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The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that stakeholders and communities are engaged with on policy developments, including long-term oversight and governance. The Interim Governance Group to Develop Anti-Racist Infrastructure (IGG) has commissioned a programme of community engagement to both disseminate information about the establishment of an independent Race Observatory, and to gather community members' and stakeholders’ perspectives about the Observatory and how it can work best to contribute to genuine change-making policy and practice in Scotland.

Through its community engagement work, the IGG is actively disseminating information, and seeking the views of stakeholders and communities so that they can be incorporated into the development of the forthcoming anti-racism infrastructure.

The IGG is committed to being open and transparent about its work. Documents and minutes of meetings are published on the IGG webpage: Interim Governance Group to Develop National Anti-Racist Infrastructure

In June 2020, the Expert Reference Group on COVID-19 and Ethnicity was established to consider and inform the Scottish Government’s approach in relation to the impacts of COVID-19 on Minority Ethnic (ME) communities. This was in response to reports at a UK-wide and international level that some ME groups may be at risk of experiencing disproportionate effects, both in terms of adverse health outcomes and in a wider context, including economically.

Our current priorities are rooted in the delivery of the recommendations of our Expert Reference Group on COVID-19 and Ethnicity (ERG). Specifically, these actions cover the ongoing work to implement the data and systemic recommendations of the Expert Reference Group (ERG) for COVID-19 and Ethnicity, as agreed to by the Scottish Government in November 2020 .

Recommendation 7 from the ERG outlined the need to establish a more effective accountability and governance infrastructure in Scotland, namely an independent Race Observatory. The Scottish Government required specific expertise to help move forward with establishing the Observatory and therefore formed a short-life working group, now known as the IGG, to provide advice and feedback to Scottish Ministers.

The Scottish Government is using a range of interventions across its policies to advance the Race Equality Framework and human rights for all minority ethnic groups, one of which is the Interim Governance Group (IGG).

The IGG is a short-life working group with a specific remit to provide advice and feedback to Scottish Ministers on establishing long-term anti-racism infrastructure. Its membership includes those with experiences of intersecting marginalisation(s) and the realities of systemic racism and expertise in tackling it. Individuals were also appointed on the basis of having extensive knowledge and/or experience of policy-making processes in Scotland, and design and implementation of policy/systems. More information on the remit and membership of the group is available here: Interim Governance Group to Develop National Anti-Racist Infrastructure

The IGG is supporting the government’s development of improved infrastructure and accountability that has a positive impact on the lives of all racialised minority communities. Racialised outcomes are not experienced uniformly, and effective interventions need to take specific experiences into account. In Scotland, this includes important disparities impacting Black/minority ethnic groups.

Ensuring that communities are engaged with policy development and in long-term oversight and accountability, is of utmost importance, and we use mechanisms and routes to achieve that in the best way possible. Policy areas focussed on anti-racism and race equality actively engage with a range of stakeholders and communities as part of their work. The IGG has commissioned a programme of community engagement, to both disseminate information about forthcoming anti-racism infrastructure and to gather community members' and stakeholders’ perspectives on how it can work best to deliver genuine change-making policy and practice in Scotland.

Transport Scotland is continuing to consult with Local Authorities and others to develop both the secondary legislation required to allow them to enforce the National pavement parking prohibition as well as the Parking Standards Guidance which will underpin the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019.

The first of the associated regulations, which sets out the Exemption Order Procedures which local authorities must follow, was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 16 November and came into force on 9 December 2022.

My officials continue to work on the other secondary legislation which is required during the course of this year. These further regulations will ensure Local Authorities have all of the necessary tools to enforce the pavement parking prohibitions from late 2023 onwards.

The Scottish Government is aware of this matter and has engaged with relevant stakeholders, including trade association Liquid Gas UK, on the sufficiency of gas volumes available in the sector, and with the upstream partner choosing to reduce LPG supply via Mossmorran to better understand their commercial decision.

Security of energy supply, including LPG, is a UK Government reserved matter and Scottish Government officials are in contact with counterparts at the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to confirm that quantities of gas being processed are more than sufficient to meet demand – and that BEIS continue to monitor the picture closely in communication with suppliers to ensure there remains adequate availability of LPG for distributors in Scotland.

Further, I have written to the Secretary of State for BEIS to outline members’ concerns raised with me, and to seek UK Government’s express reassurance on Scottish LPG supplies for 2023 and beyond. I have also requested clarity on the UK Government’s plans to extend existing levels of support through the Energy Price Guarantee to help struggling rural households with rising energy costs, asking the Secretary of State to urgently confirm whether the £200 Alternative Fuel Payment (AFP) to help households who use alternative fuels such as LPG will be repeated during 2023-24.

This information is not available in the form requested.

The Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) explores the physical condition of Scotland’s homes as well as the experiences of householders. Data from the (SHCS) provides estimates of the number and percentage of households using LPG (bulk or bottled) as a primary heating fuel, based on a single year of data, and at a local authority level by averaging three years’ of data. The survey has not been designed to provide results by Parliamentary Region. The most recent data for 2017-19 by local authority is presented in the following table.

It should be noted that at a Scotland level over the period 2017 to 2019, 1% or 25,000 of households were estimated to use LPG as a primary heating fuel in their homes. Given this low prevalence, precise actual estimates from survey results are not available for Fife and other Local Authority areas.

It should also be noted that some households may use LPG as a secondary heating fuel, alongside other fuels. This is not included in the table below.

Table 1: Number and percentage of households using LPG (bulk or bottled) as a primary heating fuel, by local authority, SHCS 2017 to 2019

The National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 Act places a broad general duty on the Scottish Ministers to improve health in Scotland and confers functions which assist in performing that duty. However, that duty and those functions cannot be viewed in isolation. Per the Scotland Act 1998, the Scottish Ministers cannot exercise their functions in a manner which would be outside of devolved competence.

Although the Scottish Government is taking a public health approach to drug dependence, if the Scottish Ministers were to exercise their functions (including functions which relate to health improvement) in a way which conflicts with the subject matter of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 then that would be outside competence.

The work being done by Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership to explore the possibility of a Safer Drug Consumption Facility in Scotland, within the current legal framework, has been done carefully with the benefit of their independent legal advice. In the event of a positive outcome to work carried out by partners, we will quickly establish a Safer Drug Consumption Facility in Glasgow.