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The Scottish Government has no direct control over pricing at public electric vehicle (EV) charge points and regulation of EV chargers is reserved to the UK Government. The tariffs on the Scottish Government funded ChargePlace Scotland (CPS) EV charging network, which now represents less than half of Scotland’s public charging network, are set by the 400 individual charge point owners, including all of Scotland’s local authorities.

There are several different factors that shape the cost of public EV charging including wholesale electricity prices, a higher rate of VAT (20%) on public EV charging than domestic electricity (5%), the cost of purchasing or leasing the land on which public charge points are located, the cost of network connections and supply upgrades, and the cost of installing, operating and maintaining the charge points. Higher powered rapid chargers tend to cost around 50% more to install and operate than slower chargers and this is reflected in the higher tariffs for energy from these charge points.

The Scottish Government’s vision for the future of public EV charging was published in June 2023 and it sets out the expectation that pricing across the entire public charging network is fair, sustainable and allows for the ongoing growth and maintenance of the public charging network. However, both VAT and energy market policy remain reserved to the UK Government, therefore the Scottish Government cannot take all of the action it would like to in order to support Scottish consumers.

The Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults is distributed in all 32 local authority areas of Scotland by Third Sector Interface (TSI) organisations who, working in collaboration with other local partners, are responsible for determining and allocating the funding to local community initiatives which support mental health and wellbeing.

TSIs are provided with overarching national guidance for the Fund, which is set by the Scottish Government in consultation with TSIs and the Fund’s National Oversight Group prior to each funding round.

The guidance sets out the broad parameters for how funding should be allocated to community organisations, including criteria around who can apply and what type of project can be funded; in line with the Fund’s aim to tackle mental health inequalities and benefit grassroots groups. The guidance is reviewed annually based on feedback and evidence emerging from monitoring and reporting on the Fund, which is collated by the Scottish Government.

Crucially, it is designed to be flexible in order to allow local partnership groups to identify their own priorities for spend within the terms set out and in line with their local partnership plans.

The list of successful applicants for Year 3 of the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults was published in November 2024. This provides details of the local authority where the organisation is based, the name of the project and the amount of funding awarded by the local This Sector Interface.

The list of successful applicants can be found within the following link.

Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults Projects awarded funding Year 3 - 2023/2024

Year 4 of the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults opened for applications on or before 30 September 2024 and is well under way. Third Sector Interfaces will submit their End of Year reports in Spring 2025. A full list of the successful applicants will be published thereafter.

Non-domestic rates are a tax levied on the occupiers of non-domestic properties. All non-domestic properties, including specified plant and machinery such as pylons, are liable for non-domestic rates. As such, the occupier of a non-domestic property with pylon infrastructure will be liable for non-domestic rates.

The valuation of non-domestic property is a matter for the independent Scottish Assessors who follow applicable statute and case law in making their decisions on non-domestic property valuations.

The rating of plant and machinery, including plant and machinery involved in the transmission of electricity, depends on a number of factors, and The Valuation for Rating (Plant and Machinery)(Scotland) Regulations 2000, as amended, specifies the plant and machinery which is to be assumed to be part of lands and heritages for the purposes of non-domestic rating valuation.

Meetings with only SSEN in attendance

Patients who have received private diagnoses of ADHD can receive prescription medication through the NHS, via a Shared Care agreement with local NHS providers.

However, whilst GPs are responsible for providing patients with appropriate care whether they have been treated on the NHS or privately, they are not obliged to follow the recommendations of a private provider. All care required should be provided within the package of care sold by the private provider.

The Scottish Government is aware that, for a range of reasons, GPs may be reluctant to enter Shared Care agreements in relation to private diagnoses of ADHD. Accordingly, the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT), which is funded by the Scottish Government, published guidance regarding the prescribing of ADHD medication to adults following a private sector diagnosis in Scotland in 2022.

I wrote to the UK Minister for Energy Consumers on 17 October 2024. Scottish Ministers proposed changes to the ECO4 scheme to enable ECO financed work to benefit from stronger management and quality control as part of local and national fuel poverty schemes in Scotland. Scottish Ministers emphasised the need to re-build public trust in the reliability of `government backed’ schemes, citing the inappropriate use of spray foam insulation in lofts as an example.

The UK Minister for Energy Consumers replied on 19 December to say that the UK Government was reviewing the current consumer protections in place for retrofit work and how they could be strengthened. They advised that any changes in their approach to consumer protection will form part of the UK Government’s Warm Homes Plan.

We will continue to press the UK Government to allow a better managed approach to ECO4 delivery in Scotland and request further details about any proposed changes to consumer protections.

The Scottish Government has no powers over the smart-meter network or the Radio Teleswitch Service (RTS). Telecommunications is also a reserved issue and radio network upgrades are a commercial matter for mobile network operators and wireless infrastructure providers.

However, through the Scottish Government’s £28.75 million Scottish 4G Infill Programme, we have delivered 55 mobile masts in rural and island areas, all of which are available on an open access basis and could potentially be used to site smart meter radio infrastructure. It is therefore imperative that the UK Government and Ofgem update the regulations to allow the Data Communications Company (DCC) to use mobile technology to provide a signal to homes in Scotland and ensure that all meters can be appropriately upgraded.

Ofgem and Energy UK are leading a cross-industry response to the RTS switch-off, which includes a public awareness campaign. However, with under six months till the switch-off on 30 June 2025, and no clear Plan B, the UK Government must use its powers to direct urgent and proportionate action.

I have written to the UK Minister for Energy Consumers to request that Ofgem include RTS related obligations in licence conditions for both suppliers and the DCC. This change would compel both to use every tool available to ensure that households and businesses in Scotland and across Britain are not left behind. For suppliers, this must translate in practice to ramping up the number of meters upgraded, including targeting several homes or businesses en masse.

Where access to a fully functional smart-meter is not possible, suppliers should offer a non-connected smart meter with pre-programmed switching times – thus providing a temporary solution in the short term. However, it is critical that consumers are not penalised for upgrading their meter and that suppliers are obliged to ensure that consumers are transferred to a like-for-like or improved tariff as part of their meter upgrade.

The Scottish Government will continue to engage with the UK Government on a frequent and sustained basis to ensure that Scottish communities are not caused any detriment as a result of poor smart-meter accessibility and the RTS switch-off. This includes offering to convene a jointly-chaired roundtable on energy consumer issues and participation in the Ofgem-led RTS communications working group, which brings together consumer organisations, government and industry.

It is clear that considerably more needs to be done to raise awareness and oblige suppliers to offer suitable metering solutions, whether smart or pre-programmed, which do not negatively impact the consumer.

The Scottish Government does not collate data on dog attacks. There is no central database within Scotland or the UK that provides data on dog attacks by type/breed of dog.

However, Public Health Scotland collects data provided by NHS Health Boards on the number of inpatient and day case admissions to hospital where a diagnosis of dog attack (bite or strike) was recorded.

I would refer you to the answer given to question S6W-24486 on 24 January 2024 for the available data from 2004 to 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.