Seòmar agus comataidhean

As set out in response to S6W-08423 on 19 May 2022 , we remain firmly focused on supporting the six priority family types identified within our first Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan and will continue to engage with our partners, including gender representative stakeholders and women with experience of poverty, to ensure an intersectional and gendered approach is embedded in the development, implementation and monitoring of the actions set out in the plan.

‘ Best Start, Bright Futures ’ , our second Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan for the period 2022-26, recognises that to tackle poverty effectively we must deliver holistic, person-centred services and support that meets the needs of families - whilst also driving forward the transformation in our wider economy, necessary to tackle inequalities in our labour market.

The Plan is underpinned by robust data and evaluation, this includes our recently updated Child Poverty Measurement Framework as well as policy level evaluations and overall Child Poverty Evaluation Strategy . We also produce focus reports on the various child poverty family groups that explore progress achieved over time. This includes experiences of lone parents (who tend to be women) and mothers aged under 25.

Whilst quantitative data will enable us to track progress towards our outcomes, families will often fall into more than one priority group and in reality many face a combination of barriers and discrimination. We will ensure we use lived experience and a deeper understanding of the impact of intersection of characteristics in the design, implementation and monitoring of our actions and policies to ensure delivery approaches which are increasingly tailored and, ultimately, more effective.

To support our focus on implementation we have strengthened our approach to governance, including establishing a new Child Poverty Programme Board bringing together leaders, decision-makers, delivery partners and those who champion change across Scotland. The Programme Board will complement the statutory functions of the Poverty and Inequality Commission to ensure we hold ourselves to account on our performance against the plan, challenge our ambition, maintain a focus on our priority families and implement learning from the new approaches we are taking and testing.

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

The Scottish Government has no plans to bring forward a Public Debt Bill.

The average household bill in Scotland is calculated as revenue, net of applicable discounts and divided by the number of household properties in Scotland. The average household bill in England and Wales is published on the Discover Water information site at https://discoverwater.co.uk/annual-bill .

This information is provided in Scottish Water’s Annual Report and Accounts which is published on Scottish Water’s website and laid before Parliament each year. The accounting provision Scottish Water has made for household bad debt in each of previous 10 financial years is set out in the following table.

As outlined in my response to the answer to question S6W-08721 on 9 June 2022, the ScotWind lease option awards process has yet to be completed and the final figure raised through option agreements is still to be confirmed. The Scottish Government plans to draw down £660 million of lease option funding in the first two years of the Resource Spending Review period. 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 .

The Energy Strategy & Just Transition Plan (ESJTP) will be developed not only to ensure the delivery of a viable net-zero energy system but also to provide an action plan that enables the transition to that system in a fair and just way for all of Scotland and maximises the economic opportunity that Scotland’s resource provides.

To ensure the impacts of the ESJTP reflect the challenges and opportunities facing the supply chain, a co-design process is being carried out to ensure the supply chain are able to engage, contribute and help shape the ESJTP.

In 2020, the Scottish Government set up the Scottish Energy Task Force to focus on near-term, collaborative actions, which can stimulate investment in Scotland’s energy sector to support delivery of net-zero.

The Energy Task Force consists of 12 organisations, including renewable energy companies, who have helped to develop the Joint Business Plan for Unlocking Investment in Scotland’s Energy Sector which was published in May this year.

The Plan outlines actions which can be taken to make near-term progress on working towards net-zero. The Task Force will continue to work collaboratively to deliver these actions which support net-zero.

The following table details the total cost of operation and number of journeys completed by the Government Car Service since 2011.

The following table outlines the changes in frequency for the stations requested from ScotRail’s May 2022 Fit for the Future Timetable and ScotRail’s temporary timetable:-

Transport Scotland was informed of the temporary timetable proposal by Scottish Rail Holdings Ltd on 11 May 2022.