Chamber and committees

As set out in our draft Heat in Buildings Strategy - partial Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment, the estimated average capital cost of converting a home from a fossil fuel boiler to an equivalent zero emission system such as an air source heat pump is just over £12,000. These estimates are sourced from research commissioned by the Climate Change Committee to inform its Sixth Carbon Budget. The cost for an individual dwelling can differ from this average depending on building type, existing levels of energy efficiency and type of heating system being replaced.

The Scottish Government has committed to introducing regulations for zero emissions heat from 2025, subject to confirmation of devolved competence, technological developments, and action by the UK Government in reserved areas. We will consult in further detail in 2022, but it is envisaged that any such regulations will apply to building owners.

The Scottish Government provides a range of financial support to households to help meet the costs of changing from fossil fuel systems to low and zero emissions alternatives. If they meet certain eligibility criteria, households may be able to access fully-funded support through Warmer Homes Scotland, or local authority-led Area-Based Schemes. For other households interest-free Home Energy Scotland Loans with up to 75% cashback grants are available. However, due to the higher unit cost of electricity compared to fossil fuels such as natural gas, urgent decisions are needed by the UK Government to ensure zero emissions running costs are comparable to fossil fuel heating. These include urgent action on energy prices which must be rebalanced.

The Scottish Government and VisitScotland are in close contact with Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park (LLTNPA) and other partners on a regular basis. Working with LLTNP, VisitScotland has led a responsible tourism marketing campaign and developed a national action plan for visitor management to help meet the challenges of the 2021 season while international travel has remained restricted.

The LLTNPA has worked in collaboration with other public bodies to address and manage visitor pressures through the National Park Safe Recovery Action Group. It’s Visitor Management Plans - Respect Protect Enjoy -Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park (lochlomond-trossachs.org) sets out the extensive range of measures and resources put in place for the 2021 season. The partners continue to meet every Monday to discuss emerging issues, solutions and opportunities. It is recognised that some challenges will require longer term solutions.

Localised visitor management groups have also been established this summer. Meetings have been held to ensure stakeholders (communities, land managers, businesses and recreation groups) are informed on the partnership work to manage visitor pressures. Recordings of each session have been published online on our Advice for Communities webpage. These sessions have included signposting to funding.

Funding of £475,000 has been provided by the Scottish Government over the last two years to the National Park to meet the costs associated with additional visitor management pressures following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions. In addition to this a further £425,000 has been allocated to mitigate the wider impact of the pandemic on businesses and local communities. This funding has supported increased seasonal staff (such as rangers), toilet provision and signage among other things.

The Scottish Government also increased in the Park Authority’s Capital budget by £540,000 for 2021-22 to deliver visitor infrastructure improvements and develop a capital investment plan to better support visitor management. This also enabled the organisation to establish a £250,000 Green Recovery Fund.

https://www.lochlomond-trossachs.org/park-authority/how-we-can-help/funding-grants/national-park-grant-scheme/

LLTNPA has received £100k from Transport Scotland towards a Sustainable Visitor Transport Co-ordination Project and a parallel Shuttle Bus Pilot in 2022 which focuses on visitor hot spots.

The criteria for the fund is currently being developed by the Scotland on Tour steering group, which is made up of representatives from the music industry, the Scottish Government and Creative Scotland. Detailed guidance will be published shortly, with artists, venues and festivals able to apply to the fund in October 2021.

The music industry is a key part of Scotland’s culture sector and makes a significant contribution to our economy. It is vital that we support Scottish artists as they continue to recover from the pandemic, and we want to ensure that this fund is as widely accessible as possible.

The Scottish Government believes that, where appropriate, family cases should be resolved outwith court.

The Children (Scotland) Act 2020 (the 2020 Act), which gained Royal Assent on 1 October 2020, contains the following provisions:

• Section 23, which places a duty on Scottish Ministers to set up a scheme to make assistance available so that individuals can meet the costs of alternative dispute resolution procedures; and
• Section 24, which places a duty on Scottish Ministers to arrange a pilot scheme for mandatory alternative dispute resolution meetings.

The provisions are at Children (Scotland) Act 2020 (legislation.gov.uk) .

Work has progressed in these areas, but the provisions will take time to implement. A report on the Scottish Ministers' progress between 1 October 2020 and 1 April 2021 is available: First_Report_Children_(Scotland)_Act_2020_.pdf (parliament.scot) .

We are aware of the UK Government Family Mediation Voucher Scheme and will consider if any lessons can be learnt from this scheme when implementing the 2020 Act provisions.

The Scottish Government gives funding to Relationships Scotland , who provide a number of services including family mediation.

The Scottish Government maintains regular contact with the hospitality and nigh time trade sectors. This has included engagement on proposals for a domestic vaccine certification programme both before and after the policy announcement, and that dialogue continues at both Ministerial and official level. The Scottish Government completely understands how difficult it has been for the night time industries over the course of the pandemic, they have felt the impact of restrictions more than most. That is why we are pursuing certification as an alternative to the potential closure of high risk venues.

The existing law in this area operates within reserved legislation such as the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 and the Health and Safety etc. Act 1974.

A Members’ Bill was introduced by Claire Baker MSP (entitled the Culpable Homicide (Scotland) Bill) in June 2020 and the Presiding Officer indicated the provisions of the Bill as introduced were not within the competence of the Scottish Parliament.

Our view is that any consideration of reform of culpable homicide as it applies to organisations should only be considered once the Scottish Law Commission’s wider review of Homicide Law is completed in 2023.

The most recent legislative proposals introduced to the Scottish Parliament relating to corporate homicide was certified by the Presiding Officer as not being within the competence of the Scottish Parliament.

Our view is that any consideration of reform of culpable homicide as it applies to organisations should only be considered once the Scottish Law Commission’s wider review of Homicide Law is completed in 2023.

We have not made any such assessment. However, achieving the ambition, set out in our Update to the Climate Change Plan 2018-2032: Securing a Green Recovery on a Path to Net Zero , published in December 2020, to reduce electricity sector emissions to zero before the end of this decade would mean that the energy used for bitcoin mining has no effect on emissions within Scotland.

The information requested is not held centrally. The data the Scottish Government receives from Police Scotland is a general count of the number of crimes and offences recorded by the police, split by local authority, and the number cleared up by the police. The Scottish Government does not receive further details on the characteristics of these crimes. This means we are unable to identify how many reported thefts involved pets being stolen.

There is no separate offence for pet theft and, therefore, the SG Criminal Proceedings database is unable to identify pet theft from other theft charges held in our criminal proceedings database.

Sustainability, across all three pillars; social, environmental and economic, is central to Scotland’s Economic and Tourism Strategies. Measures we are taking to ensure sustainable islands tourism include:

£30 million of investment over the next five years to ensure delivery of the National Islands Plan. This will support a range of areas including tourism, infrastructure, innovation, energy transition and skills - informed by our learning of how island communities have responded and adapted to COVID-19.

Delivery of the 2018-19 Programme for Government to develop an Islands passport to encourage more sustainable tourism to Scotland’s inhabited islands. The project was soft launched earlier this year with good collaboration with many islands and tourism stakeholder groups.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has also committed £3m to target young people through job placements particularly in the islands and west coast and support delayed community-led projects (due to COVID-19) supporting innovation in tourism leadership.

HIE is also investing £1.25m to support tourism’s transition to net zero, this includes decarbonising key tourism assets in some of their most remote regions, such as Fair Isle and Uist.