Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not require local authorities to record information regarding national identity of nursery pupils when an application for a nursery place is made.

The Scottish Government currently has no plans to ban disposable barbeques.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service are clear to encourage anyone using one to act responsibly both when using and disposing of the barbeques in line with their #safersummer campaign.

I reaffirm the answer to S6W-06416 on 25 February 2022, and in my letter of 6 May to you as convener of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport committee about the National Public Energy Agency. Specifically, that we will work to have a virtual Agency established this year, which will be in place throughout the transition period until a standalone Agency is in place. I indicated that an independent Strategic Board will be established to work in partnership with the Scottish Government to help us with this work.

I will announce details of the board members shortly, along with an update on the virtual Agency.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

I reaffirm the answer to S6W-06416 on 25 February 2022, and in my letter of 6 May to you as convener of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport committee about the National Public Energy Agency. Specifically, as set out in the Scottish Government’s a Fairer, greener Scotland: Programme for Government 2021-22, we made a commitment to create a dedicated National Public Energy Agency by September 2025. This is an ongoing area of work, and issues such as staffing and budget will be considered as the work to develop and design the Agency progresses over this parliamentary period.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Vaccination Transformation Programme (VTP) reforms the delivery of vaccination services by supporting locally designed and delivered services by all NHS Boards and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) in Scotland.

The VTP allows individual Health Boards the flexibility to determine and implement a delivery model that best suits their local population and needs. This would ensure that vaccination services are patient centred, locally and easily accessible and tailored ensuring equitable access across Scotland.

Though the vaccination services delivery models would change as per the needs and requirements of local area. The VTP ensures consistent management of National Immunisation programmes and applicability of national standards ensuring that high standards of vaccination delivery are duly met.

The Vaccination Transformation Programme (VTP) covers all routine immunisations that are delivered in Scotland. GP practices no longer provide any vaccinations under their core contract from 1 April 2022. Health Boards have assumed overall responsibility for the delivery of vaccination programmes, which are being facilitated through national digital solutions.

Health Boards developed their plans, tailoring these to meet their local population needs, while providing a safe and effective vaccination and travel health service.

Health Boards have determined how best to deliver all vaccination programme, with models varying across Scotland to align with local requirements. Health Boards may continue to utilise GP premises to provide vaccination services, with their own staff delivering vaccinations. This allows Health Boards the flexibility to arrange mass vaccination centres at community venues, delivering through existing health teams (such as Midwives or Community Pharmacies), or establish new clinics to meet local needs.

The Scottish Government continues to support Health Boards on their transfer of routine vaccination delivery from GPs under the VTP.

For details of consultant costs for 2021-22 in relation to the Abellio ScotRail Franchise I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-08601 on 6 June 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Following the move in April 2022 to bring ScotRail services into public ownership, any ScotRail costs for consultants in financial year 2022-23 are costs incurred by ScotRail Trains Ltd and as such the full details of this will provided by ScotRail Trains Ltd as soon as practicable after the end of the financial year in March 2023.

The R100 programme is a combination of the following three strands of activity – the £600 million R100 contracts, the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme and continued commercial coverage.

As of 21 July 2022, 1,472 properties in Stirling and 280 properties in Clackmannanshire are eligible for a main voucher worth up to £5,000 through the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme.

The following table shows how many devices have been distributed by councils to school aged children using the £25m digital inclusion funding made available by Scottish Government in 2020/21.

Official statistics on Scottish greenhouse gas emissions are published annually and used to monitor progress towards Scotland’s statutory emissions reduction targets. These statistics are based on a disaggregation of the UK Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory, which is overseen by the UK Government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and compiled in line with international scientific guidance.

Currently, the UK Inventory does not allow for the isolation of data for emissions from waste incineration plants as opposed to other energy sector emissions. Decisions around the UK Inventory are a matter for BEIS and are informed by the UK National Inventory Steering Committee, which includes representation from Scottish Government officials.

As we outlined in our response to the independent review, we accept this recommendation and so we will work with BEIS and the UK National Inventory Steering Committee to explore the potential to break down our GHG inventory reporting to provide a separate Energy from Waste source within our future publications.