Chamber and committees

As I said in my statement to parliament on 27 April, the location of the centralised functions of the agency will be announced in Autumn 2017.

The Scottish Government Scottish Marine Recreation and Tourism Survey (SMRTS) from March 2016 estimated that marine recreation and tourism expenditure in Scotland was £3.7 billion per year.

The survey however was not restricted solely to coastal tourism and covers 23 different recreation and tourism activities undertaken at sea, around the Scottish coastline or on inland waterways. Further detail on each of the 23 activities surveyed may be found using the following URL: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/marine/seamanagement/national/RecandTourism

Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Government offers a resource for people wanting to carry out their Scottish family history research through the ScotlandsPeople website at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk. The record collection available is comprehensive and offers access to the main genealogical records which are the births, deaths and marriage records (there are restrictions in place for records deemed to be modern day). The open census, wills, valuation rolls and a variety of other family history related records are also available to search for free and view on a pay-per-view basis.

The National Records of Scotland (NRS) launched an extensive upgrade to its ScotlandsPeople genealogy website during September 2016 with a fresh look and several new features that now allow their customers to more easily locate and view the digitised records. For the first time customers can search across the extensive collection of around 140 million indexes of the digitised record sets at no charge and there has been a 13% increase in the number of sessions since re-launch. A new digital service was also introduced as part of the ScotlandsPeople upgrade enabling customers to order official certificate copies of birth, death, marriage and census records on-line using ScotlandsPeople.

The free index search has been welcomed and usage of the website has increased by over a third. The emphasis for the new website was to make it intuitive so that people could carry out research themselves without the need for assistance. Although customers can contact us using our customer contact form and we do provide assistance. We also have a ScotlandsPeople Facebook and Twitter account to keep our customers around the world up to date with developments and help with searching.

In addition the ScotlandsPeople service is also made available on site in NRS and in Local Family History centres located throughout Scotland so visitors to Scotland can easily start or continue their family history journey when they visit. NRS works with VisitScotland to advertise these services and connect with the Scottish diaspora more generally.

For family history related records that have not yet been digitised and made available on ScotlandsPeople, there is also the option of carrying out research searching NRS archive catalogues and making enquiries by post, e-mail or telephone.

I hope that this gives you a better understanding of the service available worldwide.

Completion certificates may be issued under section 60 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, to confirm that work required under a work notice or a repairing standard enforcement order has been carried out.

Completion certificates must be submitted to the local authority under section 17 of the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 to confirm that work or a conversion for which a building warrant is required is complete.

In both cases, a completion certificate is not required before a house is sold, but any charge associated with a notice or order is registered in a land register and should be brought to light during conveyancing.

The Cavity Insulation Guarantee Agency (CIGA) is an independent body that provides 25 year guarantees for cavity wall insulation (CWI) fitted by registered installers across the UK. It is one of a number of agencies offering guarantees for cavity wall insulation which are listed by Ofgem as 'appropriate guarantees' for the purpose of assessing carbon savings notified by suppliers. Both UK and Scottish Government-sponsored schemes require an Ofgem-listed guarantee to be in place for wall measures. Guarantee schemes each have their own arrangements for inspections and quality control.

Installers of CWI (and individuals/organisations carrying out assessments recommending it) receiving financial support through ECO and/or Scottish Government schemes must be certified to PAS 2030 standards – the Publicly Available Specification for energy efficiency standards published by the British Standards Institute. The standard specifies how businesses should operate, the processes they must go through for each installation they do, how they should engage with and manage their customers, and how problems, risks and issues are dealt with. It also provides measure-specific requirements (including the necessary competencies/qualifications) for each individual type of measure. Responsibility for monitoring compliance with PAS 2030 sits with a number of bodies accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service and registered on the Green Deal Orb. A new version of PAS 2030 has recently been published (PAS 2030: 2017 Edition 1) and from 1 June 2017, measures must be installed in accordance with this new version.

As part of the development of Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme (SEEP), and in the light of the conclusions and recommendations of the UK Government’s recent report, Each Home Counts: Review of Consumer Advice, Protection, Standards and Enforcement for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the Scottish Government will be assessing the situation with respect to consumer protection and quality of energy efficiency installations, in Scotland. If further regulation or improved inspection/enforcement arrangements are identified as being required, they will be developed and implemented in partnership with a range of industry and consumer bodies and consulted on, before being brought before parliament.

The Scottish Government offers a range of schemes to support people who have difficulty paying their fuel bills or keeping their home warm.

These schemes help to increase the take-up of home energy efficiency measures and reduce fuel poverty. As far as the effectiveness of individual installations of cavity wall insulation is concerned, Scottish Government and UK energy efficiency programmes each have their own arrangements in place for inspection and quality monitoring, which vary from scheme to scheme.

The Energy Saving Trust manages a number of these schemes for the Scottish Government. It also offers advice on the amount householders can save, on fuel bills and CO2, by making energy efficiency improvements, including installing cavity wall insulation. These saving figures are either calculated using models or are based upon evidence from field trials of products.

If a householder has concerns about the technical quality or effectiveness of cavity wall insulation installed in their home, they should in the first instance contact their installer. If they are unable to resolve the matter, or are unable to identify the installer, or the installer has gone into liquidation, they should contact Home Energy Scotland for advice. Where a guarantee is in place the next step would normally be for the guarantee agency to arrange for an independent inspection.

Householders who are considering energy efficiency improvements are encouraged to contact Home Energy Scotland, who can offer free, impartial advice on how they can save money and make their home warmer.

SDS is committed to improving the success of individuals with dyslexia as set out in out in their five year MA Equality Action Plan, published in December of 2015.

Skills Development Scotland recognise the additional supports, including in the workplace that are required to optimise success for people with learning difficulties. Contracted training providers are supported in accessing various funding routes relating to access programmes such as the ASN Discretionary Fund that allows tailored support measures to be put in place for those with learning difficulties as well as support in accessing Access to Work Funds. Further information and advice can be found on SDS’ diversity pages on Our Skillsforce. SDS also has an employer’s equality toolkit.

SDS offers care sector employers and other employers support to recruit Modern Apprentices and tailor their workplace appropriately. To further optimise their chances of success there is Structural Funding available to recruit MAs with learning difficulties. For example, SDS work through their employer engagement routes including the regional Developing Young Workforce groups to encourage apprenticeship recruitment through the Scottish Employer Recruitment incentive and ensure they are supported in helping MA employees to apply for Access to work funding where required.

The rules governing the use of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals remain largely reserved to the UK Government. The Scotland Act 2016 includes only a limited power that would allow Scottish Ministers to set the maximum number of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals in new betting shops only.

We have taken action using Scottish Planning legislation. Provisions that came into effect in February take into account concerns over the number and clustering of betting shops. Anyone intending to change the use of premises to a betting shop is now likely to have to apply to their local planning authority for permission.

There have been no discussions with the care sector regarding this topic.

A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People, our Disability Delivery Plan to 2021, published in December 2016, sets out our ambitions and commitments to supporting disabled people - including those with dyslexia and other learning difficulties and disabilities - into sustained employment.

Skills Development Scotland is also committed to improving the success of individuals with dyslexia as set out in in their five year Modern Apprenticeship Equality Action Plan, published in December of 2015.