Chamber and committees

Following the publication of the UK Government’s equality analysis on the impact introducing means-tested Winter Fuel Payments, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice wrote to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on 20 September urging the UK government to reinstate Winter Fuel Payment for all pensioners. The Cabinet Secretary also called for reform of the UK energy markets to address the root causes of fuel poverty in Scotland, such as high fuel prices.

This followed the previous letter to the Secretary of State on 14 August, in which the Cabinet Secretary urged the UK Government to undertake a benefits uptake campaign for Pension Credit and to move forward with plans for a social energy tariff.

The new Household Recycling Code of Practice will be co-designed with local authorities and other stakeholders to deliver modernised and more consistent waste and recycling services across Scotland.

The co-design process will provide opportunities to consider collection of a range of new items and materials, which may include PET and/or PP plastic plant pots. Our approach to determining changes to the Code of Practice will be evidence-led and take account of different local circumstances and needs.

The Circular Economy Act does not provide a timescale for the completion of the new Household Recycling Code of Practice. However, the Scottish Government’s draft Circular Economy and Waste Route Map sets out the aim to complete the co-design process by March 2026.

The first stage of co-design engagement took place on 24 September 2024, with a workshop with local authorities to develop the methodology. The co-design methodology will enable engagement with local authorities, the waste sector, businesses, civil society, citizens and other stakeholders.

In the last three complete financial years (2021-22 to 2023-24), we have invested almost £250 million mitigating the impacts of UK Government policy such as the bedroom tax and benefit cap, and shortfalls in Local Housing Allowance rates through Discretionary Housing Payments. These policies have a direct impact on households in Scotland by reducing the level of social security support they receive.

This year alone, almost £134m will be spent through activities such as our Discretionary Housing Payments and the Scottish Welfare Fund. The Scottish Welfare Fund provides crisis support and helps eligible people to establish independent living, and shortfalls in the UK social security system have contributed to an increased demand on the fund.

In 2024-25, we are also investing £457 million in the Scottish Child Payment, giving support to the families of over 325,000 under 16s who currently receive it. However, its impacts are reduced by UK Government welfare policies, such as the two-child limit and benefit cap, and by the inadequacy of Universal Credit.

Table 1 below provides a breakdown of Discretionary Housing Payment funding for each activity in the last three years, including this financial year.

Table 1: Discretionary Housing Payments budget (2021/22 – present)

As well as continuing to seek further legislative powers from the UK Government that will allow us to create a more efficient consenting system, we are also working closely to review consenting processes for larger scale energy proposals, in line with the commitments set out in the UK Government’s response to the Electricity Networks Commissioner’s recommendations.

The Scottish Government are engaging with the UK Government, Ofgem and the Electricity System Operator (ESO) on the implementation of the Transmission Acceleration Action Plan (TAAP) and the Connections Action Plan (CAP). We continue to push for reform, ensure that the proposals in the TAAP and CAP are robust, fit for purpose and tailored to the needs of Great Britain as a whole.

Within the Scottish Government we are increasing staff numbers in the Energy Consents Unit to aid processing times for all Section 36 and Section 37 applications. Additionally, the unit continues to progress a number of efficiency measures and improvements and we are continuing to work closely with stakeholders to improve timescales further; specifically, through implementation of the commitments made in the Onshore Wind Sector Deal and the Transmission Network Short Life Working group.

The Scottish Government does still plan to publish the recommendations of the Transmission Network Short Life Working Group (SLWG).

Alongside this, we will also publish the Terms of Reference of the Transmission Steering Group (TSG), which have recently been finalised by the group. The TSG has been established in order to implement priority actions in the SLWG Report and monitor their progress.

Both documents are currently being assessed for accessibility compliance and are currently due to be published on the Scottish Government website in the week commencing 30 September 2024.

Supported Businesses make an important contribution to the Scottish economy. Not only through the goods and services they deliver, but also by providing meaningful employment, training, and social support for those who may otherwise be excluded from the workplace.

The Scottish Government values the role of Supported Businesses and is committed to helping them achieve commercial sustainability.

In December 2016, the Scottish Government published the coproduced ‘Scotland’s Social Enterprise Strategy’, in March 2017, the then Cabinet Secretary for Communities, Social Security and Equalities launched the first of three underpinning action plans, and in March 2021, the then Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Local Government, launched the second plan. The second action plan[1] describes our priorities for 2021-24, and details how we will work across the public sector and with partners to build forward and put the social enterprise model at the heart of Scotland's recovery. The action plan includes the following actions:

• We will bring forward a programme to help improve collaborative commissioning and the role of social enterprise in the delivery of public services.
• Review our support for procurement and how we best support mechanisms that will enable social enterprises to prepare, bid, win, and deliver public sector contracts.
• Take continued action to realise the potential of supported businesses to access public contracts, through the use of reserved contracts and other mechanisms.

Procurement officials are working with Supported Businesses and the public sector to make it easier for supported businesses to access public sector contracts.

A multi-supplier Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) for Requirements Reserved for Supported Businesses provides Scottish public bodies with a route to market for a range of goods and services which can be provided by Supported Businesses.

Having sought the views of both affected suppliers and buyers and considered feasibility of the various commercial options with procurement leads from each centre of expertise, it is evident that a blended approach to Supported Businesses represents the best way forward. A blended approach comprises:

• a new national collaborative solution;
• scoping of opportunities for sectoral commercial arrangements; and
• non-collaborative interventions to support local contracting activity.

This will be coupled with work already underway to raise the profile of Supported Businesses and make the process of identifying them easier for public bodies.

The Requirements Reserved for Supported Businesses Dynamic Purchasing System commenced on 07 September 2023 for a two-year period, following a detailed stakeholder consultation process. Further information on the DPS can be found within the Scottish Government’s contracts directory.

[1]Social enterprise: action plan - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The ChargePlace Scotland (CPS) operator, SWARCO Smart Charging, introduced the STRIPE payment system in April 2024. Transport Scotland were made aware of technical issues during the introduction period which affected some CPS customers. In line with agreed incident management procedures, the issues were investigated by the CPS operator and actions outlined for their swift resolution. On 27 June 2024, Transport Scotland met with the CPS operator to discuss the effectiveness of the actions and to ensure no other issues had been reported. There have been no further reports of issues relating to the STRIPE implementation. CPS has not been contacted by any customers requesting compensation to-date.