Chamber and committees

The number of trains scheduled by ScotRail to run in the calendar-2018 year is as follows:

We have provided SEPA and local authorities with the powers to fine people who are caught flytipping; with a minimum fixed penalty of £200 up to a maximum fine of £40,000 if prosecuted.

Further measures which influence behaviour towards litter and flytipping are set out within our National Litter Strategy.

Our circular economy strategy, Making Things Last, builds on this through action to improve product design, and increase reuse and repair, which will help address commonly flytipped household items. It also identifies mattresses and tyres as priority items for producer responsibility action and prioritises a reduction in construction waste.

Many public bodies hold a duty to keep their land clear of litter and refuse, as far as is practicable. We have revised the statutory guidance to make it clearer that they can make use of tactics to prevent these problems.

We support detection and enforcement action when people flytip. Zero Waste Scotland's Flymapper system is a way for land managers to record, manage and report flytipping, making it easier to catch offenders and to deal with illegal dumping sites. We continue to support Dumb Dumpers public reporting facility.

Between 2006-07 and 2016-17, the number of police recorded crimes of handling an offensive weapon fell by 68%.

But, we want to see further reductions to this unacceptable behaviour and are taking forward further actions. Alongside tough enforcement, our approach to knife crime is very firmly focused on prevention. We have already invested more than £14 million in violence prevention since 2006-07, including support for the national Violence Reduction Unit and Medics Against Violence, who work to develop and deliver various violence prevention initiatives including the accelerated delivery of the Mentors in Violence Prevention programme which is now being delivered in schools across Scotland.

We also continue to invest in our No Knives Better Lives youth engagement programme which specifically aims to reduce the incidence of violence and knife carrying amongst young people. This is now being delivered in 24 local authorities and is on track to be delivered in all 32 local authority areas this year.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-16983 on ‎18 June 2018. 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 law criminalises the possession of knives in public places where no reasonable excuse or lawful authority exists by the person in possession. There are also similar offences relating to the possession of knives in schools and in prisons. In 2016, the maximum penalties for these offences were increased from four years in custody to five years in custody.

While the Scottish Government always keeps criminal laws under review, there are no current plans to make changes to these specific offences.

Table 1 shows the overall level of unemployment for West Scotland in each year from Jan-Dec 2008 to Jan-Dec 2017.

Table 1: Unemployment in West Scotland, 2008-2017

The regulation of energy markets for electricity and gas are matters that remain reserved under the Scotland Act (1998). These are therefore matters for which UK Ministers are responsible.

However, Scottish Ministers take great interest in the issue, given our locus on tackling fuel poverty. Clearly, energy bills remain a huge concern for many consumers in Scotland and the steep price rises we have seen across the market, including the six largest suppliers will be worrying for many households. The UK Government has failed to provide a competitive market that puts consumers’ needs and interests at its heart. This is why the Scottish Government has committed – through the Scottish Energy Strategy – to produce an action plan which puts in place actions to engage and protect Scottish energy consumers both today and during the energy transition. Aligned with this, we will also introduce a Fuel Poverty (Target, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Bill by summer and publish a Draft Fuel Poverty Strategy alongside it, reconfirming our commitment to taking action to address fuel poverty.

As stated above, the cost of energy is outwith the powers of the Scottish Government, but by ensuring consumers have advice and support on switching to the best offer available, we aim to help them reduce costs. We are working to ensure that Scottish consumers are informed, engaged and empowered as the energy system evolves and that is why in January we reconvened the Scottish Energy Summit to address issues affecting vulnerable Scottish energy users. This builds on our work to promote consumer engagement in the energy market:

• We supported a partnership between Home Energy Scotland and the social enterprise Citrus Energy to promote impartial tariff-switching.
• We backed the launch of Our Power in 2016 with £2.5 million Scottish Government investment and reaffirmed that support with a further investment of £3.5m in 2017. When launched it was the first independent and fully licensed energy supply company registered as a non-profit distributing organisation owned by its members. This ground breaking company is making a real difference to thousands of low income households who are currently disadvantaged in the energy market and struggling to pay their bills
• We ran a pilot to examine how to extend the benefits of competition to vulnerable and disengaged consumers – including offline customers – through face to face advice and support to switch.
• We have committed to introducing financial health checks to address the poverty premium, including helping people switch to the lowest tariffs.
• We continue to engage with Ofgem on the database of disengaged customers and safeguard tariff to ensure Scottish consumers get positive outcomes.

In May 2018 we responded to Energy UK's Commission for Customers in Vulnerable Circumstances and remain committed to working with the Commission to ensure better outcomes for all Scottish energy consumers.

Statements regarding changes in the level of antisocial behaviour are best made using measures of the population’s experience and all the evidence points towards a long term and sustained reduction in levels of antisocial behaviour in Scotland. The Scottish Crime and Justice survey reports that the percentage of adults who think people behave in an antisocial manner in their local area fell from 46% in 2008-09 to 29% by 2016-17, whilst more adults than ever before feel safe walking alone after dark in their local area.

Despite this progress, we remain committed to tackling all forms of antisocial behaviour and recognise that this can blight people’s lives. The Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 provides a wide range of measures for dealing with all forms of antisocial behaviour and our national strategy is based on prevention, early intervention and diversionary activities. The Scottish Government is currently working with a group of local authorities to use their expertise and knowledge to inform, refresh and update all of the guidance documents on tackling antisocial behaviour.

Scotland’s CO ₂ emissions for 2017, along with estimates of other greenhouse gas emissions, are expected to be published in June 2019. The latest available estimates can be found in the official statistics publication Scottish Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2016, available on the Scottish Government website at http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2018/06/6601.