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During Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2022, we welcomed the training offer that Beat, the UK’s eating disorder charity, has developed to ensure that our future workforce feels confident to support anyone who comes forward with concerns about disordered eating. We are pleased to see that all our medical schools in Scotland are in discussions with Beat to deliver eating disorder training, or are already delivering it.

We were also pleased to announce additional funding for Beat which includes Beyond the Symptoms Training for GPs and healthcare professionals, which will support them to identify when a patient has an eating disorder, and confidently intervene early. This training will be available from April.

Our guidance to local authorities is clear that the £150 cost of living payment should not be applied to historic council tax debt or arrears. Households who have difficulty in meeting their council tax liability should contact their council to establish if they are eligible for a council tax reduction. This scheme currently reduces the council tax liabilities of over 470,000 households according to their circumstances and ability to pay and applications can be backdated by up to six months.

The Scottish Government publishes figures relating to Local Authority New Build Completions in the ‘Local Authority Starts and Completions’ table found on our website here; https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-for-scotland-new-house-building/

Some of these homes will have been supported by Scottish Government funding and some will have been financed through other routes.

The Scottish Government has not made any legislation that would require the adoption of a heat pump in any building.

Rather, as part of our Heat in Buildings Strategy, we have proposed that all homes will be regulated to use zero emissions heating systems by 2045. Such systems include, but are not limited to, heat pumps.

As set out in the Heat in Buildings Strategy Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA), the average cost of installing a heat pump is currently around £10,000 with, approximately, an additional £2,000 for energy efficiency measures to support the efficient performance of the heat pump. However, the cost of conversion to zero emissions heating systems is likely to vary across properties according to property type, size and condition.

The BRIA also explains that the impact on operating costs is also likely to vary across properties, with some seeing a slight increase in energy bills while others experience a reduction. The impact that installing a heat pump will have on energy bills is dependent on the relative price of electricity and the fuel being displaced, the relative efficiency of the heat pump and the heating system being replaced, and a number of other factors, including the design and quality of system itself, user operation, and the energy efficiency of the property in which it is installed. Wider system costs, for example upgrading energy networks, may have an impact on consumer bills.

We recognise that in decarbonising our homes we must not make fuel poverty worse, and the Heat in Buildings principles set out in the Fuel Poverty Strategy commit to delivering measures to help those in fuel poverty to manage their running costs.

Further analysis of the estimated capital and running costs of zero emissions heating systems has been undertaken as part of the Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment for the Heat in Buildings Strategy, which can be accessed at: Heat in buildings strategy: business and regulatory impact assessment - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The member may also be interested in an independent report, commissioned by the Scottish Government, that assessed the suitability of low carbon heating technologies in residential buildings in Scotland. The report can be accessed at: Executive Summary - Low carbon heating in domestic buildings - technical feasibility: report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The Scottish Government will produce a range of further impact assessments when we introduce legislation requiring zero emissions heating systems.

Veterans who have left the armed forces within the past two years are a priority access group for the Low Cost Initiative for First-Time Buyers (LIFT) shared equity schemes, which includes the Open Market Shared Equity and New Supply Shared Equity schemes.

As the tax authority with responsibility for the collection and management of Scotland’s devolved taxes, Revenue Scotland publishes monthly and annual data on its website regarding the number of property conveyances and non-residential leases subject to Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) and the associated tax liabilities. These are available at https://revenue.scot/news-publications/publications/statistics .

Local authority level data is published on an annual basis, as part of Revenue Scotland’s Annual Summary of Trends in the Devolved Taxes. The report for 2020-21, which provides data for the period from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2021, is available at: Annual Summary of Trends in the Devolved Taxes 2020-2021 | Revenue Scotland .

In particular, the ‘Data for Figure 17’ tab in the figures and tables file of this publication includes an estimate of LBTT excluding ADS declared due for residential conveyances by local authority and year. The ‘Data for Figure 23’ tab in the same file gives an estimate of LBTT declared due by Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) 2 area and year for non-residential conveyances. Local authority level estimates of non-residential conveyances are not provided to minimise the risk of disclosing protected taxpayer information.

Retailers are entitled to claim a reasonable handling fee and be reimbursed for the deposit for each processed in-scope container. The Scheme Administrator, Circularity Scotland Ltd (CSL), will provide retailers with appropriate guidance which will aid retailers in identifying such containers and therefore limit the chances of ineligible containers being returned.

As Scheme Administrator, CSL will verify collected containers prior to payment to ensure no ineligible containers have a deposit or handling fee paid.

Under the producer responsibility principle, these costs will be borne by industry.

The average household charge in Scotland is £375 in 2021-22. In 2022-23, this will rise to £391.

By comparison, Discover Water have stated the average charge across England and Wales to be £412 in 2021-22 and £419 in 2022-23. https://discoverwater.co.uk/annual-bill provides further information on individual company charges.

We intend to issue a consultation paper on Phase 2 permitted development rights (PDR), including extensions to existing electric vehicle charging PDR, in the first quarter of 2022-23. The aim is to have resulting legislation in place by the end of the year.

In the meantime, processing of any required planning applications are a matter for individual planning authorities in the first instance. Current Scottish Planning Policy (paragraphs 275 and 289) sets out the need for planning authorities to support EV charging infrastructure in development plans and development management decisions.

The performance and resourcing of the planning system are key priorities; we are progressing a range of improvements through our planning reform programme and working closely with CoSLA, the Royal Town Planning Institute and Heads of Planning Scotland to address issues from resources to capacity and skills.

The Green Jobs Workforce Academy offers information on the career opportunities available, the skills needed to move into them and links to the required training and funding sources to support learners to do so.

As the Academy’s offer develops, it will become a comprehensive source of advice and information about the labour market opportunities coming out of the transition. Users will be able to register to receive personalised updates on their areas of interest, invitations to online and in-person events and information on opportunities which are relevant to them

Phase 1 of the Green Jobs Workforce Academy launched in August 2021, focused on 5 sectors identified by the Climate Change Plan Update and Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan as being crucial to the transition to net zero with. Phase 2, due to launch this year, will include the launch of the Careers Assessment Tool and further enhancement of content and training opportunities that the Academy offers.