Chamber and committees

The published Coronavirus (COVID-19): local protection levels guidance indicates that for level 3, visitor attractions, such as museums and galleries, can remain open with protective measures. This is the same status as that for public buildings for level 3.

The protective measures include ensuring physical distancing and hygiene measures are in place. Face coverings indoors are compulsory for all visitors and staff. All museums and galleries should follow the measures set out in the museums, galleries and heritage attractions guidance to ensure the safety of staff and the visiting public.

The Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) is a standards organisation which, through the participation of over 200 independent industry and consumer protection experts, creates and maintains standards underpinning the certification of products, installers and their installations. The certification scheme is run on behalf of MCS by Certification Bodies who hold UKAS accreditation to ISO 17065, the international standard governing the operation and impartiality of accredited Certification Bodies.

Scottish Ministers recognise the crucial role that oil and gas workers, as key workers, are continuing to play in not only maintaining a secure supply of energy to consumers at this time, but sustaining critical national infrastructure throughout this pandemic.

We have already committed £100 million in 2020-21 to support those looking for work or at risk of redundancy to retrain and get back into work. This includes a £60 million fund to provide a job guarantee for young people, a new £25 million National Transition Training Fund and more funding to provide immediate assistance and advice if people are made redundant . with Skills Development Scotland continuing to offer PACE support services to all employees facing redundancy.

We have also launched a £62 million Energy Transition Fund which will support businesses in the oil, gas and energy sectors to grow and diversify and will help to attract private sector investment, with key projects located within the North East of Scotland, including support for the Energy Transition Zone proposed for Aberdeen South Harbour.

This investment in the Energy Transition Fund is a direct response to requests from industry stakeholders and members of the Oil and Gas and Energy Transition Strategic Leadership Group for support. The £62 million in investment will help unlock an overall private and public sector investment package in excess of £900 million and, in doing so, it will protect existing jobs and create new jobs in the energy sector, and help us make significant progress on energy transition as we move toward a net zero society by 2045.

The Scottish Government will also continue to work closely with the UK Government, which retains many of the key powers and levers needed to support the sector, including on the delivery of a transformational North Sea Transition Deal to complement the funding committed by Scottish Ministers through the Energy Transition Fund.

Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROM) have the potential to provide vital information in how we configure our services. A range of very effective digital solutions are already in place to support these. Our Cancer Recovery Plan will set out the national support we will provide to assessing the potential and value of these, linking with other digital strategies, and guiding pan-Scotland approaches to adoption.

Alongside this, we are considering innovative ways to safely carry on remote monitoring in a COVID-19 context.

While improving fire safety remains a key priority, the Scottish Government recognises the challenges, due to COVID-19, that affect all home owners, including those who are shielding, and which will impact on the work needed to meet the new safety standards for fire and smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors.

In light of these challenges, I intend to bring forward regulations shortly which, subject to Parliamentary approval, will amend the commencement date for new minimum standards to 1 February 2022, allowing more time for the work required to meet the standards.

Based on current information provided by BT, we expect around 90% of the contract build in the Central and South lots will be completed by the end of 2023. As set out in my answer to your recent parliamentary question [S5W-31777 on 30 September 2020], we anticipate that the contract for the North lot will be signed by the end of this calendar year.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Local energy planning is a critical part of taking a strategic approach to investment for the net-zero transition. Dundee City Council’s local area based district heating strategy is an excellent example of this in practice. The strategy informed investment in the low carbon district energy hub at Caird Park, which received £3m funding from the Scottish Government’s Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme (LCITP).

The introduction of heat network zones in the Heat Networks (Scotland) Bill is an important step in formalising local area energy planning. These zones are likely to be implemented through Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies (LHEES), which are under development through partnership working between the Scottish Government and local authorities. LHEES will have a very important function in supporting the net-zero transition, providing strategic direction, sending clear investment signals, and driving the action needed on heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency improvement on an area-basis. Our heat decarbonisation policy statement, the Heat in Buildings Strategy, is due to be published later in the year and will set out plans for LHEES and local energy planning in more detail.

The Switched on Towns and Cities Challenge Fund will create at least 20 electric towns and cities across Scotland by 2025, targeting local authorities who are well positioned to deliver infrastructure and local incentives. Transport Scotland is supporting local authorities to develop detailed investment proposals for EV infrastructure. The EV Strategic Partnership was launched just over a year ago and includes the Scottish Government, Transport Scotland, SSEN and SPEN. They have been working closely to pilot a range of projects and gather evidence for the needs of electricity networks to deliver transport decarbonisation. Scottish Government officials are engaged with the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Ofgem, network companies, and other stakeholders on the development of Local Area Energy Plans under the RIIO-ED2 Price Control, to ensure our policies are fully aligned with this initiative.

The regulation and funding of electricity networks are reserved to the UK Government. However, we are engaging closely with Ofgem and BEIS to ensure that its policy and regulation recognises and enables Scotland’s world leading net zero target, and unlocks investments and jobs in Scotland. I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-32359 on 26 October 2020 for more detail on this engagement.

