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We have allocated over £2million additional funding in 2021-22 to NHS Forth Valley to improve CAMHS from our £120m Recovery and Renewal fund.

The Scottish Government national standard is that 90% of children and young people should start treatment within 18 weeks of referral and the latest CAMHS publication reporting to quarter ending 31 December 2021 is available on the PHS website at:

https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/child-and-adolescent-mental-health-services-camhs-waiting-times/child-and-adolescent-mental-health-services-camhs-waiting-times-quarter-ending-31-december-2021/

Table 1 shows the total number of patients seen for first treatment following referral to CAMH Services in NHS Forth Valley and the percentage seen within 18 weeks, 19-35 weeks, 36-52 weeks and 53+ for the latest published data for quarter ending 31 December 2021.

Table 1 : Total number of patients seen and waiting times from referral to treatment, quarter ending 31 December 2021, NHS Forth Valley

Table 1: General surgery repeat hospital admissions

The Scottish Government’s Home Energy Scotland (HES) Loan and Cashback scheme offers interest-free loans with cashback grant for renewable heating systems, including heat pumps. Loans of up to £10,000 are available, of which up £7,500 is available as non-repayable cashback grant. Through the Scottish Government’s Heat in Buildings Strategy, we have committed to replacing the cashback grant element of the scheme with a standalone grant during 2022-23. This will give households the option of accessing a loan, grant or combination of both.

In addition the Home Energy Scotland advice service includes specialist home renewables and zero emissions heating advice, via a team of specialist advisers and resources such as the Green Homes Network and the Renewables Installer Finder Tool. Over the past five years, over half a million households have used the Home Energy Scotland service to get advice and support on making their homes greener, warmer and cheaper to heat.

The Scottish Government gathers data on deployment of zero emissions heat through a variety of channels, including the Scottish House Condition Survey, the Renewable Heat Database, and Energy Performance Certificates, as well as through our own delivery programmes. We already report annual progress through the Climate Change Plan monitoring and evaluation process, and will publish a bespoke Heat in Buildings Monitoring and Evaluation framework later this year with details as to how we will consolidate and expand on existing reporting.

As set out in Annex F to the amended Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) for our Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), published on 15 December 2021, we consider that there is a degree of uncertainty attached to the figures proposed by Circularity Scotland Ltd (CSL) for the number of scheme articles and return points under DRS. For that reason our final and best estimate remains that set out on p19 of the amended BRIA.

Nevertheless, as Annex F shows, even if we were to adopt these two figures there would continue to be a strong economic case for DRS.

We have seen no evidence for higher numbers of RVMs than the roughly 3,000 assumed in the Full Business Case Addendum and I understand that CSL is continuing to work from this figure. That is therefore the figure modelled in the updated Final BRIA that was published in December last year.

Audit Scotland provides advice and support to ensure that public money is spent properly, efficiently, and effectively. Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) is financed and administered by industry under the principles of producer responsibility, therefore Audit Scotland is not involved.

The Scottish Government has committed to provide at least £465 million of funding over this parliamentary session to support fuel poor households. This figure was set with the aim to provide - at a minimum – a funding level for those in fuel poverty and least able to pay which at least maintains previous levels, with the flexibility to be responsive to the needs of those in fuel poverty so we can mitigate any detrimental impacts of the heat transition on fuel poverty and ensure no-one is left behind.

Our long-standing fuel poverty programmes have already supported over 150,000 households in or at risk of fuel poverty. In 2021-22, we allocated a considerably increased level of funding (£50m) for our Warmer Homes Scotland fuel poverty programme and in 2022-23 will further increase this to £55m. In 2022-23 we will also increase the level of funding individual fuel poor households could benefit from through the £64m local authority-led Area Based Schemes.

The Scottish Government’s investment has also helped to secure Energy Company Obligation (ECO) funding and we would hope to continue to do so. ECO is a UK Government scheme that delivers energy efficiency measures to fuel poor households and is funded by energy suppliers through a levy on energy bills.

Scotland has benefitted from approximately £691 million since the scheme began in 2013. If Scotland maintains its current share of ECO delivery (9%), then we would expect to benefit from a further £360 million over the lifetime of the new ECO4 scheme (from April 2022 to March 2026).

Energy policy and markets remain reserved to Westminster, as do the majority of tax levers. We have called repeatedly on the UK Government to consider all options to help those affected by increased utility bills, including a temporary cut in VAT on energy bills, but to no avail. However, we will continue to push for four-nations discussions to develop an effective response to energy bill increases and press for changes to help those in need, as well as calling for the devolution of the powers to make those changes ourselves if the UK Government refuses to act.

The Scottish Government operates a water and sewerage charges exemption scheme for eligible small charities. The charity must be registered with the Scottish Charity Regulator and have an income below £300,000. Charities should contact their licensed provider in order to apply for the scheme. Additionally, Business Energy Scotland will be delivered by Energy Saving Trust (EST) from 1 April, as part of EST’s extensive advice and support offerings delivered on behalf of the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) annually publish the Higher Education Initial Participation Rate (HEIPR) which is an estimate of the probability that a 16 year old will participate in Higher Education by the age of 30.

In 2019-20, the HEIPR for 16-30 years olds in Scotland was 57.4%.

https://www.sfc.ac.uk/publications-statistics/statistical-publications/2021/SFCST032021.aspx

The closest comparison for England is the Higher Education Initial Participation (HEIP) measure published by the Department for Education (DfE) measuring participation rates for those aged 17-30. This publication shows in 2019-20 the HEIP in England was 53.4%.

Unlike the Scottish data, this measure contains higher education delivered at Alternative Providers in England. If these institutions are excluded, then the rate for England is 52.4%.

England does not include 16 year olds in their HEIP measure as very few 16 year olds in England participate in higher education.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/participation-measures-in-higher-education-2006-to-2020

No HEIPR is published for Wales for those aged 16-30.

In Scotland, all adults who have been assessed as requiring personal care do not pay for this service, regardless of their condition or means. Nursing care is also free at the point of delivery.

For individuals self-funding their own care, the local authority will pay for these elements of residential care for all those assessed as needing them. The Scottish Government recently announced a 10% increase in the rates of these payments, taking rates to £212.85 for personal care and £95.80 for nursing care, from 1 April 2022. This will be the second consecutive year that these rates have increased above the rate of inflation in recognition of the increasing costs of providing these services.

The National Care Service consultation which ran between August and November 2021 contained questions relating to the future of charging for residential care, including for self-funders. We will consider the responses to these questions, alongside the impact of the recent above inflationary rises to payments for Free Personal and Nursing Care, prior to making decisions on future reforms.