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Scottish Government and Education Scotland are currently developing options for a National Digital Academy. An update will be available when these are complete.

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) is the lead public body on the investigation of, care for and promotion of Scotland's historic environment. HES published retrofit guidance for traditional buildings in November 2021 at Guide to Energy Retrofit of Traditional Buildings | Hist Env Scotland (historicenvironment.scot) . The Scottish Government values their technical expertise and regularly relies on their work and input to help define the approach to retrofitting traditional and listed buildings.

For example, following a series of stakeholder workshops held in 2021, an expert Tenements Short Life Working Group was formed. A specific workshop looking at traditional and protected buildings was undertaken as part of this process and Historic Environment Scotland were a key participant in this group A. The Final Report and Recommendations of the Tenements Short Life Working Group will be published shortly.

We are committed to continuing to work closely with HES to shape our future proposals on a Heat in Buildings Standard to ensure the best outcome for traditional and protected homes and buildings and the people who live and use them.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-22110 on 30 October 2023. 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 SPCB’s answer to question S6W-16094 explained that, in line with established procurement practice, the SPCB does not publish specific tenderer information which it considers might prejudice fair competition, which could prejudice the commercial interest of any person or organisation or where it would otherwise be contrary to the public interest to do so. The SPCB does not consider it appropriate to publish the information requested.

The SPCB’s procurement function operates in accordance with its published Procurement Strategy and established industry practice including guidance published by the Scottish Government. There are robust processes in place to deliver sustainable contracts that provide best value for money and resilient supply chain governance.

The latest SPCB Procurement Report can be obtained at Annual Report.

The SPCB’s answer to question S6W-16094 explained that, in line with established procurement practice, the SPCB does not publish specific tenderer information which it considers might prejudice fair competition, which could prejudice the commercial interest of any person or organisation or where it would otherwise be contrary to the public interest to do so. The SPCB does not consider it appropriate to publish the information requested.

The SPCB’s procurement function operates in accordance with its published Procurement Strategy and established industry practice including guidance published by the Scottish Government. There are robust processes in place to deliver sustainable contracts that provide best value for money and resilient supply chain governance.

The latest SPCB Procurement Report can be obtained at Annual Report.

The Health and Safety Executive (the HSE) operates across the UK including in Scotland under governance from the Department of Work and Pensions within the UK Government. The HSE is responsible for helping people be safer at work.

As part of their responsibilities for workplace safety, the HSE publishes workplace safety statistics for Scotland. In November 2022, they published the latest statistics:

Workplace health and safety statistics for Scotland, 2022 (hse.gov.uk)

In presenting these statistics, the HSE indicated that '... this report represents a profile of workplace health and safety in Scotland and its primary purpose is to provide Scotland specific equivalents of the statistics for Great Britain published across HSE’s Health and Safety Statistics pages. The figures also enable comparisons between Scotland and Great Britain to be made. However, any such comparative analysis should be interpreted with caution since any differences in health and safety outcomes are likely to be at least in part driven by differences in the industry sectors and occupations people work in.'

More specifically, the HSE has carried out a statistical analysis of fatalities in the workplace across the nations of the UK. On page 15 of their November 2022 report, they indicated the following:

'Over recent years, the fatal injury rate in Scotland has been consistently higher than that of Great Britain, but there is no difference in the rate of non-fatal injuries. One explanation is that in Scotland, a greater proportion of workers are employed in higher risk industry sectors or higher risk occupations, compared with Great Britain as a whole. It is possible to standardise fatal injury rates by adjusting them to account for differences in industry composition between countries and regions and a recent research report shows the effect this has on the relative rates of the countries and regions of Great Britain.

The following table shows estimates of the unstandardised and standardised country-specific fatal injury rates for the period 2015/16-2019/20 (the full report can be found at www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/adhoc analysis/updated-standardised-fatals.pdf) .

Number, un-standardised rate and standardised rate of fatal injuries per 100,000 workers (2015-16 – 2019-20)

We continue to work with partners to further delivery of this commitment. This includes consideration of the delivery and funding model.

Information on the percentage of plastic collected and recycled in Scotland, and outwith Scotland is available from SEPA (Scottish Environment Protection Agency) via its ‘waste from all sources’ data reporting tool: https://informatics.sepa.org.uk/WasteAllSources/

STAF received £184,200 (2021-22) and £193,200 (2022-23) in core funding via the Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention & Adult Learning & Empowering Communities (CYPFEI & ALEC) third sector fund. For both these financial years, the agreed outcomes from this funding were:

• That the wellbeing and success of young people leaving care across Scotland is indistinguishable from that of their peers in the general population.
• That there is a significant and measurable shift in culture and improved understanding by all corporate parents working with young people from a care experienced background leading to improved outcomes

• That young people from a care experienced background are informed and empowered to stay in care longer if that is what they wish in placements that meet their needs.
• That STAF increases its influence on behalf of young people and our stakeholders.

In addition a grant of £27,200 was paid to staff for the financial year 2021-22 through the Children and Young People Summer Programme, the objectives of the grant were:

• Provide targeted opportunities for care leavers and those who support them to reconnect with each other and to explore local outdoor wild spaces;
• Design activities with young people with lived experience to ensure that the programme is relevant to their needs; and
• Provide opportunities that promote and support improving physical and mental health in woodlands and forests with young people participating in activities relevant to the wild spaces they are in.

We continue to work with partners to develop delivery plans, including phasing and funding options for this commitment. Details of timescales and funding allocations will be confirmed in due course.