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The Scottish Government does not provide funding in support of the Mixed Tenure Improvement Service operated by the City of Edinburgh Council.

The total amount of grant claimed as part of the Area Based Schemes programme by the City of Edinburgh Council since 2020 is published on the Scottish Government website. Area-Based Schemes - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

With energy bills remaining significantly high, the Scottish Government has offered to work with the UK Government to ensure energy consumers are supported, including through driving improvement to the energy efficiency of our housing stock, in order to tackle fuel poverty and ensure the energy market is fit for purpose as we transition towards net zero.

Our consultation on a Heat in Buildings Bill, which closed on 8 March 2024, included proposals for setting a cap on the costs to property owners of meeting the proposed Heat in Buildings Standard. This proposal was included in recognition of our overall aim to ensure our proposals are fair, proportionate and affordable.

We are currently considering responses to the consultation to inform our thinking and development of future proposals.

The Mixed Tenure Improvement Service is not a Scottish Government initiative and was established and is led by the City of Edinburgh Council.

The Scottish Government has appointed an analyst to carry out an evaluation of the first three years of the Nature Restoration Fund. Work on this exercise began in August 2024, and the findings will be published in due course.

(a) To date, just over £51 Million has been awarded through the Nature Restoration Fund (NRF). This includes just over £32 Million awarded through the NRF competitive strand, just over £1.3 Million through NRF-funded Scottish Marine Environmental Enhancement Fund (SMEEF) projects, and £18 Million provided directly to local authorities and National Parks, via the NRF Edinburgh Process strand, as of the end of the 2023-24 financial year.

(b) 220 projects have been offered competitive funding to date. This includes 192 projects through the NRF competitive strand and 28 NRF-funded SMEEF projects. (i) 162 were terrestrial or freshwater projects (ii) 30 were coastal and marine projects (plus the 28 NRF-funded SMEEF projects).

Additionally, local authorities and National Parks have supported further projects directly through their allocation from the NRF Edinburgh Process strand.

(c) 119 separate applicants have been offered funding from the NRF competitive strand or NRF-funded SMEEF projects. That does not include the 32 local authorities and 2 National Parks who have also benefitted from direct NRF funding, and will in turn have used their allocation to support projects led by other organisations (e.g. community groups, local charities).

(d) We do not hold information on the number of jobs created or posts funded by the NRF.

Under its remit, the Scottish National Investment Bank (‘the Bank’) cannot invest in local authorities or give guarantees. However, they can work with local authorities and create joint venture structures, as long as the Bank is not investing in the local authority.

The Bank is operationally independent. As such it makes its investment decisions independent of the Scottish Government and Scottish Ministers.

As noted in the answer to question S6W-29325 on 16 September 2024, the Bank cannot invest in local authorities and it does not make sub-commercial investments or provide grant funding.

As the Bank has operational independence it can work with local authorities and create joint venture structures, as long as the Bank is not investing in the local authority.

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.

The following table outlines the last five financial years of allocations for Fair Start Scotland:

This Information is not held. Detail on hours spent by civil servants on specific individual tasks is not recorded.

No time was spent processing applications prior to the fund being cancelled.

Scotland's International Strategy - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) was launched in January 2024, building on the work of the Scottish Government’s Scotland's Global Affairs Framework - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

The International Strategy demonstrates the outcomes Scottish Government will achieve through international engagement for the remainder of this parliamentary term, within the current constitutional context. It acknowledges the need for the Scottish Government to deepen ties with key partners and increase economic opportunities to advance domestic policy including our commitment to reduce carbon emissions.

This includes showcasing Scotland’s high ambition and expertise on net zero and continuing to promote Scotland’s climate and environment work internationally, as climate change, biodiversity and renewable energy is one of the three priority areas identified in the Strategy. Our International Trade and Investment Plans, alongside our recently published Green Industrial Strategy, have a clear focus on net zero and are delivering renewable export opportunities and attracting high quality inward investment projects to support and strengthen our expertise and associated renewable supply chains. In addition, we will focus on the Just Transition and Scotland’s strengths and expertise in areas such as onshore and offshore wind, Carbon Capture Usage and Storage (CCUS) and hydrogen and be ambitious in our commitment to decarbonise heat and transport.

The Scottish Government will report on its progress towards these objectives in the 2024-25 International Strategy Annual Report.

The latest labour productivity statistics for Scotland are available at Labour productivity statistics: 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot). This reports estimates of gross value added (GVA) per hour worked and per job filled for the whole economy and for industry sectors, including results for the public administration and defence, education, and health and social care sectors. Results from the statistics release for 2022 were reported within the Public sector: economic overview publication available at Public sector: economic overview - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

An update on the Government’s Public Service Reform (PSR) programme will be shared with the Finance and Public Administration Committee setting out the details of a wide range of activity, including work to drive efficiency and effectiveness. A key component of this is the Public Bodies Programme where work is progressing to gather comparable and consistent data across public bodies to interrogate efficiency and effectiveness. This data and our wider engagement will drive a culture of continuous improvement across all public bodies.