Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has engaged widely with stakeholders and partners about the introduction of a licensing scheme for short-term let accommodation. Since January 2020, Ministers and or Scottish Government officials have had 13 meetings with representatives from different local authorities in Scotland. Details of these meetings, including when control areas were discussed, can be found in a recent Freedom of Information response at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202100228791/ .

When deciding to designate all or part of an area as a short-term let control area, a planning authority must submit their proposal to Scottish Minsters for approval. We are aware the City of Edinburgh Council and Highland Council are currently progressing plans to designate control areas, in order to address pressures created by secondary letting, but these have not yet been submitted to Ministers for consideration.

A fundamental purpose of the scheme is to ensure basic safety standards are met in all types of short-term let accommodation across Scotland. It is therefore mandatory for operators and licensing authorities to abide by the scheme, which will help to ensure the safety of guests and neighbours. The Scottish Government would expect local authorities to act in compliance with their statutory duties if a licensing authority did not have a licensing scheme in place by this date, it could be subject to challenge. If a failure to comply with statute was successfully judicially reviewed, the Court of Session could order that particular action be taken to remedy that.

In 2021, we published draft guidance for licensing authorities, letting agencies and platforms to inform our consultation. We are now in the process of reconvening the stakeholder working group, which includes local authority representatives, to update and publish revised guidance to enable operators and licensing authorities to review their preparations for implementation.

The guidance sets out that we want licensing authorities to take a risk-based and proportionate approach that will enable them to sustainably recover their own costs associated with establishing and administering the licensing scheme within a ‘not for profit’ fee based structure. Section F of our updated Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) , published on 23 November, also provides further information about recovery of costs through fees.

In line with Scottish Government’s Digital Strategy, we have encouraged licensing authorities to work towards a digital first approach to administering the scheme. We have also encouraged licensing authorities to have paper copies of relevant information, and the application form, available upon request for people who cannot access them online and to provide support to access online services at their offices.

The Scottish Government does not collect or hold this data. Individual social landlords may hold this information for their own housing stock.

From 6 September 2021, the Scottish Government funded support schemes Warmer Homes Scotland, Area Based Schemes or Home Energy Scotland Loans have no longer been accepting new applications for oil and LPG boilers. All committed offers for these schemes signed prior to 6 September 2021 will be honoured and receive their installations/loans. Households eligible for assistance under Warmer Homes Scotland will be offered low-carbon alternatives, where these are technically appropriate for the property. These include High Heat Retention Heating Systems, Air Source Heat Pumps, Ground Source Heat Pumps, Micro-hydro and Micro-wind systems. Since April 2021 our Area Based Schemes have included additional funding to provide low carbon and micro-generation measures as part of a whole house approach.

The Scottish Government is committed to phasing out the need to install new or replacement fossil fuel boilers, in off gas areas from 2025 and in on gas areas from 2030, subject to technological developments and decisions by the UK Government in reserved areas. We will introduce primary legislation, subject to consultation and to limits on devolved competence, that will provide the regulatory framework for the zero emissions heating systems which will replace fossil fuel boilers, with all buildings needing to meet this standard no later than 2045. That proposed legislation will be accompanied by required impact assessments and allow for proper parliamentary scrutiny of these impacts.

The Heat in Buildings Strategy was accompanied by a series of impact assessments. As we take forward the actions within the Heat in Buildings Strategy, we will ensure the issues highlighted through impact assessments are considered in the design of delivery programmes and development of further policy and regulation.

In line with Scottish Government guidance, any legislation or further policy development required to fulfil the actions within the Strategy will be subject to a range of further impact assessments. We will consult on our proposals to regulate for zero emissions heat later in 2022.

Bus service providers and passenger representatives regularly inform us about the additional pressures placed on the bus industry by the COVID-19 pandemic which are compounded by the ongoing consequences of EU EXIT.

We also receive data on driver shortages in Scotland from ongoing Department for Transport bus operator surveys and Transport Scotland is conducting its own monitoring exercise to gather information specifically on COVID-related absences.

There are currently no plans for a national blind persons entitlement to enable free travel on rail services however for those that are blind or visually impaired there are alternative discounts available. Details of these can be accessed via:- https://www.disabledpersons-railcard.co.uk/using-your-railcard/other-discounts/ 

Since we commenced Case Transfer, there have been a) zero cases lost and b) zero cases compromised.

We work in partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions and Social Security Scotland to design and deliver a safe and secure case transfer process for the benefits transferring to Social Security Scotland as part of Scottish Devolution. With the client at the heart of the design, each process is tailored around;

1. How the benefits are administered by the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure that cases are transferred at the optimal time and in line with ministerial agreements; for instance, clients with ongoing awards do not need to apply, will not be reassessed, fall out of payment or go through a face to face assessment with the Department for Work and Pensions after the Scottish benefit launches. The ongoing award will be transferred automatically; the transfer of data and supporting evidence to enable Social Security Scotland to set up the new benefit award.

2. To safeguard Social Security Scotland’s ability to deliver and manage the case transfers. The case transfer processes are automated and the case transfer period is between 13 and 17 weeks to allow time to resolve any exceptions or manual invention required. Social Security Scotland and the Department for Work and Pensions work together during the transfer process to ensure the correct awards are transferred at the correct time and we work together to monitor the transfer of awards to ensure none are lost or compromised.

The first cases to be selected for transfer to Social Security Scotland were Disability Living Allowance for children awards in October 2021; to date the number of awards expected and received is correct and the first cohort of cases will commence the new award on 19 January. The aim is to complete these transfers for all clients by spring 2023. We will begin transferring awards of Personal Independence Payment and Disability Living Allowance for working age people in the summer of 2022.

Family-centred care is at the heart of our maternity and neonatal strategy, the Best Start: A Five Year Forward Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Care in Scotland . We expect all maternity units to take a flexible approach to the presence of partners, to provide a relaxed and supportive environment for care that promotes natural, person-centred childbirth, and to ensure that suitable accommodation and facilities are provided to enable families to stay together.

There are no official statistics of green job creation in Scotland. However, the Scottish Government has undertaken work to estimate the number of people employed in green jobs in Scotland. A report will be published on the Scottish Government website within the next month presenting the first set of these experimental estimates.

The information requested is publicly available from PHS website:

• the latest release published on 29 June 2021 - National drug and alcohol treatment waiting times - 1 January to 31 March 2021 - National drug and alcohol treatment waiting times - Publications - Public Health Scotland . It contains information on the number of people seen for treatment, types of treatment accessed, and length of time waited
• the older releases are available on Drugs and Alcohol Misuse | Publications | Health Topics | ISD Scotland 

PHS have also provided the following table which shows the median waiting time (in days) for referrals for alcohol treatment services. Data is available for the financial years 2011-12 to 2020-21 and includes a breakdown by NHS Board as well as Scotland-level data: