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The Scottish Government is committed to building resilience to the locked-in impacts of climate change, as part of a just transition.

The approach to planning for climate change adaptation and resilience in Scotland follows the statutory requirements of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.

Alongside continuing to deliver the wide range of actions set out under the current statutory Scottish Climate Change Adaptation Programme 2019 – 2024, the Scottish Government is also now developing the next such Programme for publication in 2024. This Programme will respond to the full range of current and future climate risks for Scotland, as independently identified by the Climate Change Committee in its evidence base for the January 2022 update to the statutory UK Climate Change Risk Assessment.

Over the remainder of 2022 and across 2023, the Scottish Government will be working with local authorities, public bodies, communities, the private sector and other stakeholders to develop enhanced approaches to building Scotland’s resilience to climate change. We also continue to fund the Adaptation Scotland Programme which works with local authorities and others to support adaptation capacity building, for example via the Adaptation Capability Framework, and support for place-based climate adaptation partnerships.

We plan to introduce legislation next week to provide for a rent freeze and moratorium on evictions. We intend to provide a freeze on rents across the social and private sectors until 31 March 2023, provided it remains necessary and proportionate to do so.

Rents will initially be capped at 0% until 31 March.

While the primary purpose of our emergency proposals is to protect tenants during this cost crisis, safeguards will be built in to ensure that the circumstances of landlords are appropriately reflected.

The Scottish Government does not currently have any plans to collect such data.

The Scottish Government recognises that there may be instances where a host relationship breaks down. Where a relationship breaks down, it is the responsibility of local authorities to re-enter a displaced person into the matching process and find a suitable alternative accommodation.

On 22 September, the Scottish Government published its first summary of the latest Scotland-level data and information on people displaced by the war in Ukraine coming to Scotland through the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme visa schemes which provides detail on matching progress: Key points - Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland: statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The Scottish Government recognises that there may be instances where a host relationship breaks down. Where a relationship breaks down, the displaced person can make contact with their local authority who will re-enter them to the matching process and find a suitable alternative accommodation.

It is important to recognise that matching people with hosts is a complex process. Time must be taken to ensure that the needs of both the host family and Ukrainians are met, and that both are suitably supported to make a decision that is right for them. Their housing and support needs and preferences will be assessed and the matching service will seek to match them with accommodation suitable for their needs. Where additional needs are identified, they will be directed to specialist local authority support teams.

We have made £11.2m of additional funding available to local authorities, which they can use to bolster their resettlement teams, enhance the pace of host checks, and support refurbishment of properties. In addition we have funded additional staff in local authorities to speed up the process and we are also introducing a new digital matching tool to support the matching process. We are currently reviewing the operation of the super sponsor scheme, including measures to improve matching.

As Scheme Administrator, Circularity Scotland Ltd is responsible for the development and construction of the logistical network that will support Scotland’s DRS.

The Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Act 2022 was passed by the Scottish Parliament in June of this year and received Royal Assent on 10 August.

Firework licensing, Part 2 of the Act, will require further secondary legislation, as well as development of an appropriate licensing system, and therefore will not be in place until late 2023/early 2024 at the earliest. Commencement regulations will be introduced in advance of the system being operational.

In the 2022-23 Programme for Government, the Scottish Government renewed its commitment to explore how to ensure the interests of future generations are considered in decisions made today.

Ministers and officials have been engaging with a wide range of organisations interested in embedding wellbeing and sustainable development principles in decision-making. I have met with several key stakeholders to support this work and will continue to do so in the coming months.

The Scottish Government is considering the case for a Scottish future generations commissioner as part of a package of measures to embed the interests of future generations in the creation and delivery of policy. This may include placing duties on public bodies to account for the impact of their decisions on wellbeing and sustainable development.

This work is being taken forward as part of the development of the Scottish Government’s proposed Wellbeing and Sustainable Development (Scotland) Bill.

We intend to set out more detailed proposals later this year.

The Scottish Government would like to congratulate all the artists, venues, production members and organisers of Edinburgh’s festivals this year. We recognise that overall 2022 was perceived as a ‘recovery year’ for the festivals and was key in bringing back confidence to the wider culture sector, especially with regards to returning audiences.

We have aided the festivals in this recovery and have provided a total of approximately £14.1 million in financial support since the beginning of the pandemic.

Overall, whilst ticket sales were down in comparison to 2019, Edinburgh Festivals were well attended; with a number reporting that they surpassed their 2022 targets. This is a good outcome taking into consideration the many challenges it has been necessary to overcome, and the added caution in programming this year. The Scottish Government will continue to work with festival organisers to build on their success this year, and ensure their continued recovery.

A list of Penalty Charge (PCN) and Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) notices issued to Scottish Government vehicles for each of the last five years is provided in the following table.

The staff member driving the vehicle at the time of the alleged offense is personally responsible for any penalties incurred, therefore we do not hold this information.