Chamber and committees

The data currently held on heat networks comes from data collected by the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) under the Heat Metering and Billing Regulations. Heat network operators are required to notify every 4 years. The latest data held is for 2018. Figures for 2019 and 2020 are not yet available.

The latest statistics from OPSS indicate that at the end of 2018:

• Almost 30,000 homes were connected to district or communal heating networks in Scotland
• An estimated 1.18 TWh of heat and cooling demand was supplied via heat networks.

The Scottish Government is committed to continuing to work with partners to take forward the recommendations of the National Review of Care Allowances, including development of a Scottish Recommended Allowance for foster care and kinship care. This will improve consistency and transparency for looked-after children, their families and their carers across Scotland.

The Victims Taskforce was established in December 2018 to co-ordinate and drive action to improve the experience of victims and witnesses in the criminal justice system - it is not in the Taskforce’s remit to recommend legislative change.

A number of legislative changes have been progressed by the Scottish Government since the inception of the Taskforce that advance or facilitate actions in the Taskforce’s work plan and provide a legislative framework within which further improvements can be made. Examples of primary legislation include the Vulnerable Witnesses (Criminal Evidence) (Scotland) Act 2019, the Forensic Medical Services (Victims of Sexual Offences) (Scotland) Act 2021 and the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021. Furthermore, various pieces of secondary legislation have seen the implementation of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018, the establishment of the Victim Surcharge Fund, the creation of a statutory Appropriate Adult service, more flexible powers to pilot improvements to the victim statement scheme and changes to Parole Board Rules to ensure victims are better informed, more involved and receive greater support ahead of prison release decisions.

Data is not available at this time on the number of times body worn cameras have been used by Police Scotland as evidence to secure a conviction.

Should the decision be made to rollout the use of body worn cameras to other roles across Police Scotland, a range of data will be gathered to assess the impacts of the rollout including quantative data relating to criminal justice processes.

The Scottish Government and relevant agencies have, to date, spent £885,000 on transport planning, venue, communications and marketing in preparations for COP26. Scottish Ministers have made clear their expectation that all additional operational costs, such as transport planning, will be borne by the UK Government.

A public consultation exercise, Building standards (fire safety) - a consultation on external wall systems - Scottish Government - Citizen Space , is currently being undertaken which includes consideration of high risk materials in external wall systems.

Responses to the consultation will be used to inform the Building Standards (Fire Safety) Review Panel 2020-21 work and final policy that will be prepared in support of any legislative changes in relation to high risk materials in external wall systems.

The consultation closes 08 October 2021 with the next panel meeting shortly thereafter.

No notifications have been received since issue of the provision in April 2021.

We have removed the requirement for self-isolation for under 18s who are normally resident in the UK or are a dependent of those exempt having been fully vaccinated. Children aged 12-17 travelling from Amber list countries will only take day 2 test and younger children are already not required to take tests. Other children are still required to follow self-isolation and testing rules.

There has been no increase to the funding allocated from the Scottish Government’s Children Young People and Families Early Intervention Fund & Adult Learning and Empowering Communities (CYPFEI & ALEC) Fund to the Scottish Youth Parliament in 2021-22.

The Scottish Government does not hold the data requested.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is responsible for issuing Victim Notification Scheme packs. They have advised that the number of packs issued over the last 3 years is:

2018-19 1,880

2019-20 1,788

2020-21 1,158

Eligible victims can register for the scheme at any time. The Scottish Prison Service have advised that the numbers of victims who have opted to register for the scheme in the last 3 years, are as follows:

2018-19 443

2019-20 472

2020-21 306