Seòmar agus comataidhean

We believe that including relevant and proportionate community benefit requirements in public contracts is beneficial and encourages suppliers to deliver wider social benefits.

While there is room for innovation in the delivery of community benefits, our policy, as stated in the statutory guidance underpinning the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014, is that requirements should be robust, relevant and proportionate so that they can be judged on objective and measurable outcomes.

In our recent policy note on measuring social impact in public procurement, we encourage public bodies to engage with communities to understand local priorities so that they can achieve targeted social outcomes through their procurement.

Community benefits are increasingly included in public procurement contracts. As a result, thousands of employment and training opportunities have been achieved, contributing to national and local outcomes and achieving a positive social impact.

In 2016, the Scottish Government issued Statutory Guidance under the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014, setting out how public bodies can include community benefits in relevant public procurements. In 2020, we published guidance for public bodies on ‘ Measuring social impact in public procurement (SPPN 10/2020) ’. This includes a focus on the use of community benefits and examples of how public procurement has been used to deliver social impact in communities.

Our sustainable procurement tools include additional guidance on employment, skills and training through public contracts.

The Scottish Government has been supporting bioenergy development in Scotland for over a decade. Our current policy continues to promote biomass (wood fuel) systems which achieve the greatest possible energy efficiencies and deliver the highest possible carbon savings. We have assembled a Scottish Government working group to understand the extent to which bioenergy should be used in each of our sectors to ensure bioenergy is deployed where it has the greatest value in reducing emissions. By 2023, in time to inform the next Climate Change Plan, and to take account of decisions that are reserved to the UK Government, we will publish a Bioenergy Action Plan.

The Scottish Government has allocated almost £1.6 billion to support the accelerated deployment of renewable heat and energy efficiency measures in homes and buildings across Scotland. Over the next 5 years, this investment will help to cut emissions, create jobs, strengthen supply chains, and tackle fuel poverty.

As part of this investment, we will build upon and improve existing advice and support programmes to accelerate deployment. The SME loan scheme, run by Energy Saving Trust for the Scottish Government, has already provided over £63 million in loans and cashback to Scottish small and medium enterprises (SME), funding more than 1300 projects to install renewable heating and energy efficiency measures. We propose to continue to run our SME loan cashback schemes until at least 2023.

The Sustainable Energy Supply Chain programme, funded by the Scottish Government and administered by Energy Saving Trust, has provided support and assistance for businesses in Scotland since 2013. To augment this programme, we will develop an action plan, specifically focussed on strengthening the broad supply chains needed to deliver zero emissions heat and energy efficiency in buildings. Additional advice and support tailored for SME businesses can be accessed via our Energy Efficiency Business Support service.

The Scottish Government recognises that the global climate emergency will pose particular challenges for island communities. Our response is guided by the best available scientific evidence, including the latest independent expert assessment of the impacts of climate change in Scotland published by the UK Climate Change Committee on 16 June 2021. This assessment identifies 61 key areas of impact, including:

• Risks to transport infrastructure from flooding, extreme weather, erosion and subsidence. The assessment notes that some of these risks affect the islands disproportionately, for example in situations where disruption to passenger and freight transport can leave whole communities and economies isolated.
• Risks to housing from flooding, sea level rise and damage from driving rain. The assessment notes that sea level rise poses particularly significant risks for the viability of coastal communities in low lying islands.
• Risks, across all parts of Scotland, to agricultural productivity from pests, pathogens and invasive species, as well as risks to agricultural soils and land from changing climatic conditions and sea level rise. The assessment also notes that there could be some opportunities in terms of new crop species becoming viable, but these cannot be expected to outweigh the negative impacts.

The Scottish Government is building resilience to the impacts of climate change through the implementation of our second statutory adaptation programme. The programme covers the period 2019 to 2024 and includes over 170 policies across Scotland. Examples of particular measures that will help protect our island communities include:

• We are investing in climate resilience as part of a green recovery from COVID-19, including a further £12 million for coastal change adaptation as well as an extra £150 million over this Parliament to manage the risks from flooding.
• Our National Transport Strategy includes an outcome to ‘adapt to the effects of climate change’ and the first Delivery Plan sets out policies that will ensure the transport system adapts to the projected climate change impacts.
• Transport Scotland is currently working with CMAL and CalMac to develop investment programmes for vessels and harbours with the aim of increased standardisation and improved resilience, which will improve connectivity for our island communities.
• The results from the second phase of Dynamic Coast, Scotland’s National Coastal Change Assessment, will be published in August 2021. Dynamic Coast 2 assesses the impact that global sea level rise will have on erosion rates, improving our understanding of the measures needed to protect our coastal and island communities.
• Our Housing to 2040 strategy sets out the intention to develop a new Housing Standard for Scotland, set in law. The aim of the new standard is to ensure that there will be no margins of tolerance, no exemptions and no “acceptable levels” of sub-standard homes in urban, rural or island communities, deprived communities or in tenements.
• The Farming for a Better Climate programme continues to promote practical and cost effective measures for both climate change mitigation and adaptation to farmers and land managers. Alongside this, the farmer-led soil regenerative agriculture network focus on positive actions that can be taken on Scottish farms to support, enhance and protect their soils.

Building resilience to the impacts of climate change on Scotland’s islands also lies at the heart of the Scottish Government’s National Islands Plan. This commits to putting in place adaptation plans on islands that are at greater risk and working closely with local stakeholders to ensure that the voices of islanders are fully heard in the just transition to a net-zero society. A part of this transition also includes our manifesto commitment to supporting Carbon Neutral Islands which would include pilots for some islands to run on 100% renewable energy, to create circular economies tackling and processing waste and exploring more sustainable transport options.

In light of the Climate Change Committee’s recently updated risk assessment, the Scottish Government is clear that more will need to be done to build resilience to the impacts of climate change as part of Scotland’s just transition. In the run up to COP26, we will host a National Climate Resilience Summit to connect leaders from across the public and private sectors to build momentum for such action . We will respond in full to the Committee’s updated risk assessment through the development of the next statutory adaptation programme, which is due for publication in 2024.

The completion rate for Community Payback Orders (CPOs) has generally been around 70% over the last seven years. This is consistently higher than for the orders they replaced.

There are a range of factors which can influence the likelihood that an order will be successfully completed. In particular, outcomes are likely to be influenced by the nature of the offending behaviour and individuals’ underlying risks and needs. The proportion of orders with an offender supervision requirement rose to 62% in 2019-20, the highest level in the last five years. Greater use of supervision suggests that individuals have more complex and entrenched issues to address and may have greater likelihood of reoffending.

Local authorities are responsible for delivering CPOs and, notwithstanding the factors noted above, we are continuing to work with national and local partners to help ensure orders are implemented as effectively as possible, and that completion rates are as high as they can be. Specifically, effective practice and improvement is supported by:

Community Payback Order Practice Guidance for practitioners

• a programme of scrutiny and assurance work carried out by the Care Inspectorate, funded by Scottish Government
• ongoing training and support from national partners, including Community Justice Scotland, Social Work Scotland, and Scottish Government
• analysis of statistics which are disaggregated by local authority areas, practice support groups organised by Social Work Scotland, area based CPO annual reports and an annual CPO report prepared by Community Justice Scotland

In addition, the Scottish Government has protected record levels of funding with up to £106 million allocated in 2020-21 to local authorities for the delivery of justice social work services. An additional £11.8 million has been provided this year to support justice social work recovery relating to the impact of coronavirus, which had a significant impact on the delivery of CPOs.

The ‘Bairns’ Hoose’ refers to the Scottish Government’s application of the international concept of Barnahus to the Scottish context.

The Scottish Government has an unashamedly bold aspiration to create our own Bairns’ Hooses in Scotland. We believe that every child victim or witness has the right to consistent and holistic support that enables them to tell their stories, access specialist services and recover from their experiences, and that these services should be delivered under one roof.

