Seòmar agus comataidhean

The SEPA budget position for 2020-21 was reported as part of the overall ENFOR Directorate budget monitoring return, which was reporting an underspend, providing flexibility to finance colleagues to offset any potential overspends.

Unutilised funding that is not required for purpose originally allocated is actively re-allocated across Scottish Government to mitigate emerging budget pressures. Where effective re-allocation is not possible due to late declaration of underspend, unutilised funding can be carried forward through the Scottish Reserve for utilisation in a future financial year.

The environmental benefits of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) will be realised by the increased collection and recycling of drinks containers that the scheme entails. As scheme administrator, Circularity Scotland will be required to report regularly against collection targets to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA); these are set at 80% for 2024 and 90% for each subsequent year.

Significant programmes of work are underway within both Circularity Scotland and SEPA to prepare to deliver its obligations, and monitor its compliance with these obligations, respectively.

Housing to 2040 sets out Scotland’s first ever long-term national housing strategy with a vision for what we want housing to look like and how it will be provided to the people of Scotland. As such, it sets out how we will take housing policy forward over the long term and this means that not all actions are intended to be taken forward at the same time. This action point relates to wider work which is in progress towards the new tenure-neutral housing standard for Scotland; an Equalities Impact Assessment is being developed and initial engagement with stakeholders is underway. We aim to produce a draft standard in 2023 and to progress legislation in 2024-25 for phased introduction from 2025-30, in line with Action Point 18 in Housing to 2040. Monitoring occurs through regular reviews of the project workplan and discussions between myself and the Scottish Government officials responsible for developing this new housing standard. The specific action to establish an inclusive programme of retrofitting social homes, with a focus on accessibility, will be addressed in future years as this wider development of the new housing standard progresses.

Scotland’s natural environment will be critical in our action to tackle climate change and ecological breakdown. We are fortunate to have such potential to sequester carbon and support biodiversity in our natural environment. The public purse cannot fund this action alone - we will need private investment to help realise this potential. It is, however, vital that this investment is responsible, high-integrity and values led where the benefits are shared with local communities.

We already have a suite of measures in place to mitigate the impacts of this rapidly evolving market. We recently published our “Interim Principles for Responsible Investment in Natural Capital”, which set out the Government’s expectations of those who wish to invest in our land. These include delivering community benefit, engaging communities and supporting the creation of more diverse patterns of land ownership. The principles also state that investment in offsetting should not be a replacement for emissions reductions, and should always be made in addition to having plans and demonstrable actions in place to reduce emissions as close to zero as possible, and as part of targets and transition plans aligned with the Paris Agreement.

The Interim Principles sit alongside our ongoing pursuit of Land Reform in Scotland. Existing provisions under previous land reform acts have created a range of community rights to buy, some of which are compulsory. These provide the opportunity for communities across the whole of Scotland to buy land or assets to support their aspirations. Over 940,000 people across Scotland already live in communities where assets have been acquired over the last five years with funding from the Scottish Land Fund. Both the Programme for Government 2021-22 and the Bute House agreement commit to doubling the Scottish Land Fund (SLF) to £20m to further support community ownership.

We are also developing proposals for a new ambitious land reform bill, which will build on our land reform measures to date and will further tackle Scotland’s historically iniquitous patterns of land ownership - including by tackling problematic scale and concentration of ownership. In addition, the Scottish Land Commission is consulting on a new protocol on responsible natural capital and carbon management.

The latest Gateway Review into our Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) was carried out in May this year. We are carefully considering the recommendations, and will share these and our response to them in due course.

Women and Girls face the largest barriers to accessing secondary and undergraduate education in Pakistan. Since the scholarships were first launched in 2013, over 1,400 young women have been supported to study at University through the Scotland Pakistan Scholarship Scheme. In addition, over 13,000 children have been supported to go to school. The Scottish Government is proud to fund the scholarships.

The amounts the Scottish Government has spent on Women’s Scholarship in Pakistan each year since 2017 are as follows: £175,000 in 2017-2018; £175,000 in 2018-2019; £200,000 in 2019-2020; £200,000 in 2020-2021; and £200,000 in 2021-2022.

The amounts the Scottish Government has spent on Children’s Scholarship in Pakistan each year since 2017 are as follows: £150,000 in 2017-2018; £150,000 in 2018-2019; £200,000 in 2019-2020; £200,000 in 2020-2021; and £200,000 in 2021-2022.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05286 on 10 January 2022. 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

A set of data tables for the most recent Chronic Pain Waiting Times publication, which was released on 8 March 2022, can be found at https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/chronic-pain-waiting-times/chronic-pain-waiting-times-quarter-ending-31-december-2021

Data is available from the quarter ending 31 December 2015 to the quarter ending 31 December 2021.

The Scottish Government’s Alcohol Framework sets out our priorities for preventing alcohol-related harm. It contains 20 actions building on existing measures to change Scotland’s relationship with alcohol, including our world-leading minimum unit pricing policy.

We take a whole population approach to tackling alcohol-related harms, in line with the World Health Organization’s focus on affordability, availability and attractiveness of alcohol.

Key actions in the framework include:

? Consulting on potential restrictions on alcohol advertising and promotion in Scotland this year

? reviewing the level of minimum unit pricing

? progressing a review of Alcohol Brief Interventions

? working with the UK Government on the forthcoming Alcohol Treatment Guidance

We are also exploring the evidence around Managed Alcohol Programmes and are delighted to be able to contribute to the running of the innovative model being piloted in Glasgow by Simon Community Scotland and its evaluation.

Information about the levels of debt on school meals across Scotland is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. The handling of school meal debts is a matter for local authorities, taking into account the local needs and circumstances of all families within their respective local areas.

The Scottish Government recognises the work which has been undertaken by Aberlour on this issue and the First Minister has committed that officials will work with COSLA to understand this issue more fully.

The Scottish Government has today published its response to the Zero Emissions Social Housing Taskforce (ZEST) report which can be accessed at http://www.gov.scot/ISBN/9781804355176 .

The Scottish Government is grateful to ZEST for its work and welcomes the recommendations which will help shape Scotland’s just transition to net zero.

As was highlighted in the ZEST report, the second Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing (EESSH2) is not fully aligned with net zero and Housing Associations’ and Local Authorities’ need for long-term certainty to plan investment appropriately.

The Scottish Government today confirms that the review of EESSH2 will be brought forward to commence this year for completion in 2023.

While the review is underway the current EESSH2 2025 and 2032 milestones will be put on hold temporarily to ensure that any investment is targeted toward long-term solutions that deliver net zero and support the eradication of fuel poverty. Whilst the review is underway, social landlords should continue to invest in energy efficiency measures to help reduce running costs, and in zero emissions heating systems where appropriate.

The Scottish Government’s Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund supports projects to deploy zero emissions heat, improve energy efficiency and reduce fuel poverty. The fund will make £200 million available over the course of this parliament - investing in a sector already leading the way in the heat transition.

The Scottish Government is committed to, and looks forward to, working jointly with the social housing sector on both the EESSH2 review and as we take forward next steps from the ZEST report.