Chamber and committees

Since 2018 Scottish Government has invested the following amounts on expanding the public and non public electric vehicle charging infrastructure across Scotland. These figures includes support provided to electric vehicle owners to install home charging points and support provided to Local Authorities, businesses and other organisations. The figures below represent all chargepoints that we have supported some of which are not publicly available chargers and as such won't appear on the ChargePlace Scotland network.

1) 2018-2019 – £13,405,324.67

2) 2019-2020 – £15,796,625

3) 2020-2021 – £14,416,073.57

The shift to electric vehicles is an important part of responding to the climate emergency and improving air quality in our cities. To help incentivise this shift, we have since 2013 invested over £45 million in ChargePlace Scotland, Scotland’s public charging network, which now has more than 1900 publicly available charge points. Scotland is leading the way on electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The latest figures show that Scottish electric vehicle drivers benefit from almost 40 public charge points per one hundred thousand people, compared to fewer than 30 in England, just over 20 in Wales and less than 20 in Northern Ireland.

Work is under development that will help identify strategic areas most likely to have access to hydrogen in the future. We plan to publish further evidence in spring 2022. We are also working with stakeholders including from industry, network companies, local authorities and delivery partners to better understand the potential role for hydrogen in decarbonisation of heat.

In addition, we are working in partnership with SGN to explore options for the future of Scotland's gas network.

The 2020-21 Programme for Government (PfG) stated that over £500 million will be invested in active travel over the next 5 years. The 2021-22 PfG states that by 2024-25 at least £320 million or 10% of the total transport budget will be spent on active travel.

Budget allocations for 2022-23 have yet to be set.

We will publish the conclusions and recommendations of the City Centre Recovery Task Force this autumn.

In the Draft Heat in Buildings Strategy, published in February 2021, we committed to undertaking research to understand the extent to which the deployment of secondary technologies alongside zero emissions heating systems could help to optimise operational performance, minimise energy consumption and reduce end user fuel costs. This research is underway, and seeks to understand the technical feasibility and cost effectiveness of heat batteries, electric batteries, and thermal storage cylinders when installed alongside a range of zero emissions primary heating technologies; both independently of and in conjuncture with microgeneration technologies such as solar PV and solar thermal. We expect to publish this research in early 2022.

The Scottish Government has been working with partners including Integration Joint Boards, COSLA and Alzheimer Scotland through the first four months of 2021 and subsequently to review the provision of dementia post-diagnostic services.

This year’s Programme for Government confirmed that we would provide extra resources to help ensure that everyone who is entitled to the service has the option for referral. We will be allocating the annual equivalent of £3.5m for this purpose on a recurring basis.

Inbound international travel restrictions were eased across the four nations on 4 October. These changes mean that people who have received two doses of different vaccines are regarded as having completed a full course of the vaccine and therefore are treated as ‘fully vaccinated’ for travel purposes. This applies to people who have been vaccinated by accepted vaccines in countries that are already eligible under the vaccinated traveller policy.

Travellers from non-red list countries who have been fully vaccinated in a country that meets recognised standards of certifications will no longer be required to provide evidence of a negative test result before they can travel to Scotland, and will not be required to self-isolate or take a day 8 test. They must still currently take a day 2 PCR test, though we have announced that we intend to align with the UK post-arrival testing regime later in October, with further details to be announced in due course.

Those who are not considered eligible fully vaccinated travellers must continue to take a pre-departure test, self-isolate for 10 days upon arrival and take day 2 and 8 tests. All arrivals from red list countries must continue to book and stay for 10 days in a managed isolation hotel.

Travel restrictions are in place to prevent cases of COVID-19 being imported to Scotland. Travel restrictions will be in place as long as they are required and Scottish Government will continue to liaise with affected groups and stakeholders over any restrictions and exemptions that may apply.

Further guidance for international arrivals can be read at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-international-travel-quarantine/pages/red-amber-and-green-list-countries/

Annex A of the draft Heat in Buildings Strategy contains over one hundred actions. Not all actions represent separate budget items or specific deliverables. Accordingly, the information below sets out timescales, status and expenditure across broad groups of actions and specific programmes. Further detail will be published in our finalised Heat in Buildings Strategy.