To deliver strategic investment, Scotland’s electricity network owners– Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) and SP Energy Networks (SPEN) – need to have clear understanding of the energy system their networks will need to serve. The Scottish Government is working closely with SSEN and SPEN to ensure that they understand the scale and pace for decarbonisation Scotland, and to help them build well-justified business plans for the required investment. This has led to the creation of strategic partnerships looking at the network investment and regulatory issues associated with heat and transport decarbonisation.

Since the Electric Vehicle (EV) Strategic Partnership was launched in August last year, the Scottish Government, including Transport Scotland, SSEN and SPEN have been working closely to develop a number of demonstrator projects aimed at exploring new ways of coordinating EV charging and electricity network infrastructure to ensure efficient investment. One of the EV Strategic Partnership Charter’s objectives is to produce recommendations for Ofgem, UK government and others on an accelerated model for the coordinated delivery of EV and electricity network infrastructure.

Electricity networks will also be vital to decarbonising our heat demand. Investment in those networks to ensure that they can accommodate heat pumps in buildings will be vital, as will the connection of larger scale heat pumps as a source of low carbon heat for the heat networks enabled by upcoming Scottish Parliament legislation. In March 2020 a Heat Decarbonisation Strategic Working Group was established between Scottish Government and both Scottish DNOs to ensure that Scotland’s electricity networks are able to support and facilitate the decarbonisation of heat.

Both partnerships are playing a crucial part in gathering the evidence which will be an essential in making the case for strategic investment across Scotland’s electricity distribution networks.

I also chair, alongside Professor Keith Bell from the University of Strathclyde, the Scottish Energy Networks Strategic Leadership Group comprising representatives from all Scottish networks, independent consumer representation, National Grid ESO and Ofgem. This Group, which reports to our Scottish Energy Advisory Board, on which I sit and which is co-chaired by the First Minister and Professor Sir Jim McDonald of Strathclyde University, provides a platform to discuss all issues related to the electricity and gas networks and their role in supporting our net zero and green recovery goals, including strategic investment.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The Scottish Government has been engaging closely with BEIS and Ofgem over recent months to highlight the vital role that strategic investment in electricity networks will play in meeting Scotland’s more ambitious decarbonisation and net zero targets.

I responded in October to Ofgem’s consultation on Electricity Distribution Price Control Sector Specific Methodology (RIIO-ED2). This response highlighted the electricity distribution network’s critical role in realising Scottish energy and climate change ambitions, and putting Scotland on a clear pathway to deliver net zero by 2045.

I have also responded to Ofgem’s Consultation on Price Control Draft Determinations for electricity and gas transmission, and gas distribution. My response made clear that gas and electricity network funding and regulation must take full account of Scotland’s distinct statutory climate change targets, and our wider energy, economic and social ambitions.

I had an opportunity to discuss these issues in more detail when I met with the Gas and Electricity Market Authority’s Board on September 30th.

The Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity has also written recently to the UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, highlighting a series of energy policy and regulatory issues. This included the need for a coordinated programme of strategic investment in the electricity and gas networks as an essential component if we are to ensure that Scotland’s energy networks can support a cost-effective net-zero transition.

Scottish Government officials are part of the oversight structure which regularly discusses issues related to electricity networks and which aims to support the Regulator in developing proposals that reflect consumers’ interests, net zero targets, and, local ambitions.

At the start of the pandemic the State Hospital developed a process for safe use of video visiting facilities for patients and approved visitors to maintain relationships when that is in the best interests of the patient. This development builds upon existing practice supporting continuity of relationships in respect of telephone contact.

The Mental Health (Use of Telephones) (S) Regulations 2005 made under Section 284 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 provide for restricting or prohibiting telephone calls made to or by patients.

All patients in the State Hospital are "specified persons" for this purpose and the Responsible Medical Officer (RMO) may prohibit or restrict any call to or from a "specified person" where they are of the view that the call is likely to cause distress to the specified person or any other person, not on the staff of the hospital, or would pose a significant risk to the health, safety or welfare of the specified person or to the safety of others.

In making any decision on the use of telephones by a "specified person", the RMO must have due regard to minimising the impact on that patient's rights, and restrictions imposed must be proportionate in the particular circumstances.

Only "specified persons" may have calls “intercepted”, and this includes that calls can be listened to, recorded or otherwise monitored, They are also able to be interrupted , cut short, diverted or prevented from being connected. For calls to be intercepted they must have been previously restricted or prohibited or ones which would otherwise be unlawful eg a nuisance or malicious call. Calls would also be unlawful if they would breach a court order banning such a call. Calls to or from certain privileged persons and bodies ( Section 284(6) ) cannot be intercepted unless the person /body so requests or the call would otherwise be unlawful.

Patients in the State Hospital can request a review of restrictions or prohibitions on their use of the telephone. Where a patient has been prohibited from making or receiving a call to or from a particular person for 7 consecutive days then they can request a review once every 7 day period. They can also ask the Mental Welfare Commission to review the restrictions. The Commission may then issue directions to the hospital managers.

The Code of Practice which accompanies the 2003 Act provides guidance for practitioners and this can be found at; https://www.gov.scot/publications/mental-health-care-treatment-scotland-act-2003-code-practice-volume-1/pages/13/

In addition, the Mental Welfare Commission have published Specified Persons Guidance; https://www.mwcscot.org.uk/sites/default/files/2019-06/specified_persons_guidance_2015.pdf .