Chamber and committees

Phasing out fossil fuel heating is essential to meet our legal climate targets and makes us less dependent on volatile and increasingly expensive fossil fuel prices. As set out in the Heat in Buildings Strategy, published in October 2021, the Scottish Government considers “low and zero emissions heating systems” to be systems that have zero direct greenhouse gas emissions. This includes individual electric heat pumps and connection to heat networks, or electric systems such as storage heaters, and systems that have very low emissions, such as those that use hydrogen.

In line with the recommendation of the Committee on Climate Change, we agree that bioenergy – such as biomass, bio-heating oil and bio-propane - should only be used in those applications where its carbon reduction impact is maximised, where alternative options are not available, and where it comes from sustainable sources. We recognise that, for a small number of homes, bioenergy might offer the only feasible way to reduce emissions from heating to displacing fossil fuels, especially where electric heating or heat pumps are unsuitable. We will therefore consider how such homes may be dealt with under any future regulatory system.

Dental registration statistics, including the percentage of children who are registered with a NHS dentist in the Dumfries and Galloway area, are published by Public Health Scotland and can be viewed online at Dental statistics - NHS registration and participation 24 January 2023 - Dental statistics - registration and participation - Publications - Public Health Scotland .

NHS Dumfries and Galloway have appointed a Task Force to improve access to dental services in the area. Their work includes promoting Scottish Government funding, including the Scottish Dental Access Initiative grant and the Recruitment and Retention allowance, of which both incentives are available throughout the whole Board area.

On 27 July I wrote to the dental sector with a new suite of fees incentivising a full range of NHS care and treatment. The new model reduces bureaucracy, provides greater clinical freedom to NHS dental teams and reflects modern dentistry. The intention behind these payment reform measures is to better incentivise dentists to provide NHS dental care, thereby sustaining and increasing NHS dental access as we move forward.

As stated in the reply to SW6-20231, the Scottish Government does not hold the information requested as responsibility for managing Police Scotland’s call handling system, including the collection of data for non-emergency 101 calls, rests with the Chief Constable of Scotland.

This information is also already in the public domain. Police Scotland regularly publish performance data, including for the non-emergency 101 service, on their website with the most recent information available at Call Handling Reports 2023 - Police Scotland . It should be noted that information for August 2023 has not yet been published, however we can provide information for the number of calls received during September to December 2022 as outlined below:

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested. Police Scotland regularly publish performance data, including for the non-emergency 101 service, on their website at Call Handling Reports 2023 - Police Scotland . Furthermore, Police Scotland’s performance, including the non-emergency 101 service, is monitored by the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) Policing Performance Committee on a quarterly basis. The performance report for Quarter 1 2023/24 was published on 7 September 2023 and the next meeting will be held on 6 December 2023 and can be viewed via the SPA web site at Policing Performance Committee Meetings | Scottish Police Authority (spa.police.uk) .

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Decisions on the allocation of resources and the deployment of officers and staff are the responsibility of the Chief Constable of Scotland.

The regulation of consumer protection, including the work of Trading Standards Scotland, is reserved to the UK Government.

Trading Standards Scotland (TSS) is an intelligence-led organisation that investigates consumer issues where harm has occurred across local authority boundaries. It has never held the function of providing advice directly to consumers.

Anyone seeking help with a consumer issue should contact Advice Direct Scotland at www.consumeradvice.scot or on 0808 164 6000.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of contract inflation claims made by house builders and contractors. This contractual information is held between grant recipient and house builders and/or contractors.

Transport Scotland is undertaking a National Speed Management Review to support a range of policies that help our Government’s national outcomes and indicators. These include related policy drivers such as better road safety and health outcomes, promotion of active travel, climate change mitigation, place making and economic growth.

The review covers comprehensive analysis of all types of speed management policies and initiatives in Scotland as well as a review of what has been introduced in other countries throughout the world.

The process will also include a stakeholder and public consultation later this year to consider their views of whether any changes to speed limit policies, including HGV speed limits and speed management measures should be introduced as part of our speed management plan.

NHS Dumfries and Galloway does offer adult ADHD diagnostic assessments, but I do appreciate however that there is a growing demand from people seeking referrals from their GP.

We are committed to improving access to ADHD diagnosis in Scotland and are engaged in ongoing work with the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) to develop a single diagnostic adult neurodevelopmental pathway for ADHD and autism and to action the recommendations in their report, commissioned by the Scottish Government, and published earlier this year. The report can be found HERE .

We have provided funding for NAIT to work with Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs) to assist them to develop local action plans.

To date, Cunninghame Housing Association has received a total of £5,066,374.16 for the project at Windermere Park Annan.