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The 2022-23 local government finance settlement of almost £12.7 billion represents an increase of over £1 billion or 9.2 per cent in cash terms compared with 2021-22.

It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including on reducing vehicle emissions, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

The Scottish Government provides support for lower income households and small businesses to get prepared for Low Emission Zones. The LEZ Support Fund offers financial support towards the disposal of non-LEZ compliant vehicles and offers ‘Travel Better’ grants to help households to switch to more sustainable modes of transport. Administered by Energy Saving Trust, the LEZ Support Fund provides people and micro-businesses with financial support to travel more sustainably and comply with forthcoming measures to improve air quality and protect public health. The LEZ Support Fund awarded £1.7 million in grants In 2020/21, and £3.85 million in 2021/22; with a further £5 million made available in 2022-23.

The Scottish Government has also made LEZ retrofit grants available to micro business owners (including taxi operators) which cover up to 80% of the capital costs for the retrofitting of non-compliant vehicles to the latest Euro 6 emissions standard. The fund also provides an incentive of a cash grant (up to £2,000) for the safe disposal of a non-compliant vehicle. To date, LEZ Support funding has resulted in over 2,000 non-LEZ compliant vehicles being disposed of or retrofitted with cleaner technology. Since 2019, over £4 million has been received by business operators through the fund, comprised of approximately £2 million in disposal grants for micro-businesses, and approximately £2 million for taxi retrofitting.

On rail, the Scottish Government has made a commitment to decarbonise rail passenger services by 2035, removing diesel trains that will improve the air quality across Scotland’s cities and communities.

To support bus and coach operators with the financial costs associated with engine and exhaust retrofitting to meet LEZ standards, the Bus Emission Abatement Retrofit (BEAR) grant funding has been offered by Scottish Government since 2018. BEAR Phases 1, 2, 3 and 4 provided £18.4 million funding to support the costs of retrofitting of 1143 buses and coaches to Euro VI standard in Scottish Air Quality Management Areas from 2018 to 2022. An additional £2.65 million has been made available for BEAR 5 in 2022/23, with further funding also currently under consideration.

On 10 August 2022, the Scottish Government opened the Zero Emission Bus Market Transition Scheme, which makes funding available to transport providers and local authorities to develop new business models for a rapid decarbonisation of bus transport. This fund – worth £500,000 – is open for applications until 09 December, or until all funding has been awarded, whichever occurs first.

Further details of these, and other recent schemes designed to enable local authorities and transport operators to reduce emissions is available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. Number 63670)

We laid a brief update before parliament last week on progress against our Heat in Buildings Strategy since its publication in 2021: https://www.gov.scot/publications/heat-in-buildings-strategy-2022-update/ .

Delivering the Strategy will be an essential part of meeting our net zero ambitions. The update confirms our intention to consult next year on proposals for a Heat in Buildings Bill, and publish our Public Engagement Strategy.

As set out by the Deputy First Minister on 7 September 2022, there is a finite budget and, as a result of inflation eroding the purchasing power of available funding, the Scottish Government budget is now worth £1.7 billion less than it was in December 2021. As a result, health funding is worth £650 million less and the Scottish Government continues to work with Health Boards to mitigate the impact of financial pressures across services, including those supporting the needs of people living with long COVID.

£3 million of the £10 million long COVID Support Fund has been made available to NHS Boards and key partners over 2022-23. We engage with NHS Boards on a regular basis regarding their capacity needs, and will continue to do so in order to inform the allocation of the fund.

NHS Highland has now received all five reports from the Independent Review Panel (IRP) of the Healing Process and the work of the IRP is now concluded.

The Board has made significant progress against the majority of the recommendations included in both the Independent Review Panel (IRP) of the Healing Process and the Sturrock reports. As part of this work, the board have ensured that systems and processes are in place which would allow colleagues to speak up and be heard.

A decision has been taken by Scottish Government Health and Social Care Management Board to de-escalate NHS Highland from Stage 3 to Stage 2 of the NHS Board performance escalation framework in relation to Governance, Leadership and Culture.

NHS Highland will remain at Stage 3 for Financial Management and Mental Health Performance until further progress is made in the provision of mental health services, and a national review of NHS Scotland’s financial position is complete. Measures are in place to support NHS Highland will continue for these areas.

You can find out more about the NHS Board performance escalation framework here: NHS healthcare standards: Board performance escalation framework - gov.scot ( www.gov.scot )

The Hon. Lord Brailsford replaces the Hon. Lady Poole as Chair of the Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry today. The amended terms of reference also come into effect from today to further emphasise the expectation that the Inquiry will take a human rights-based approach, and that it will demonstrate how that approach has informed and improved the recommendations it makes. Specifically, this change will require the Inquiry when reporting, “To demonstrate how a human rights based approach by the inquiry has contributed to the inquiry’s findings in fact and recommendations”.

The amended Terms of Reference can be found in full here: COVID-19 Inquiry - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government will only agree to Investment Zones if they reflect Scotland’s regulatory environment, aligning with EU regulation where appropriate and in a manner that contributes towards maintaining and advancing standards across a range of policy areas.

Scottish Government Ministers and officials meet regularly with CERG members to discuss a range of issues on how to accelerate delivery of climate action, including how to decarbonise our transport systems and cities.

Officials have initiated exploratory talks with UK Government, pressing for further clarity on the substance and process of proposals in England and the proposed framework for discussing a model for Investment Zones in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has not conducted an impact assessment into any potential difference in the labelling requirements elsewhere in the UK. This is because, the Regulations underpinning Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) do not mandate specific labelling requirements. Instead, the Regulations give producers and the scheme administrator the flexibility to decide on their preferred approach.

While the UK Government is still to publish its response to its DRS consultation, which closed in March 2021, officials are working closely with the other administrations in the UK to ensure that Scotland’s DRS is compatible with other future schemes, without negatively impacting on the aims and ambitions of our scheme.

The Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Programme Board will not be extended in its current format beyond March 2023.

Perinatal and infant mental health continues to be a key priority for the Scottish Government and the continued development and implementation of perinatal and infant mental health services will continue to be supported. We will announce our next steps for this work in due course.