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Scottish Enterprise has supported companies in the bus manufacturing supply chain, awarding Alexander Dennis Limited with funding to develop their zero emission bus technology including £13m in 2023 in addition to substantial grants in 2019 and 2015.

In addition, Scottish Enterprise is working with Alexander Dennis Limited to explore opportunities for export and access grant funding opportunities such as the UK Automotive Transition Fund.

The Scottish Government continues to support manufacturing in Scotland via the work on the Green Industrial Strategy and our ten-year National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET).

The forthcoming Transport Just Transition Plan we will set out, among other things, how the Scottish Government will support businesses to benefit from the opportunities and deal with the challenges arising from the move to a sustainable transport system.

The Scottish Government has commissioned research through ClimateXChange to investigate the potential impact of the proposed Heat in Buildings Bill on the Scottish Housing Market. The scope of this project includes an investigation into the impact on the mortgage market. As part of this research, researchers are conducting interviews with stakeholders from the property market, including the finance sector. This research is currently being carried out, and findings will be published later this year.

The Scottish Government Homelessness in Scotland statistics are based on data collected from all local authorities, on households that have made a homelessness application to a local authority.

This data collection includes information on whether any adult member, aged under 25, of a household making a homelessness application to a local authority was looked after as a child by their local authority.

The data provided on looked after status will largely be self-reported by applicant households. Applicants can choose whether to answer the question, or they may not know if any other adults aged under 25 in the household have previously been looked after.

The Scottish Government's Renters' Rights campaign ran from 27 February to 26 March 2024, aiming to increase awareness of both new and existing rights for all private tenants in Scotland.

We worked collaboratively with public and third sector partners to disseminate the campaign information, enabling them to reach minority audiences, specialist groups and those who are less likely to be online. This included the Older People’s Strategic Advisory Forum (OPSAF), who represent the following organisations: Age Scotland, Generations Working Together, LGBT Age Project, Outside the Box, We are Hourglass, Independent Age, Scottish Trades Union Congress, The Scottish Older People’s Assembly, Faith in Older People, LGBT Health and Wellbeing, Glasgow Disability Alliance and Minority Ethnic Carers of People Programme.

Renters’ Rights information was also directly provided to Citizens Advice Bureaux, Crisis, Living Rent, Property Mark, Scottish Landlords, Scottish Land and Estates, UK Finance, Poverty Alliance, Generation Rent, the Scottish Property Federation, the Chartered Institute of Housing Scotland, Local Authorities, NHS Health Boards, Social Security Scotland and third sector equality partners such as BEMIS and CEMVO.

It is vitally important that all tenants, including older renters, are aware of the strong rights and protections available to them and we will continue to identify opportunities and work with a range of key partners in order to continue to raise awareness.

Scottish Ministers continue to have a positive relationship with the defence industries, and regularly engage with both individual companies and the wider trade associations.

Ministers last engaged with defence industry representatives on 6 March 2024, when I attended Space-Comm Expo at the invitation of ADS Group.

The Chair of the Aerospace and Defence Industry Leadership Group is also a standing member of the Industry Leadership Group (ILG) Chairs’ Roundtable discussions that take place quarterly and was last chaired by the former Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy.

The next ILG Chairs Roundtable discussion is scheduled to take place in early May and will be co-chaired by the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy.

The Minister for Housing has convened a Ministerial Oversight Group on Homelessness which brings together ten ministers from across the Scottish Government to identify the actions required across portfolios to prevent and end homelessness.

The group provides a space for shared political leadership and enhanced policy links with a view to ensuring everyone has a safe, warm place to call home. The last meeting was held on 20 March 2024 and had a focus on young people, including care experienced young people.

Membership, terms of reference, minutes and actions from the meetings can be found here – Ministerial Oversight Group on Homelessness - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Outwith this group, policy officials across government work together on policy development and implementation with the aim of preventing homelessness for care experienced young people and veterans. This includes participating in A way Home Scotland Coalition meetings and Veterans Scotland Housing Group meetings as appropriate.

In is anticipated that the SBA (Single Building Assessment) specification document will be published at the end of May 2024.

We are aware of the important role privately rented homes play as part of Scotland’s housing stock, and the wider pressures on this sector. We will continue to engage with the sector on our proposals, taking account of the wider environment in which it operates.

The recent consultation on a Heat in Buildings Bill included a proposal that a minimum energy efficiency standard could be met by installing a straightforward list of energy efficiency measures. Any homeowner who had installed these measures – or as many of them as are feasible for the type of home they live in – would be considered to meet the new standard. This final list of measures will be developed to prioritise those that have most impact for homes with the lowest amount of cost and disruption. This will provide a simple approach for landlords and other homeowners to follow, and to comply with the standard.

The Scottish Government has commissioned research through ClimateXChange to investigate the potential impact of the proposed Heat in Buildings Bill on the Scottish Housing Market. The scope of this project includes an investigation into the impact on the private rental market. As part of this project, researchers are conducting interviews with stakeholders from the property market, including from the rental sector. This research is currently being carried out, and findings will be published later this year.

Since 2011 the Scottish Government has supported individuals and businesses across Scotland with over £220 million of interest free loans to support the transition to zero emission vehicles.

In addition, the Plugged-in Communities grant fund has provided community transport organisations with grants worth almost £4 million to procure zero emission vehicles.

The Scottish Government is currently considering the future of its EV incentive schemes, with no final decision yet made.

The Scottish Government has commissioned a study which will look at EV adoption to-date and will model future demand across a number of scenarios. This study will help to inform the ongoing development of Transport Scotland’s strategic framework for the adoption of electric vehicles (EV) and the development of charging infrastructure across Scotland.

The UK Government’s equivalent to Bus Services Improvement Partnerships (BSIPs) in Scotland are “Enhanced Partnerships”. Both models take a similar approach to partnership working, ensuring that operators and local transport authorities collaborate to achieve improved bus provision, but there are some key differences which reflect the Scottish context.

For instance, while both BSIPs and Enhanced Partnerships allow for the setting of requirements in respect of service frequency and timings, they take different approaches to addressing overprovision of services.

Also, BSIPs specifically allow for the setting of maximum fares which is not included in Enhanced Partnerships.

BSIPs schemes are required to include either facilities or measures to be provided by the Local Transport Authority (LTA); Enhanced Partnership schemes may include facilities or measures but these are not required.

Both BSIPs and Enhanced Partnerships have an operator objection mechanism based on the number of operators in an area and the registered distance they operate. The objections mechanism allows operators to object to the proposed making, variation or revocation of a plan or a scheme. The criteria for being excluded from the objection mechanism varies between the two models. The thresholds used to determine what constitutes a "sufficient number of persons" for the purpose of the objection mechanism also differs between the two models, to account for network variations across Scotland.

Furthermore, the Enhanced Partnership model allows, and in certain circumstances requires, the traffic commissioner to delegate to the LTA their registration functions as regards the services within the Enhanced Partnership scheme area. That is not included in BSIPs.