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Payments under the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme (SSBSS) 2022 commenced in March 2023, as set out in the Rural Payments Strategy for 2022. Approximately 99.36% of anticipated expenditure for this scheme has been paid to date. The breakdown of expenditure per month is listed in the following table.

Over 1,000 homes are currently heated by heat networks where a significant proportion of the heat provided is from an Energy from Waste plant.

Two further heat networks are currently being built to use heat from Energy from Waste plants which are already in operation or commissioning and situated in Midlothian and Aberdeen. These projects are expected to connect approximately 2,000 homes by 2026, with the capacity to heat significantly more with further extensions of these networks.

All the heat networks (existing or being developed) referred to above are, or will be, connected to existing Energy from Waste plant.

Across all heat sources, approximately 30,000 homes are connected to heat network(s) in Scotland, based on the 2018 Heat Network Metering and Billing Regulation data.

The publication, Scotland's Marine Economic Statistics provides details on the sources and calculations used to produce the offshore wind turnover and employment information. It also provides some summary information on the uncertainty present within this data as well as a link to the source, the Office for National Statistics' Low carbon and renewable energy economy survey, data which provides more details on the quality and uncertainty of this data. The Scotland's Marine Economic Statistics publication is currently an experimental statistics publication, which means it is under development. The offshore wind data is one of the areas that will undergo further work as data sources expand.

We have finished our investigation into whether it is possible to more accurately measure the offshore wind farm economic activity. We have concluded that currently there is no more accurate way to measure using existing data sources, however this will be reassessed in future. The reasons for this conclusion are:

• The main source for economic data for businesses is the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Business Survey. This uses Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes to classify businesses by main activity. There is a ‘Production of electricity’ SIC code, but the source of the electricity generation (e.g. offshore wind) is not separately identified within the SIC system.
• It is currently not possible to accurately calculate the gross value added of offshore wind using existing data or collecting it directly due to business structures. This is why the current source for the offshore wind economic activity, the low carbon and renewable energy economy survey, only estimates turnover and employment.
• Financial records at Companies House also use the same SIC codes as the ONS Annual Business Survey so it is difficult to identify relevant businesses. Even when identified their complex and interlinked business structures mean that is it not possible, using current sources, to separately calculate reliable gross value added associated specifically with offshore wind.

There is potential for future improvements in the measurement of the economic activity associated with renewables. As, for example, there is work ongoing led by the United Nations Statistics Division on a revision to the SIC codes, which were last updated in 2007. This planned update should better account for newer sectors such as renewables.

The Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group (HPSG) meeting on 30 March was postponed as the SNP leadership election result was announced on 27 March 2023 and it was not clear at that point who would have responsibility for housing and homelessness policy.

While we had provisionally rescheduled the meeting for 20 April 2023, it was agreed that a further reschedule to 23 May would be appropriate to allow the Minister for Housing time to be fully briefed on his new portfolio and to meet with Councillor Chalmers, co-chair of HPSG.

The last HPSG meeting took place on 23 May 2023 and was chaired by the Minister for Housing.

This information is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government is not currently directly involved in the Real Nappy Campaign or any other similar campaign in Scotland. It promotes the use of reusable nappies through Scotland’s Baby Box and its Parentclub website ( www.parentclub.scot) , as well as the Ready Steady Baby resource ( www.nhsinform.scot/ready-steady-baby/early-parenthood/caring-for-your-new-baby/nappies/ )

Zero Waste Scotland supported the Real Nappy Campaign in printed and digital form and at events until 2013-14,

The Scottish Government’s National Treatment Centres (NTCs) programme will provide protected capacity for planned care for orthopaedic, ophthalmic and diagnostic activity. NTC Fife and NTC Highland have already opened this year with NTC Forth Valley and Golden Jubilee Phase 2 due to open later this year.

The original and actual / projected costs, as well as original and actual/projected opening dates are shown in the following table.

Our Fuel Poverty (Scotland) Act 2019 came into law in July 2019.

It is the most ambitious fuel poverty legislation in the UK and sets challenging targets that in 2040 (including at local authority level) as far as reasonably possible:

• no more than 5% of households in Scotland are fuel poor,
• no more than 1% of households in Scotland are in extreme fuel poverty,
• the median fuel poverty gap of households in Scotland in fuel poverty is no more than £250 adjusted to take account of changes in the value of money.

This includes interim targets for 2035 and 2030 (which only require to be met at national level).

2035:

• no more than 10% of households in Scotland are in fuel poverty,
• no more than 3% of households in Scotland are in extreme fuel poverty,
• the median fuel poverty gap of households in Scotland in fuel poverty is no more than £300 adjusted to take account of changes in the value of money.

2030:

•  no more than 15% of households in Scotland are in fuel poverty,
• no more than 5% of households in Scotland are in extreme fuel poverty,
• the median fuel poverty gap of households in Scotland in fuel poverty is no more than £350 adjusted to take account of changes in the value of money.

Our Fuel Poverty Strategy published in December 2021 sets out a comprehensive range of actions to address the four drivers of fuel poverty, especially for those at highest risk, and in working towards meeting our statutory targets. These actions have been informed by evidence, including lived experience, and learning from the changing context in response to the global pandemic and climate emergency.

In addition, we are presently consulting on the strategy’s next steps with the Scottish Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel, established under the 2019 Act, and appointed in January 2022, to provide independent advice to Scottish Ministers on fuel poverty and scrutiny of our progress towards delivering 2040 fuel poverty targets.

The Scottish Government will continue to use the powers available to them to tackle fuel poverty, and has called on the UK government to assist in that goal by reforming energy regulation to address the root cause of fuel poverty which is the cost of fuel to households. The Scottish Government can mitigate some of the impacts of this root cause, but urgent action is required in reserved areas to bring the cost of fuel bills down.

The Scottish Government will continue to use the powers available to them to tackle fuel poverty, and has called on the UK government to assist in that goal by reforming energy regulation to address the root cause of fuel poverty which is the cost of fuel to households. The Scottish Government can mitigate some of the impacts of this root cause, but urgent action is required in reserved areas to bring the cost of fuel bills down.

The Scottish Government welcomes the recent Scottish Animal Welfare Commission (SAWC) report on handheld remote-controlled training devices (e-collars).

We are considering all their findings carefully as part of our ongoing commitment to improve and enhance animal welfare.

The Affordable Housing Supply Programme supports delivery of homes across various methods of construction, including modular, but the factories the member mentions are not part of that.

Modular construction is one of a range of offsite methods used to build new homes in Scotland. It has been used in the delivery of affordable and private homes across the country in urban, rural and island locations.

The following table provides numbers of endoscopy procedures reported from inpatient, day case or outpatient settings in the past 5 years

Table 1: Number of endoscopy procedures undertaken in NHS Scotland: 2017-18 to 2021-22