Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government will set out a strengthened framework of support in the forthcoming Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan in 2022, to support the growth of the marine renewables and offshore wind sectors, focused on funding for the infrastructure these sectors need, such as port upgrades.

Scottish Government a) will increase the annual native woodland creation target from 3000 to 4000 hectares and commit to setting evidence-based targets for both native woodlands and natural regeneration as part of the 2022 Biodiversity Strategy.

Scottish Government are supporting this action through provision of SRDP grant for both planting of new woodland, and management of herbivores to encourage natural woodland expansion.

Our Ending Homelessness Together action plan sets out actions we are taking in the short to medium term to end homelessness. Some actions have timescales associated with them while others involve system-wide reforms. There are timescales for the funding that supports the action plan, however. The £50 million Ending Homelessness Together Fund announced in 2017 is for five years (2018-23) and the new £50 million announced in Programme for Government 2021 to end homelessness is for this parliamentary term (2021-26).

Forecasts relating to future requests for award reviews and reassessments are set out by the Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC). The most recently published forecast of 26 August 2021 stated that 8,700 additional people could request that their award be reviewed due to their circumstances changing over the course of case transfer.

On the assumption that around 72% of these individuals could request their mobility award is reviewed, based on the current share of PIP award types, such requests could therefore be around 6,300 people following transfer to ADP from PIP.

In 2016, agreement was reached between Scottish Ministers and COSLA on a new strategic funding plan for flood protection schemes. The agreement guarantees that until 2026 the level of flooding capital grant in the local government settlement is set at a minimum of £42 million per annum. 80% of the available £42 million is allocated to prioritised flood schemes and the other 20% is allocated between all 32 councils to take forward other flood risk management actions.

The Programme for Government published in 2020 included a commitment to invest an extra £150 million in flood risk management over 5 years in addition to the £42 million per annum. This funding will also be distributed to local authorities through the general capital grant. We are working with partners on the best way of allocating this additional funding.

The amount in the general capital grant available to local authorities for flood risk management this year and each year up to 2023-24 is:

As per the previous answer to question S6W-03267 highlighted, a consultation has taken place on the Planning Specification and Context Report for the Sectoral Marine Plan for Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas Decarbonisation (INTOG). That consultation closed on 20 October 2021 and the Scottish Government is aiming to publish the results of that consultation alongside the Initial Plan Framework, which sets out all parameters and spatial components, shortly. This document will include definitions for both Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas components. It is, of course, the intention to ensure that projects delivered under INTOG are competitive.

The Heat in Buildings Strategy sets out that, to meet our emissions reduction targets, by 2030 the vast majority of the 170,000 off-gas homes that currently use fossil fuel heating systems, as well as at least 1 million homes currently using mains gas, must convert to zero emissions heating. Together these amount to around half of domestic properties, on top of the 11% of homes that currently use zero emissions heat. In addition, the equivalent of 50,000 non-domestic buildings, around a quarter, must also switch from fossil fuels to zero emissions heating, which will bring the total using zero emissions heat to around three quarters.

Our existing commitments are therefore broadly equivalent to those recommended by Scottish Renewables in terms of numbers of heating system conversions. However, at this time we have not adopted these as specifically renewable heat targets, in order to accommodate other sources of decarbonised heat. We will review our provisional minimum renewable heat target of 22% in the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan which we will publish for consultation in spring next year.

We work closely with the childcare sector representative bodies and appreciate the challenges faced by settings in relation to recruitment and retention. We are already providing support to all parts of the childcare sector with regard to recruitment and retention challenges. For example, we have invited those whose registrations to work in childcare have lapsed in recent years to re-join the sector; we are providing work experience in the sector via the National Transitional Training Fund; and our national recruitment campaign provides resources to assist with local recruitment. We continue to support the childminding sector as set out in Our Commitment to Childminding Report, which can be found at: Our commitment to childminding: report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

We will work in partnership with all parts of the childcare sector to develop delivery plans for school-aged childcare and funded early learning for one year olds and to ensure that the appropriate support is in place. We have also committed to developing a new, five-year Workforce Strategy for the childcare sector. The strategy will address recruitment and retention challenges to build on the support already available, taking into account our commitments to build a system of wraparound childcare and further extend early learning.

Future transport investment by the Scottish Government, will be set out in the second Strategic Transport Projects Review.

In February, we published of the Case for Change report for Ayrshire and Arran, which included transport options being appraised as part of the Review. Under consideration are options for active travel; bus priority; getting more freight onto rail; improving the safety and resilience of the transport network and the decarbonisation of the transport system.

We intend to publish the STPR2 recommendations in the new year, however, until then I am not able to share further details.

The Scottish Government recognise the negative impact that noise disturbances can have on building occupiers. In response to queries regarding such issues Building Standards Division has previously published 'Noise - Guidance on Home Improvements' which provides advice to those considering the installation of hard surface floor coverings (such as laminates, wood, or tiles) and the benefits of providing suitable underlay materials.

Further guidance on improving sound insulation within homes can be found within 'Housing and Sound Insulation: Improving existing attached dwellings and designing for conversions' (Edinburgh Napier University) which sets out good practice on how to upgrade separating walls and floors to improve sound insulation performance. Individuals seeking to make improvements to the sound insulation of their properties are encouraged to seek advice from an acoustics professional to ensure appropriate solutions to reducing noise levels from their neighbouring properties.

Where noise from neighbouring properties is deemed excessive, individuals are encouraged to liaise with their local authority to seek specific advice on such matters.