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As of April 2024,

• 28 preliminary Single Building Assessments have commenced.
• This includes:

o one development where the Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls (FRAEW) has been completed and the development remediated and;

o two developments where mitigation works have commenced

The number of suitably qualified people required will be proportionate to the number of SBAs required across Scotland. As the total number of SBAs is still to be determined we do not hold information about the number of assessors required.

The Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 (the Act) requires the Scottish Ministers to prepare and maintain a public register of all property factors and to consider whether a property factor is a fit and proper person to be registered as a property factor.

Under the Act, Scottish Ministers must prepare a property factor code of conduct setting out the minimum standards of practice expected of registered property factors. A Code of Conduct was introduced on 1 October 2012. We revised the Code in August 2021 to make it clearer, to drive up standards and to improve consistency, without placing an undue burden on companies that might result in significant additional costs being passed on to homeowners. The changes ensured the Code remained up to date and responded to concerns raised by homeowners as well as supporting important wider policy objectives around tenement maintenance.

A dispute resolution mechanism is provided for the resolution of disputes between homeowners and property factors through the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber) (the First-tier Tribunal). This provides free access to justice for homeowners and there is evidence provided in the First-tier Tribunal's published Annual Reports noting the number of applications it has received. The most recent report demonstrates that homeowners are taking action against their Property Factor where they believe their Property Factor has not met the requirements of the Code of Conduct, or carried out their duties under the Act.

Scottish Ministers announced on 6 December 2022 that organisations applying for public sector grants awarded on or after 1 July 2023 will need to pay at least the real Living Wage and provide appropriate channels for effective workers’ voice.

It was agreed that the application of Fair Work conditionality would be implemented from 1 April 2024 to Agricultural grants that meet the criteria of the overall SG Fair Work Policy.

The five grant schemes listed below will have Fair Work conditionality added to the existing grant conditions

• Agri – Environment Climate Scheme (AECS),

• Crofting Agricultural Grants Scheme (CAGS),

• Food Processing, Marketing and Co-operation (FPMC),

• Forestry Grant Scheme (FGS), and

• Sustainable Agriculture Capital Grant Scheme (SACGS).

For CAGS and FGS Fair Work Conditionality will apply from 1 April 2024, for the three other schemes Fair Work Conditionality will be applied from the opening of the next application window for each scheme.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-26609 on 17 April 2024. 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

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-26609 on 17 April 2024. 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 .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-26609 on 17 April 2024. 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 Scottish Government, working alongside the UK Government and the other devolved administrations, introduced the Vehicle Emissions Trading Schemes at the start of 2024. These schemes put legal obligations on car and van manufacturers to sell new zero emissions vehicles each year, ramping up to 80% of all new cars sold, and 70% of new vans, being zero emissions by 2030. At the same time, the schemes encourage car and van manufacturers to drive down the emissions of their new non-zero emissions car and van vehicles.

As set out in the Climate Change Committee’s 2023 report to parliament, decarbonisation of heavy-duty vehicle fleets in Scotland will depend on UK-wide markets. The Scottish Government continues to engage with its UK counterparts on regulatory approaches to the phase out dates for petrol and diesel heavy duty vehicles through the Inter-Ministerial Group on transport and associated official-level, UK-wide working groups that have recently been established on freight decarbonisation. The Scottish Government also participates in the UK Freight Energy Forum, which involves fleet operators, energy network operators and others on decarbonisation of the sector.

In 2022 the Scottish Government established the Zero Emission Truck Taskforce, which brought together key representatives from the logistics, manufacturing, energy and finance sectors to shape the pathway to the decarbonisation of Scotland’s road freight and logistics sector. The taskforce produced a Heavy Goods Vehicle Decarbonisation Pathway for Scotland, published on 19 March 2024 and is available on Transport Scotland’s website. That pathway and the evidence that supported it has been shared with counterparts in the UK Government to inform the regulatory options relating to zero emission heavy duty vehicles.

The Scottish Government wants a just transition to a fairer, greener transport system for all in Scotland. The final version of the route map to achieving a 20% reduction in car km will be published in the coming months. The draft route map recognised the need for its implementation to be flexible to adapt to emerging and changing evidence and it committed to setting out a monitoring and evaluation framework alongside the publication of the final route map. It does not expect car use to reduce equally for all, including some businesses using cars rather than vans, those in rural areas, and those who rely on cars for mobility or other reasons. But for those who are able to change their travel behaviour (travel less; stay local; switch mode and, where those options are not feasible, share or combine a journey) we want to recognise and enable that. Our next Climate Change Plan will also set out our approach to continuing delivery of Scotland’s net zero targets through a just transition.

The Scottish Government is grateful for the latest advice from the Climate Change Committee and remains fully committed to delivering net zero by 2045. We will provide a Scottish Government response to the Climate Change Committee.

The Islands Connectivity Plan Strategic Approach paper and the updated Vessels and Ports Plan were published for public consultation on 1 February 2024.

One of the Priorities of the Plan is Low Carbon and ensuring that ferry services take action to reduce the negative environmental impact of their operations and help to achieve Scotland's net-zero targets.

The documents highlight that Scottish Government’s Climate Change Plan sets a target that 30% of the Government (CMAL) owned fleet should be low or zero emission vessels by 2032 and that the successful delivery of the Small Vessel Replacement Programme will enable that goal to be met.

Following the public consultation period, the feedback received will be used to inform final versions of both documents by the end of 2024.