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The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. We advise the member to contact the NHS Boards directly.

No meeting has taken place between my predecessor and the National Farmers Union and subsequently there is no information to publish. The request to meet with the National Farmer’s Union will carry over to me as the new Transport Minister to consider within my parliamentary business.

Under the terms of the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service (CHFS) contract CalMac do not report on a target for reliability of services. However, CalMac do report on both Contractual Reliability and Contractual Punctuality.

The Scottish Government’s Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund aims to leverage £60m of public and private investment to double the size of Scotland’s public electric vehicle charging network to 6,000 charge points by 2026. This alone will be over and above the commercial investment in public charge points now taking place in Scotland.

The Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund is focused upon growing the public charging network across Scotland where private investment on its own will be unviable. At present, the Scottish Government is supporting local authorities to develop public electric vehicle charging strategies and infrastructure expansion plans; these are identifying local and regional charge point needs, the investment requirements, as well as the best approaches to delivering collaborative investments with commercial Charge Point Operators. The exact type of public charge points including their charging power capabilities and demand on the electricity grid will be determined through this approach.

It is anticipated that the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund investment will be delivered across Scotland through local authority and private Charge Point Operator partnership models. The arrangements and responsibilities for supply and maintenance of charge points will be determined through contractual arrangements between the parties involved.

The Health Board's interim plan to transfer the three ICU beds to University Hospital Crosshouse is to ensure adequate consultant medical cover. Patient safety remains of paramount concern.

NHS Ayrshire and Arran has provided assurances that all feasible options will continue to be explored to maintain the ICU beds at University Hospital Ayr; and that local communities and their representatives will be kept fully updated as this work progresses.

Scottish Ministers are on record as expecting public bodies to be considerate to the circumstances of people who are in debt and that those who genuinely can’t pay are provided with support and advice. In relation to council tax debt Ministers have actively encouraged local authorities to share good practice on debt assistance and collection, and to use the existing flexibilities available to them.

Scottish Government recognises the challenges being faced by households due to the cost of living crisis and have taken considerable action in support, including the tripling of the Fuel Insecurity Fund in 2023-24. We have taken decisive action in relation to debt including increasing the Minimum Protected Balance an individual can keep in their bank account when subject to debt recovery to £1000 and increasing the length of time people have to seek advice before action can be taken to pursue debt.

The Scottish Government's Council Tax Reduction (CTR) Scheme supports those that would not be expected to afford to meet their council tax liability, and aims to prevent households from falling into debt in the first place. Applications can be backdated by up to 6 months and over 450,000 households receive some level of CTR, and on average recipients save over £750 a year.

Anyone struggling with living costs should contact their local authority who will be able to provide advice and support.

As stated in response to S6W-15209, the Interim Report of the Green Heat Finance Taskforce is due to be published in spring this year and will complement other publications which are also due, as per commitments in the Heat in Buildings Strategy (2021). This Interim Report will be published shortly.

The Interim Report will focus in on potential finance and funding solutions for individual property owners which address barriers and gaps identified by the Taskforce which constrain the uptake of existing products. This will be followed by a final report towards the end of the year which will focus on communal, or place based mechanisms, and will incorporate recommendations for the social housing sector.

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering a Net Zero, Wellbeing economy and a highly skilled workforce is critical to this ambition. Our National Strategy for Economic Transformation is clear that we must adapt our education and skills system to become more responsive and agile so that it can deliver on our key priorities.

Published in 2020, the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan (CESAP) provides a framework for green skills planning and investment across priority sectors directly affected in the transition to net zero: Energy, Construction, Transport, Manufacturing and Agriculture and land-use.

Since 2019, Transport Scotland has been commissioning reports in each of the highest emitting transport sectors to identify the skills gaps and skills shortages. A number of these reports have already been published, and others are due to be published in Spring 2023. The findings will become the foundation for skills activity, delivered by partners across Scotland to support the decarbonisation of the transport sector.

Transport Scotland works closely with colleges across Scotland and the Energy Skills Partnership. Targeted investment has supported training equipment for battery and hydrogen vehicles and has been utilised by colleges across Scotland, including in more rural and remote communities. This support has led to over 120 college lecturers being up-skilled to deliver training, and over 350 technicians receiving training to date, with that number growing annually with Scottish colleges delivering courses to new students. This work will support the development of a Just Transition Plan for the Transport Sector.

The estimated number and percentage of domestic properties by Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) energy efficiency rating band are published in the ‘Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS): Key Findings’ report.

The latest published data are available at: Scottish house condition survey: 2019 key findings , which show that around 1.4 million dwellings, representing 55% of the housing stock had an EPC rating lower than Band C (based on the latest SAP 2012 EPC methodology).

The latest estimates are for 2019. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the fieldwork for the 2020 SHCS was suspended in March 2020 and did not resume. The 2021 SHCS was also impacted and was undertaken using a non-contact external plus approach. The results are not directly comparable to those from previous years and will be published as experimental statistics on 30 May 2023.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17263 on 4 May 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 .