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The regulation of the energy sector is reserved to the UK Government.

Planning enforcement powers are held by local authorities. Planning authorities can take action to issue a fixed penalty notice or seek prosecution through the Scottish courts. Local authorities are required to keep a publicly available register of enforcement notices.

We are unaware of any fines issued by the Scottish Government to power companies in the last five years; and the Scottish Government does not hold any relevant data relating to our agencies.

I understand that local authorities are keen to get clarity on Phase 3 of the Learning Estate Investment Programme.

We previously wrote to local authorities to explain that consideration of potential Phase 3 projects was still ongoing. It is important to recognise that we are trying to make these important investment decisions against a backdrop of market volatility on current projects, the need to keep Scottish finances on a sustainable trajectory and most recently, RAAC prevalence in school buildings.

These are big decisions, and it is important we get them right. I hope to announce successful projects as soon as possible.

The “live” aspect of the National e-Learning Offer (NeLO), which includes interactive, online classes and study support from early years to senior phase, is evaluated via Annual Evidence of Impact Reports published by e-Sgoil. The latest report which covers academic year 2022/23 was published in June 2023, and is available at: https://www.e-sgoil.com/downloads/e-sgoil_Impact_Report_2023.pdf

Key highlights from that report included the following:

19,000 webinar registrations for evening study support

16,100 webinar registrations for Easter Study support

44,915 learner attendances at “Developing the Young Workforce Live” sessions

170 “interrupted learners” who are unable to attend school onboarded and engaging with live, interactive programmes of learning.

The “recorded lessons” offer from NeLO is hosted by West Online School (West OS) and their reports are available at: https://www.westpartnership.co.uk/evaluating-and-reporting/ . In 2022-23, 90% of schools and over 40,000 learners accessed WestOS recorded lessons, podcasts and masterclasses.

The “supported” offer is hosted by Education Scotland in the form of a repository of online resources with a single search tool and usage is captured as part of Education Scotland’s own reporting.

NeLO partners continue to gather learner and educator feedback through focus groups and questionnaires.

The Family Learning Scotland Programme (‘the Programme’) was successfully delivered by Peeple from March 2020 to December 2021 despite significant disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Programme was managed through a contract and Peeple provided reports throughout the contract period to provide assurance on progress and on the final outcomes.

The Programme offered training to early learning and childcare practitioners in an evidence-based family learning approach. A review of the evidence for the chosen approach can be found on the Peeple website here:

peep evidence base | www.peeple.org.uk

Training was offered to up to 432 practitioners in every local authority in Scotland and 383 practitioners undertook the training. Practitioners continue to offer family learning opportunities to children and families across Scotland and continue to be supported by Peeple. This support includes the Peep Champions Network, a termly meeting of representatives from each local authority in Scotland trained in the approach.

Through the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund, we have conducted a competitive grant process to build on the Family Learning Scotland Programme. ‘Families Learning Together’ will test widening out family learning training to all services that interact with children and families in a local area.

We will announce the partner for this new project shortly.

Whilst there is an expectation that Educational Psychologist trainees make every reasonable effort to secure employment within a Scottish educational psychology service, this does not preclude seeking other employment if it is not possible to secure local authority employment.

Waiting times for medical procedures that require anaesthetic are monitored by new outpatient national standards and the Treatment Time Guarantee for inpatient and day-case.

Over 2.8 million inpatients and day cases have benefited from the 12-weeks treatment target since it was introduced – with 81.7% of these being seen within 12 weeks. Further information about waiting times can be found on the PHS website.

Every person recovers differently and how quickly someone can return to work depends on a number of things, including the type of surgery and the type of work they do. The surgeon will advise how long it's likely to take to recover.

We are fully committed to delivering the ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste on 31 December 2025. As part of preparations for the ban, we are continuing to support and work with those local authorities without a solution for their residual waste when the ban comes into force, to ensure they can comply with the ban.

I met with Argyll and Bute Council on 26 July 2023 to discuss possible options to overcome challenges in complying with the forthcoming ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste associated with their public private partnership contract for waste services.

Discussions between Scottish Government, SEPA, and Argyll and Bute Council are ongoing and we will continue to work with the council in relation to these challenges.

We recognise the financial challenges facing colleges and understand the need for greater flexibility in college sector funding. The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) implemented a series of flexibilities for colleges in both academic years 2022-23, and 2023-24.

The Scottish Government and SFC are working with the sector to explore whether there are further flexibilities that could assist the sector in the short to medium term, while ensuring robust public accountability is safeguarded.

The Scottish Government’s 2023-24 Programme for Government, published on 5 September 2023, outlined our commitment to take action to reduce vaping among non-smokers and young people and to tackle the environmental impact of single use vapes, including consulting on a proposal to ban their sale and other appropriate measures.

On 13 September 2023, at the initiation of the Scottish Government, Ministers and senior officials from across the UK met to discuss single use vapes. They discussed the available evidence, recognised shared challenges, and committed to work together on a range of options to tackle the impacts, up to and including a ban.

Our approach will be subject to further engagement, policy development and consultation and developed in the spirit of the new deals recently agreed with local government and with business. The Scottish Government will work constructively with the UK nations, as well as retailers, local government, young people and other stakeholders to develop and deliver solutions.

Forestry and Land Scotland submitted an application for a translocation licence to NatureScot on the 3 August 2023 and currently await a formal response.