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The Scottish Government’s universal Baby Box programme, the only one in the UK, opened for registration on 15 June 2017. Nationwide delivery of Baby Boxes began on 15 August 2017 for all babies born and resident in Scotland.

We commenced issue of reusable nappy vouchers with a QR code at the start of September, giving parents the option to register for the reusable nappy kits by QR code or by post.

We are committed to ensuring every baby born in Scotland should get the best start in life by ensuring that every family with a new-born has access to essential items needed in the first six months of a child’s life.

To date 32 different people have been prescribed diamorphine in this service since it started in 2019. Currently 25 people attend the service with 23 on active injecting plans.

The Chief Scientist Office published an evaluation of the facility in conjunction with Glasgow Caledonian University, Kings College London, University of Strathclyde and NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde. The evaluation concluded that heroin-assisted treatment was successfully implemented for those with complex needs who had previously been unable to meaningfully engage in other community drug treatment services. It also found that tailoring HAT to individual patients’ needs is essential to their ongoing engagement and that COVID-19 had a major impact on the original service delivery model, but other barriers to implementation were identified at individual, service and environmental levels.

The evaluation -

https://www.cso.scot.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/HIPS1919report.pdf - also concluded that HAT is not a short-term solution for a patient group with complex needs and polydrug use, therefore policy makers, commissioners and practitioners need to consider this when planning and operating similar services.

There are a number of overhead microphones in place in the Chamber. These microphones allow the inclusion of ambient noise in broadcast outputs so that coverage can provide a sense of the atmosphere of the Chamber during proceedings. The overhead microphones do not form part of the audio system that has been designed to ensure that Members contributions can be heard with sufficient clarity by those in the Chamber but is used for broadcast and webcast output and for the purposes of producing the Official Report. The design of the audio system in the Chamber also reflects that contributions are made through the Chair and that Members should primarily be facing the Chair while speaking. At this point there are no plans to add additional microphones.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. The Member may wish to contact ScotRail Trains Ltd to obtain this information.

After coming into public ownership, ScotRail has created 24 posts for Revenue Protection Officers whose role is to prevent ticket fraud and provide support at the stations. The number of these posts will rise to 42 in the coming months.

There are no plans to hold a public consultation regarding staffing requirements at ScotRail stations and booking offices.

No One Left Behind is a place-based approach which sees decisions about services taken locally.

Design and delivery of employability services that meet the needs of users and local labour markets is the responsibility of the Local Employability Partnership (LEP). To support this, and ensure national coherence, we co-designed employability service standards with partners and users. LEPs are required to uphold the expectations set out in the service standards, including ensuring their services are accessible and take account of the experience of users across every area of Scotland.

Learning and evaluation continue to be a key aspect of our approach to employability services in Scotland.

We will consider the recommendations from the implementation evaluation of No One Left Behind and the Young Person’s Guarantee, alongside the outputs from our recent national stakeholder discussion events and actions will be reviewed to identify how we can improve.

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with local government partners in each local authority to promote and drive an increase in the reach of our services across all of Scotland.

Scottish Government has not undertaken an analysis of where in the UK potential purchasers of Scottish carbon credits are located.

Voluntary carbon credits purchased from the UK’s Woodland Carbon Code and Peatland Code can only be used to compensate for UK-based emissions, in a UK-wide market.

Buyers who set up accounts on the Land Carbon Registry use their headquarters address when setting up their accounts, and this is checked by the Registry against the UK-wide Companies House Records. Many UK-wide companies will have a headquarters address in England, even if they operate and have emissions in Scotland. 15% of companies who have a corporate buyer account on the UK Land Carbon Registry have a registered headquarters in Scotland. The remainder are in England.

The Scottish Government supports the further development of Waste Water Intelligent Networks (WWIN) and the benefits they will deliver. However, as this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, I have asked its Chief Executive to respond. His response is as follows:

Scottish Water has committed to installing 1,000 network monitors by 2024, as outlined within its Improving Urban Waters Routemap ( https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/-/media/ScottishWater/Document-Hub/Key-Publications/Urban-Water-Improvements/SW-Urban-Waters-Route-Map.pdf )

Additionally, Scottish Water will deploy a further 1,200 network monitors as part of the WWIN programme. This will further enhance their predictive Operational response and analysis of the data for longer term planning.

Support for young people now forms part of our all-age employability support delivered through No One Left Behind. Employability support is designed and delivered at a local level by Local Employability Partnerships.

Local Authorities have the responsibility of developing approaches with partners, including engaging with employers, to meet local needs. Local Employability Leads will be able to provide local information on employer engagement.

Employability contacts for each local authority can be found on the Employability in Scotland website which can be accessed here: https://www.employabilityinscotland.com/local-employability-services/

The Climate Change Committee has previously written to the Scottish Government setting out a series of recommendations for the reform on Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs). In response to this advice, the Scottish Government published a consultation on EPC reform on 25 July 2023. This consultation highlights proposals to revise the information displayed on EPCs by expanding the current suite of metrics and reporting other relevant information. This would provide a more holistic view to current and potential homeowners for all types of buildings.

An EPC assessment for existing buildings is a non-intrusive survey and so the methodology makes assumptions based on the age and characteristics of the building. Our consultation highlights that we are reviewing the assessment and quality assurance processes to enhance the accuracy of EPCs. It is a legal requirement that a valid EPC is made available whenever a building is advertised for sale or for let, or when a new building is completed. Listed buildings are not exempt from this requirement, as set out in the Energy Performance of Buildings (Scotland) Regulations 2008.

The consultation on EPC reform does not, however, cover Scottish Government proposals to ensure homes reach a particular standard of energy efficiency or decarbonise their heating systems. This will be subject to a separate consultation on proposals for a Heat in Buildings Bill planned for later this year.

The Scottish Government does recognise it may be more challenging for some homes and buildings to meet the proposed energy efficiency standards than for others. We will work with stakeholders, including Historic Environment Scotland, to develop approaches and solutions to transition Scotland’s listed buildings, where it is technically feasible and cost effective, to achieve a good level of energy efficiency and transition to zero direct emissions heating while respecting and preserving the special characteristics of our historic buildings.