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The Scottish Government has not undertaken economic modelling on this particular point. We will continue to engage with the sector in ensuring it can respond to the increasing take up of clean heating systems over the next decades, including undertaking economic analysis if this is appropriate.

Apprenticeships are a key way for employers to invest in their workforce, providing skills the economy needs now and in the future. Scottish Government recognise the importance of apprenticeships for the public sector, including health & social care. Our priority is to ensure apprenticeships are of high quality and lead to sustainable employment opportunities characterised by Fair Work.

To assess national demand for apprenticeships, a wide-ranging consultation process is carried out by Skills Development Scotland which includes employers, trade unions and trade bodies. This ensures that apprenticeships are developed and delivered in line with employer needs, including the public sector.

Our Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan scheme is open to all domestic owner occupiers in Scotland. Our Home Energy Scotland Advice Service provide free, tailored advice on the suitability of a heat pump for a property and advise on what support is available.

We run targeted marketing campaigns. As stated in the answer to S6W-22629, we are planning to run a campaign which will target early adopters alongside other strands of awareness raising activity. Evidence shows that this group tend to be owner occupiers, environmentally minded and aged over 40. Advice on the suitability of individual homes for heat pumps will continued to be provided to those responding to the campaign by Home Energy Scotland. We also run an annual campaign targeting those in or at risk of being in fuel poverty to encourage households to contact Home Energy Scotland for support via our Warmer Homes Scotland scheme which continues to provide free heating and energy efficiency upgrades for those most in need.

As highlighted in the Heat in Buildings Monitoring and Evaluation Framework release from 28 November, existing data on further and higher education enrolments and apprenticeship starts may give an indication of the scale of the skills pipeline for the sector, however since educational groupings can be quite broad, there are data limitations. The Scottish Government will continue to engage with the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), Skills Development Scotland (SDS) and post-school learning and training providers to better understand those who enrol on courses that are relevant to the framework.

Scottish Government values our relationship with stakeholders in the energy efficiency sector. In the past year I had a number of opportunities to discuss the heat transition and I will continue to engage with the sector and work with them to ensure that they help inform how we achieve our climate change ambitions.

A small service offering MRgFUS for benign Essential Tremor is available in NHS Tayside, to which people who live within the catchment area of other Scottish health boards can be referred for assessment and potential treatment. While the service in Dundee remains small, we understand it has capacity to increase the number of accepted patients if necessary.

For this reason the Scottish Government has not undertaken any assessment of any potential financial impact of referring patients to NHS England for MRgFUS, or of NHS England resources regarding MRgFUS.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on whether NHS Scotland Health Boards have spent any money referring patients to England for MRgFUS treatment since 2019. Specialist treatment provided outwith NHS Scotland is managed by the National Services Division (NSD) as part of NHS National Services Scotland (NSS). We can confirm that NSD Scotland has not incurred any costs associated with MRgFUS referrals since 2019.

No economic modelling has been undertaken. As we continue to engage with the sector, if a need for economic modelling emerges then we will consider it. Future demand for heat pump maintenance will be influenced by a range of different factors related to business needs and future local demands, including our recent regulatory proposals. We will continue to work with the sector to understand the impact of our proposals and the wider package of support we currently have in place. A key ask of the supply chain has been clarity about scope and timing of regulation which is central to their planning for investment in capacity and skills needed for manufacture, installation and maintenance. This is why we set out our draft proposals on regulation on 28 November.

The data sources used to identify this audience are listed in the answer to question S6W-23654 on 21 December 2023. 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 .

We use a wide range of evidence to help support and guide the targeting of the Home Energy Scotland campaign. This includes evidence gathered from Home Energy Scotland and the Energy Saving Trust , and the Scottish Government’s Public Insight Monitor. We also utilise demographic data held by our dedicated media agency, Republic of Media.

The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

We have recently provided data on the number and value of grants and loans awarded for the Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan Scheme broken down at local authority level under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004. This can be found on the Scottish Government website here.