Work is currently underway to understand the required infrastructure to support Bairns’ Hooses across Scotland. We would envision a number of bespoke child friendly spaces with both urban and rural accessibility to ensure that every child victim/witness will have support from a Bairns’ Hoose by 2025.

We regularly assess workforce requirements across the whole of the Scottish economy, including in construction.

The construction industry is a core sector of the Scottish economy, providing infrastructure to businesses across all sectors of the economy. We are aware that the pandemic and Brexit may impact on the supply of labour in this sector.

For a successful recovery and to ensure no one is left behind we have a heavy focus on employability and skills. We continue to support our apprentices during these challenging times, including those in the construction sector, and have introduced additional interventions, such as an enhanced Adopt an Apprentice programme, to encourage employers to recruit and retain apprentices supporting the long-term future of work-based learning and the economy. In addition, we supported a range of skills-related activity, including supporting 5,033 people into modern apprenticeships in the construction sector during 2020-21. In 2021-22 we will invest more than £1bn to drive forward our national ambition for jobs and to equip our workforce with the future skills it needs.

The Construction Recovery Plan launched in 2020 sets out a range of short, medium and longer term actions to support employment, fairness of work, encourage new entrants into the sector, and address upskilling and reskilling needs to enable the sector adapt to technological change and net zero carbon in the built environment.

When an unpaid work or other activity requirement is imposed by the court as part of a Community Payback Order, the management and delivery of that requirement – including determining what work is to be carried out - is the responsibility of the relevant local authority. There are a number of factors for local authority social work staff and unpaid work managers to consider when arranging unpaid work. Planning and assessment is informed by national Community Payback Order Practice Guidance and, while there is no prescribed list of activities, the guidance makes clear that activities should be appropriate to unpaid work taking account of a number of considerations.

Unpaid work schemes should make placements available across a wide range of work settings and types of activity and have regard to the circumstances and circumstances of the individual (such as employment, education, caring responsibilities, health, equality and diversity issues). For example, work which does not involve significant physical exertion may be the only appropriate option for some individuals (including for health-related reasons).

Unpaid work has a strong focus on reparation and providing opportunities to make amends and prevent reoffending though strengthening relationships with the community, and through developing useful skills. Justice social work staff and unpaid work managers in local areas are best placed to determine what unpaid work is suitable, taking into account each individual’s particular circumstances, to help ensure that individuals complete their unpaid work hours in a way which benefits the community.

We welcome the publication of Audit Scotland’s report on community justice, and its intention to carry out further work in this vital area in 2022.

While sentencing decisions in individual cases are a matter for the independent courts, we are committed to encouraging more widespread use of community-based interventions where appropriate. These are often more effective at reducing re-offending, as Audit Scotland sets out, and for keeping our communities safe.

In addition to continued investment in community justice services, which will total more than £117m this year, Parliament agreed in 2019 to extend the presumption against short custodial sentences from 3 to 12 months. Although it is too early to determine the impact of the extension, the use of such sentences has fallen significantly in recent years, with those receiving a sentence of 12 months or less reducing by 13% in the most recent data between 2018-19 and 2019-20, whereas the number of convictions reduced by 4%.

Our firm focus on prevention and effective community interventions has helped see Scotland’s reconviction rate fall to its lowest level since comparable records began more than 20 years ago. We intend to continue building on progress to date, including through a review of the National Strategy for Community Justice, expanding availability of alternatives to custody, and exploring legislative opportunities for a sustainable reduction in the prison population.

We will consider the issues identified by Audit Scotland in its report, including as part of the review and expected refresh of the Community Justice strategy, which we anticipate will be published in 2022 alongside an update Outcomes, Performance and Improvement Framework.

(a) No notifications have been received since issue of the provision in April 2021. Monitoring is only on receipt of such notifications. (b) No intention to publish such information but it will be summarised as part of reporting on the consultation on external wall systems which includes the onward use of BS 8414. This is scheduled to close 08 October 2021.