Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government recognises that all recorded information relating to its business is subject to Freedom of Information law, irrespective of its format or the platform on which it is held. This includes any information held in or originally generated in WhatsApp or similar messaging apps.

The Scottish Government has previously released such messaging exchanges in response to Freedom of Information requests. However, to ascertain the number of responses which have included such exchanges officials would require to individually check every FOI response the Scottish Government has issued. For that reason, this information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The number of households in each local authority that are experiencing fuel poverty is published annually (based on a three-year average) from the Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS).

The latest published set of tables for 2017-2019 are available at:

Scottish House Condition Survey: Local Authority Analysis 2017-2019 .

As the 2020 SHCS was suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic and results from the 2021 External+ SHCS are not yet published and unlikely to be consistent with previous years, the 2017-2019 results are the latest available at Local Authority level.

More recent estimates of fuel poverty at a national level based on scenario modelling have been produced. These reflect the Energy Price Guarantee of £2,500 from April to June 2023 and the end of the £400 Energy Bill Support Scheme with differing levels of additional support for various households. These estimates show fuel poverty increasing from 613,000 households (24.6%) in 2019 to 920,000 households (37%) by April 2023. This 50% increase in the number of fuel poor households will also be reflected across all local authorities in Scotland, albeit with some variation based on the characteristics of dwellings and households in each local authority.

The SHCS recorded households who reported receiving CWP in 2018 and 2019. As three years of data are needed to provide analysis at local authority level, this is not currently available.

At a national level, the SHCS estimates that about 10% of fuel poor households received CWP in 2018 and 2019, as shown in the following table. 2019 is the most recent year for which SHCS data is available.

Fuel poor households self-reporting receipt of CWP

The Scottish Government has a number of retail operations such as staff canteens that sell drinks containers and therefore, like other organisations, is working with Circularity Scotland Limited (CSL) to prepare for the launch of Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) in August.

Transport Scotland and Network Rail officials have continued to discuss options for the North Hanover Street site. These discussions have concluded that Network Rail should come forward with a revised proposal, at an appropriate time, when the strategic value of the site can be realised.

No disputes have been raised in relation to completed Single Building Assessments.

I very much appreciated the report on exotic pets by the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission and have noted their recommendations. Consideration of exotic pets is only one part of a large body of ongoing work to improve the lives of Scotland's pets. The report by SAWC on exotic pets will be very helpful in future consideration of what action may be needed on this matter.

In 2022-23 Larkhall and District Volunteer Group have received:

• £108,467 from our Plugged-in Communities fund to support the purchase of a zero emission community transport vehicle, we also provided a grant of £1,999 from our EV infrastructure fund which supported the purchase and installation of electric vehicles infrastructure to support the new vehicle.
• They have successfully applied for £5,704 in continued support from the Open Fund for their Shopping Buses project, delivery of which will extend in to 2023/24.
• They have also claimed £3,259.30 through the Network Support Grant.

The range of powers include:

• Compulsory Purchase Orders - that enable local authorities and public bodies to compulsory purchase land or buildings.
• Provision within Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 for local authorities to issue a work notice requiring a home owner to bring a sub-standard home into a reasonable state of repair.
• Statutory nuisance provision within Environmental Protection Act 1990 and Public Health (Scotland) Act 2008 which can be used by local authorities and public bodies.
• The Council Tax (Variation for Unoccupied Dwellings)(Scotland) Regulations 2013 (S.S.I. 2013/45) – enables local authorities to vary the level of discount on certain homes that have been empty for more than 6 months and to remove the discount and charge a premium on certain homes that have been empty for 12 months or more.

The Scottish Government’s Code of Practice for the Welfare of Cats recommends that all cat owners should consider neutering and microchipping their pets as the best way of being reunited with their rightful owners, should they be separated.

The Scottish Animal Welfare Commission has established a working group to consider the microchipping of cats and the UK Government’s recently published draft legislation. Scottish Ministers will carefully consider their findings once published.

The Scottish Government remains willing to consider areas where consistent changes to legislation in all GB administrations will improve the welfare of kept animals and strengthen the prospects of separated animals being returned to their families.

As set out in the answer to S6W-15782 on 20 March 2023, stakeholders will be consulted on a draft report in April. Following this the Steering Group will produce a final report which will be submitted to Ministers and published in due course thereafter.

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