Chamber and committees

In advance of the emergency legislation we set up a working group with social landlords to help assess the options for rents beyond 31 March and to understand and gather evidence on the impact of the rent cap measures for tenants and the implications for landlord service delivery, business and investment plans. That work is continuing and will inform the first review of the legislation, due to be completed by 14 January 2023. During the passage of the Bill we further committed to giving clarity and certainty to social landlords on rent-setting no later than by the 14 January review point, and to considering all options to keep rents affordable for tenants.

Social landlords have already made substantial investment in energy efficiency to remove poor energy efficiency as a driver for fuel poverty and contribute to achieving the Scottish Government’s ambitious climate change emissions reductions targets. The independent Scottish Housing Regulator reports that 88% of social homes already meet the first milestone of the Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing (EESSH). We are working with landlords to review future EESSH milestones to ensure that they are aligned with climate change targets.

The Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund, which launched in August 2020, has been designed to accelerate the delivery of energy efficiency measures and zero emissions heating systems in social housing across Scotland. It will make at least £200 million available to registered social landlords until 2026.

Acknowledging that the public sector alone cannot bear the long-term cost of converting homes, the Green Heat Finance Taskforce has been established to assess and recommend ways the public sector, communities and private finance can collaborate to scale up investment. A dedicated sub-group has been established to consider the best routes to financing and funding the retrofit of the existing social housing stock.

It is not the case that the Government plans to remove the need to install solar PV systems on new properties since no such requirement exists. The focus of the New Build Heat Standard is on heating systems which produce direct greenhouse gas emissions at the point of use.

The Scottish Government’s recent consultation set out our intention to prohibit direct emissions heating systems in new buildings from April 2024.

It is our intention for the NBHS to remain technology neutral. Those technologies which do not emit greenhouse gases and can be used as part of a heating system will continue to be permitted. This includes, for example, heat pumps as well as energy generation such as solar PV.

The Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport met with Solar Energy Scotland (SES) in February, with the Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth meeting with them in May and myself in September. In addition to ministerial meetings, officials in energy and planning meet with SES and other industry participants regularly. During these ministerial and official meetings a number of points relating to solar have been discussed, including permitted development rights.

Marine litter is a global problem, and we know that more needs to be done. The Scottish Government thanks the Marine Conservation Society and their volunteers for their considerable efforts in gathering this data and also removing beach litter during the Great British Beach Clean in September. Their citizen science is vital in helping us prioritise future policy and legislation development.

We published our refreshed Marine Litter Strategy in September which contains an action plan to reduce the most common forms of litter and support the removal of debris that is already there. The Strategy covers a wide range of litter sources from large items such as fishing gear, to microplastics in the form of nurdles.

Our new actions build on multiple measures introduced to reduce plastic waste and pollution, such as: our bans on single-use plastic products including cotton buds, straws, cutlery, plates, drinks stirrers, balloon sticks, and food and drink containers made of expanded polystyrene; and on planned work such as a deposit return scheme for drinks containers, to be introduced next year.

The information asked for is not fully available at this time. The Scottish Government intends to issue a proactive release on its attendance and expenses incurred.

The Scottish Government remains committed to the north and north east of Scotland. This includes taking forward an enhancements programme on the A96 corridor that improves connectivity between surrounding towns, tackles congestion and addresses safety and environmental issues.

The current plan is to fully dual the A96 route between Inverness and Aberdeen; however, we are conducting a transparent, evidence-based review of the programme which is well underway. The recent public consultation received an unprecedented level of engagement with nearly 4,600 responses, generating more than 11,000 suggestions and potential opportunities for the route. Rightly, it has taken more time than originally anticipated to consider and to appraise all of those options, however, the report on the Public Consultation and the Initial Appraisal: The Case for Change will be published by the end of the year. This is a sensible good governance for major investment of this kind.

As with all devolved matters, the Scottish Ministers make the final decision on investment in the transport network.

As advised at the recent Scottish Parliament debate on Essential Road Improvements held on 02 November 2022, the first part of the review, a report on the Public Consultation and the Initial Appraisal: The Case for Change will be published by the end of the year.

As with all trunk road improvement projects, delivery of any section of the A96 Programme can only commence if approved under the relevant statutory procedures and thereafter a timetable for progress can be set in line with available budgets. The statutory right for individuals to have their say on our proposals cannot be set aside and it is essential that vital feedback is taken into account as we develop our plans.

It is too early to provide a definitive timetable as future progress is partly dependent on the outcomes of the ongoing A96 Corridor Review.

In relation to the A96 Dualling Inverness to Nairn (including Nairn Bypass) scheme, we continue to progress the preparation stages of the scheme with a view to completing the statutory process. This includes the significant work required to prepare for publication of made Orders, including the Compulsory Purchase Order, in the coming weeks. Subject to no legal challenge being received, the Scottish Ministers will then have the relevant powers to acquire the land necessary to construct the scheme.

Delivery can only commence if approved under the relevant statutory procedures and thereafter a timetable for progress can be set in line with available budgets.