplies in an area. Scottish Water also encourages customers to use water efficiently year-round and has information on its website at https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/Your-Home/Save-Water/Water-Saving-Advice. In addition, Licensed Providers, such as Business Stream, work with non-domestic customers to promote efficient water use to generate environmental and financial savings. In the last year alone, Business Stream has helped its customers save over £14 million through water efficiency savings. Business stream has also recently launched a £100k water efficiency fund to help public sector bodies deliver water efficiency projects.

The Scottish Government has not received specific reports of scammers exploiting the new fire alarm standard. We are, however, recognise that the risk of people falling victim to a scam remains a possibility The Scottish Government launched a comprehensive awareness raising campaign about the new standard on 19 August 2021. This campaign includes messaging on the importance of using reputable tradespeople, looking out for trademarks that products that comply with the new standard as well as signposting to local government Trading Standards teams for further advice and to report suspicious activities.

Scotland has a long history of welcoming people of all nationalities, including those from Hong Kong. We recognise the positive contribution that they make to society. They are assets to our communities: sharing their culture, building businesses, working in our public services, volunteering their skills and making friendships. We are committed to supporting their integration into our communities and are confident that Scotland will benefit from their presence.

The Chinese Government’s decision to implement the National Security Law in Hong Kong is of deep concern to the Scottish Government. This action seriously undermines the principle of ‘One Country, Two Systems’, which guarantees Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy, and will irreversibly diminish the rights and freedoms of its people.

We support the UK Government’s commitment to providing a bespoke pathway to citizenship for British National (Overseas) citizens from Hong Kong and their dependants and we welcome those who have chosen to move to Scotland.

In relation to how the Scottish Government monitors the quality of customer service, specialist expertise and willingness to undertake and quote for work for Warmer Homes Scotland and Area-Based Schemes, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-01002 on 21 July 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 .

The following information relates to Home Energy Scotland (HES) advice services and the HES loans/cashback scheme, which includes domestic biomass as an eligible measure.

It is a condition of the HES loan/cashback that the customer must use an MCS certified installer for renewable heat systems (including biomass). Furthermore, the measure must be recommended on either the EPC or in a report issued by a HES specialist renewables advisor.

The Home Energy Scotland (HES) advice service, managed by the Energy Saving trust (EST) on behalf of the Scottish Government, is the gateway to the HES loan/cashback scheme and other SG-funded schemes.

Customer service quality at HES is monitored through monthly customer satisfaction surveys. All HES advisors are trained and qualified in accordance with the Home Energy Scotland SQA accredited training programme. HES also recommends that all customers (whether accessing HES loans/cashback or not) use installers with relevant certifications, such as MCS for renewables installations. This ensures that the work carried out meets MCS’ technical standards which also requires membership of a consumer protection body. They also recommend that customers get three quotes for each piece of work to allow reasonable price and detail comparison for work proposed.

Customers are also directed to the Scottish Government-funded Renewables Installer Finder tool to search for local MCS-certified installers. HES are strictly impartial in terms of installer recommendations but this tool provides customer reviews to help support their decision making.

In terms of installer capacity to undertake and quote for work, the Scottish Government funds EST’s sustainable energy supply chain programme to help develop capacity amongst installers through development of support and training in low and zero emissions heating technology installations, webinars and events as well as support for training costs which we deliver in partnership with Energy Skills Partnership.

Since the beginning of the pandemic the Scottish Government has announced £175 million support to the culture, creative, heritage and events sectors. The dates in brackets are the announcement dates:

• £1.2 million for Creative / Screen Bursaries (March 20)
• £17 million to address hardship faced by creative freelancers (August 20, March 21)
• £12.5 million then £12 million for Performing Arts Events Venues Relief Fund (July 20, June 21)
• £13.1 million then £13m for Culture Organisations and Venues Recovery Fund (August 20, June 21)
• £3.5 million Open Fund (August 20)
• £4.25 million for youth arts, including the Youth Music Initiative (August 20 and subsequent additional funding)
• £0.5 million Creative Communities (August 20)
• £6.0 million for the Culture Collective programme (November 20)
• £6.2 million for Grassroots Music Venues (July and December 20)
• £5.6 million for independent cinemas (2 rounds) (August 20 and March 21)
• £0.4m for Museums Urgent Response fund (March 20)
• £7.1 million for Museums Recovery and Resilience Fund (2 rounds) (July and December 20)
• £31.5 million for the Events sector (July and December 20)
• £3.8 million for National Trust for Scotland to protect jobs (August 20)
• £21.3 million for Historic Environment Scotland (August 20 )
• £5.9 million to support heritage organisations via committed grants (August 20)
• £270,000 for the New Lanark Trust (August 20 )
• £3.1 million for historic environment recovery (September 20) (£2.6m resource, £0.5m capital)
• £1 million for V&A Dundee (October 20)
• £0.5 million for Capital Theatres (October 20)
• £150,000 for Glasgow International (November 20)
• £81,00 for Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society (November 20)
• £3 million for Aberdeen Performing Arts, Eden Court Highlands and Capital Theatres (January 21)
• £150,000 for St Giles (February 21)
• £1 million Creative Digital Initiative (CDI) (March 21)
• £900,000 in Capital for Capital project increases (Burrell Collection, David Livingstone Birthplace and Fruitmarket Gallery) (October 20, November 20, January 21)

This includes the most recent announcement in June of £25 million for the Cultural Organisations and Venues Recovery Fund (COVRF) and the Performing Arts Venues Relief Fund (PAVRF). £17m of this has now been allocated and contracting is underway. The Scottish Government is currently in discussion with cultural stakeholders, including Creative Scotland, regarding how the remaining £8 million will be allocated.

In total therefore £167 million has been formally allocated and contracted and passed to our delivery partners including, Creative Scotland, Museums Galleries Scotland, Events Scotland and Historic Environment Scotland. A small amount of this funding is not yet fully spent. This includes £287,000 of funding to heritage organisations, £132,000 for museums, and £1.5 million funding for events. There are in addition final payments to be made from Creative Scotland to Culture Collective, Youth Arts and Open Fund.

We are still awaiting clarity from HM Treasury on why the additional £40 million of culture consequentials, which were announced as part of the £300 million uplift to the Culture Recovery Fund in the UK Budget in March 2021, have not yet been passed on to the Scottish Government.