Questions and answers

Question reference: S6O-02312

Asked by: Kaukab Stewart, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its work to improve the lives of LGBT+ people in Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-02298

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether agricultural support is delivering value for money.

Question reference: S6O-02313

Asked by: Ivan McKee, MSP for Glasgow Provan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what processes it has in place to identify and act upon any concerns raised by clients of Social Security Scotland to ensure that the system meets its aims of putting dignity, fairness and respect at the heart of all of its actions.

Question reference: S6O-02306

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will initiate an independent review into the use of surgical mesh products within NHS Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-02311

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce child poverty in Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley.

Question reference: S6O-02301

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting the continuation of the independent contractor model in general practice.

Question reference: S6O-02308

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is offering to people recently diagnosed with disabilities.

Question reference: S6O-02309

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the third sector.

Question reference: S6W-17863

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 24 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many homes in Scotland are currently heated by energy recovered from incineration plants.

Over 1,000 homes are currently heated by heat networks where a significant proportion of the heat provided is from an Energy from Waste plant.

Two further heat networks are currently being built to use heat from Energy from Waste plants which are already in operation or commissioning and situated in Midlothian and Aberdeen. These projects are expected to connect approximately 2,000 homes by 2026, with the capacity to heat significantly more with further extensions of these networks.

All the heat networks (existing or being developed) referred to above are, or will be, connected to existing Energy from Waste plant.

Across all heat sources, approximately 30,000 homes are connected to heat network(s) in Scotland, based on the 2018 Heat Network Metering and Billing Regulation data.

Question reference: S6W-18072

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 24 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government by what year it anticipates ending fuel poverty, and whether it has set any interim targets to meet this aim.

Our Fuel Poverty (Scotland) Act 2019 came into law in July 2019.

It is the most ambitious fuel poverty legislation in the UK and sets challenging targets that in 2040 (including at local authority level) as far as reasonably possible:

no more than 5% of households in Scotland are fuel poor,
no more than 1% of households in Scotland are in extreme fuel poverty,
the median fuel poverty gap of households in Scotland in fuel poverty is no more than £250 adjusted to take account of changes in the value of money.

This includes interim targets for 2035 and 2030 (which only require to be met at national level).

2035:

no more than 10% of households in Scotland are in fuel poverty,
no more than 3% of households in Scotland are in extreme fuel poverty,
the median fuel poverty gap of households in Scotland in fuel poverty is no more than £300 adjusted to take account of changes in the value of money.

2030:

no more than 15% of households in Scotland are in fuel poverty,
no more than 5% of households in Scotland are in extreme fuel poverty,
the median fuel poverty gap of households in Scotland in fuel poverty is no more than £350 adjusted to take account of changes in the value of money.

Our Fuel Poverty Strategy published in December 2021 sets out a comprehensive range of actions to address the four drivers of fuel poverty, especially for those at highest risk, and in working towards meeting our statutory targets. These actions have been informed by evidence, including lived experience, and learning from the changing context in response to the global pandemic and climate emergency.

In addition, we are presently consulting on the strategy’s next steps with the Scottish Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel, established under the 2019 Act, and appointed in January 2022, to provide independent advice to Scottish Ministers on fuel poverty and scrutiny of our progress towards delivering 2040 fuel poverty targets.

The Scottish Government will continue to use the powers available to them to tackle fuel poverty, and has called on the UK government to assist in that goal by reforming energy regulation to address the root cause of fuel poverty which is the cost of fuel to households. The Scottish Government can mitigate some of the impacts of this root cause, but urgent action is required in reserved areas to bring the cost of fuel bills down.

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