Seòmar agus comataidhean

As you will be aware from my answer to the referenced Parliamentary Question and my update of 13 November to the Economy, Energy and Fair Work Committee, work on the public energy company, such as engagement on the findings of the Outline Business Case, was affected as a result of redeployment of officials to support the COVID-19 response and potential local authority partners have also needed to focus resource on responding to the pandemic.

Officials have been remobilised and we are reviewing the independent, public energy company Outline Business Case to reflect on the climate emergency and our ambitious net zero targets as well as more recent energy market developments, and we are working with interested local authorities to publish the Outline Business Case alongside identifying next steps.

We are engaging with industry regarding dates for the independent Gateway Review into the go-live date for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme and will confirm these in due course.

The Winter Support Package will provide devices to up to 5,000 individuals at risk of social isolation who are older or disabled.

As the target groups are not mutually exclusive, and not all organisations received the full amount of devices requested, it is not possible to confirm the total number of individuals supported in each group. From analysis of the applications, 74% of those supported are older people and 52% have a disability. This implies that 26% are disabled people aged under 60.

4,467 devices have been sent from the supplier to 343 local organisations. We expect all of these deliveries to be complete in March 2021. Our delivery partner, SCVO are in contact with the 48 organisations that have not returned contracts yet. Once these documents have been received, devices will be sent to organisations who then distribute to individuals.

Since the answer provided on 5 February, a further 4855 devices have been scheduled for delivery with 241 organisations. This brings the total number of devices delivered through the Connecting Scotland programme to 35,326.

The Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund closed to applications on 18 December 2020. Of the 13 applications received, 12 are being considered for support. It is projected that to up 1,377 rural households and 510 urban households will benefit from affordable, low carbon heating as a consequence of the funding. Funding is provided in line with need and I can confirm that all projects are anticipated to have received their grant by 31st March 2022.

Since the start of the pandemic, our support for business and the economy totals more than £3 billion. Statistics and management information on the Covid-19 business support funding streams, including how much has been paid out to businesses, are published on the Scottish Government website at Coronavirus (COVID-19): business support funding statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . This includes data on the Strategic Framework Business Fund which is updated and published monthly.

The Digital Growth Fund has paid out a total of £6,406,093.50 and 129 businesses have directly received funding.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-35144 on 25 February 2021. 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

As at 31 January 2021, the Scottish Growth Scheme, which of course is demand led, has: (a) provided some £333.5 million of debt and equity investment to businesses; (b) 560 businesses have directly benefitted from this investment; and (c) The Scottish Government has provided £19.4 million which has in turn levered substantial private sector funding so that 560 businesses received a total investment of £333.5 million.

In the following table a breakdown of the administrative costs and legal costs incurred since the Scottish Government’s initial intervention with BiFab in 2017-18 is provided.