Delivery schemes

• We have allocated a record £50 million for Warmer Homes Scotland and £64 million for our local authority-led Area Based Schemes this year.
• We have increased the cashback available to home and building owners on measures to improve efficiency and install zero emissions heating, and will replace the cashback with a grant scheme in 2022/23.
• We have announced at least £95 million of capital funding for our Scottish Green Public Sector Estate scheme, this year investing at least £10 million.
• We have launched a second £30 million call through the ‘Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund’, and committed to keep the fund open with up to £100m available over the course of this Parliament.
• We will invest at least £400 million over this parliamentary session in large scale heat and energy efficiency projects, including providing support for zero carbon local and district heat networks, and large scale heat pumps. This scheme will provide both capital and project development support.
• Through our CARES programme, up to £5.25 million has been made available for this financial year to support community and locally owned energy. A further £3 million has also been made available to support the upgrade of fragile grids, recognising the distinct challenges faced by island, rural and remote communities.

Working with the energy sector

• In partnership with Ofgem and Scotland’s gas and electricity network companies we have published the Principles for the Development of Scotland’s Gas and Electricity Networks.
• We continue to work with electricity network operators through our Heat Electrification Strategic Partnership, and to work with gas network operators to develop the evidence base on gas decarbonisation.
• The Scottish Government provided £6.9 million support to the H100 project, helping to evidence the role that hydrogen can play in decarbonising heat.
• The Heat Networks (Scotland) Act was unanimously agreed by the Scottish Parliament, and we are developing the secondary legislation provided for by the Act. We have introduced a 90% relief from non-domestic rates for new heat networks run from renewable sources, and extended the existing 50% relief for heat networks to 2032.
• We will refresh the Energy Strategy in Spring 2022.
• We are partnering with Scottish Renewables to undertake a ‘Heat in Buildings Workforce Assessment Project’.
• We will respond to the forthcoming Heat Pump Sector Deal Advisory Group’s recommendations once they are finalised.

Regulation

• We have committed to phasing out the need to install new or replacement fossil fuel boilers, in off gas from 2025 and in on gas areas from 2030, subject to technological developments and decisions by the UK Government in reserved areas.
• We have made a commitment that where technically and legally feasible and cost-effective, by 2030 a large majority of buildings should achieve a good level of energy efficiency, which for homes is at least equivalent to an EPC Band C, with all homes meeting at least this standard by 2033.
• We will introduce primary legislation, subject to consultation and to limits on devolved competence, that provides the regulatory framework for zero emissions heating and energy efficiency, and underpinning powers to support this transition and ambitious programme

Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies

• We have developed a methodology and guidance for the production of Local Heat & Energy Efficiency Strategies and Delivery Plans.
• The LHEES pilots programme completed in April 2021 and an evaluation is underway, synthesising learning across three phases. We have commissioned a National Assessment to create a central resource that local authorities can draw on.

Consultations

In addition to the consultation on the draft Heat in Buildings Strategy we have consulted on:

• Scottish skills requirements for energy efficiency, zero emissions and low carbon heating systems, microgeneration and heat networks for homes
• New Build Heat Standard (scoping consultation)
• Home energy efficiency: equity loan pilot
• Domestic Energy Performance Certificates reform
• Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme (LCITP): call for evidence

The commitment to investing at least £500m over the life of this Parliament to create a Whole Family Wellbeing Fund is significant. This will enable transformational change which will enable the building of universal, holistic support services available in communities across Scotland giving families access to help when and where they need it, and help Scotland #keepthepromise.

We will work closely with The Promise Scotland and partners across local government, social justice, health, the third sector, and with children and families to design and deliver the Fund. Further details will be provided in due course.

The decision about which treatment to prescribe is a clinical decision made by the prescriber in discussion with the patient, taking into account the individual’s condition and medical history.

Guidance is available to assist prescribers and Scottish Government is in the process of reviewing its “Quality Prescribing for Chronic Pain – A Guide for Improvement” which will include information on addressing the issue of over-treatment with a focus on self-management and non-pharmaceutical treatment of long-term conditions, highlighting the issue of high strength opioid medicines misuse and encouraging clinicians to discuss concerns openly with patients.

Over the period covered by the University of Aberdeen study, steroid injections (a commonly used therapeutic option for Osteoarthritis awaiting surgery) were reduced on advice from Royal College of Rheumatology due to the risk of activation of latent Covid 19 and risk of immunosuppression and susceptibility to the virus, this could have led to an increase in opioid pain medication prescriptions to compensate. Analysis from Public Health Scotland (PHS) shows a marked reduction in the number of corticosteroid injections between March 2020 and April 2021 before returning to previous levels. Analysis from PHS, however, does not indicate an overall increase in opioid pain medication prescriptions over the same period.