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In advance of the emergency legislation we set up a working group with social landlords to help assess the options for rents beyond 31 March and to understand and gather evidence on the impact of the rent cap measures for tenants and the implications for landlord service delivery, business and investment plans. That work is continuing and will inform the first review of the legislation, due to be completed by 14 January 2023. During the passage of the Bill we further committed to giving clarity and certainty to social landlords on rent-setting no later than by the 14 January review point, and to considering all options to keep rents affordable for tenants.

Social landlords have already made substantial investment in energy efficiency to remove poor energy efficiency as a driver for fuel poverty and contribute to achieving the Scottish Government’s ambitious climate change emissions reductions targets. The independent Scottish Housing Regulator reports that 88% of social homes already meet the first milestone of the Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing (EESSH). We are working with landlords to review future EESSH milestones to ensure that they are aligned with climate change targets.

The Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund, which launched in August 2020, has been designed to accelerate the delivery of energy efficiency measures and zero emissions heating systems in social housing across Scotland. It will make at least £200 million available to registered social landlords until 2026.

Acknowledging that the public sector alone cannot bear the long-term cost of converting homes, the Green Heat Finance Taskforce has been established to assess and recommend ways the public sector, communities and private finance can collaborate to scale up investment. A dedicated sub-group has been established to consider the best routes to financing and funding the retrofit of the existing social housing stock.

The Bill does not propose that 75,000 local authority employees would transfer. As the policy memorandum to the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill makes clear that under the National Care Service, services will continue to be planned, designed and delivered locally because the care boards will plan and commission services for their local area. For social care services currently provided in-house by local authorities, that may continue under a commissioning arrangement with the care board, or the care board may take over direct delivery, with staff transferring to the care board. These will be decisions to be taken locally as the care boards are established. Once the structure and governance of care boards and their localities have been decided, decisions about the employment of staff will be made.

The responsibility for applying fees for use of the public ChargePlace Scotland network lies with the owners of charge points, which includes public, private and third sector organisations. The Scottish Government’s draft Vision for Scotland’s Public Electric Vehicle Charging Network makes it clear that a shift towards a public charging network largely financed and operated by the commercial sector is necessary. As noted in the joint report published by Transport Scotland and Scottish Futures Trust in July 2021, the existence of free provision or below market rates does not incentivise commercial investment in the charging network, and it is important that tariffs reflect true operation, maintenance and asset replacement costs. The Scottish Government is taking steps to support the development of the public charging network in line with our draft Vision, including through our EV Infrastructure Fund.

The Bill does not propose that 75,000 local authority employees would transfer. As the policy memorandum to the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill makes clear the under the National Care Service, services will continue to be planned, designed and delivered locally because the care boards will plan and commission services for their local area. For social care services currently provided in-house by local authorities, that may continue under a commissioning arrangement with the care board, or the care board may take over direct delivery, with staff transferring to the care board. These will be decisions to be taken locally as the care boards are established. Once the structure and governance of care boards and their localities have been decided, decisions about the employment of staff will be made.

Thorough consideration will be given to all options regarding pensions and stakeholders will be consulted before any decisions are taken.

Decisions on how the £5 million of loss and damage funding will be allocated are yet to be taken. Decisions will be made on the recommendation of needs assessments and undertaken in consultation with stakeholders and communities. These funds are in addition to the £2 million we announced last year, of which £1.7 million is already on the ground. Funds to date have been allocated through participatory mechanisms with those communities most impacted as well as to funding research on needs assessments and case studies.

Ministers were advised by CMAL that there was not sufficient confidence that the vessel would meet the relevant regulatory requirements for operating in UK waters as set out by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and by the relevant class society. There were also a number of other uncertainties around the modifications that would be required to meet the requirements for operating on Calmac routes.

As Transport for Edinburgh owns and operates the tram system, any decisions on concessionary travel on Edinburgh trams are for the City of Edinburgh Council to make. We are, however, undertaking a Fair Fares Review that will look at the range of discounts and concessionary schemes which are available on all modes.

Short Breaks

The Financial Memorandum estimate for the cost of personalised short breaks for adult carers under the Carers Act, as amended by the National Care Service Bill, is based on the following assumptions:

1) The number of adult carers accessing personalised breaks is based on a future steady state in which 34% of all adult carers will have an adult carer support plan (ACSP). This assumption is carried over from the Carers Act Financial Memorandum.

2) The proportion of carers that have an ACSP will vary depending on the intensity of caring.

3) The proportion of carers with an ACSP that access short breaks will also vary depending on the intensity of caring.

Assumptions were also required for how the proportions in 2) and 3) vary across the carer intensity bands.

Table 1 shows the assumed profile for the proportion of carers with an ACSP across the intensity groupings; and table 2 shows the assumed profile for those with an ACSP that will access personalised breaks support under the Carers Act.

Decisions to prioritise one population group over another for vaccination are not taken lightly, nor are they straightforward. That is why our prioritisation decisions have been, and will continue to be, guided by the independent expert advice provided by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and senior Clinicians.

As with previous campaigns, vaccinations will be offered first to frontline health and social care workers and those most vulnerable to the effects of the virus. Information on the Winter Vaccines programme including eligible groups can he found here .

Full information on the considerations made by the JCVI with regards to which groups have been offered a COVID-19 booster vaccine can be found here .

The impact and efficacy of the FPMC scheme is monitored through supervision of the projects awarded funding. This is done in several key ways:

Firstly all beneficiaries are required to submit progress reports with each claim for payment which set out the progress made against achieving the stated objectives of the project. Scottish Ministers have the legal right to take action, up to an including revocation of the grant award if progress is found not to be satisfactory.

Secondly, we operate an inspection regime, which ensures all claims for payment are run through an automated inspection selection process which ensures 5% receive a physical inspection each year. We also have the right to require that an ad hoc inspection be carried out should concerns arise over any project achieving its’ objectives.

Thirdly, all projects awarded funding are subject to an annual monitoring process which seeks to confirm whether or not the project’s objectives in terms of employment, increased turnover and sales have been achieved.