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The Learning Estate Investment Programme’s (LEIP) outcomes Governance Board, which is co-chaired by Scottish Government and COSLA, scrutinises all aspects of the LEIP on an ongoing basis.

The LEIP has undergone a Gateway Review Strategic Assessment, the recommendations of which have been implemented across the LEIP. A further Gateway Review will commence this month.

Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) provides expertise, for example, in programme and data management, schools design, as well as commercial and financial modelling, and the Scottish Government engages regularly with SFT on ongoing management of the LEIP. SFT also managed the previous Scotland’s Schools for the Future Programme which saw the construction of 117 new or refurbished schools and benefited over 60,000 pupils across the country.

Social landlords in Scotland must already meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard which requires properties to be free from damp, have adequate ventilation and be suitably insulated and they must ensure any requests for repairs are carried out in a timely fashion. Compliance is monitored by the Scottish Housing Regulator. If landlords fail to comply, tenants can escalate complaints to the Scottish Public Sector Ombudsman. The latest report on the Scottish Housing Charter shows that almost 9 out of 10 social tenants are satisfied with the homes and service that their landlord provides.

The Regulator is currently working proactively with social housing providers to identify and share best practice in dealing with damp and mould and is expected to publish updated guidance shortly.

The Scottish Government HL1 data collection gathers information relating to reason support may need to be provided, according to the judgement of a homelessness officer, for households who make a homelessness application.

No information is gathered about support needs or disabilities of individuals within the household.

The HL3 data collection gathers information about temporary accommodation placements associated with homelessness applications. The following information has been derived by linking data from Scottish Government HL1 and HL3 collections

Support needs identified for households in temporary accommodation, as at 30 September 2022 (latest available)

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that numbers of teachers and support staff are protected. We will provide local government with £145.5 million in next year's budget, which is conditional on the successful delivery of the following objectives:

• Maintaining teacher numbers at 2022 census levels, as published in the Summary School Statistics in December 2022.
• Maintaining pupil support staff numbers at 2022 census levels, which we will publish on 21 March 2023 based on the data collected from local authorities in September 2022.
• Ensuring that places remain available for probationer teachers who need them through the Teacher Induction Scheme.

In the event of these requirements not being met, the Scottish Government reserves the right to recover or withhold relevant monies allocated to individual authorities for these purposes.

Under the Matrimonial Homes (Family Protection) (Scotland) Act 1981 a spouse can ask the court for an exclusion order to remove the other spouse from the matrimonial home. Civil partners have a corresponding right under the Civil Partnership Act 2004. A cohabitant can also seek an exclusion order where the court has granted them occupancy rights.

The court can make an exclusion order if it appears to the court that the making of the order is necessary for the protection of the applicant or any child of the family from any conduct or threatened or reasonably apprehended conduct which is or would be injurious to the physical or mental health of the applicant or child.

These orders are temporary. For example, an order will end if the family home is sold or the couple divorce.

There are other civil remedies available to those at risk of domestic abuse. These include an interdict which can prohibit or restrain specified behaviour. By virtue of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2011 a breach of a domestic abuse interdict with a power of arrest attached is a criminal offence. Another potential civil remedy is a non-harassment order under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, breach of which is again a criminal offence.

The Scottish Law Commission are considering carrying out a review of civil remedies in relation to domestic abuse in phase 2 of its work on aspects of family law .

The member is welcome to write to me raising specific points about exclusion orders or other civil protection measures.

The Scottish Parliament approved the Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations in 2020. The Regulations are wholly within devolved competence.

The Scottish Government has been following the agreed process to seek the exclusion of the DRS regulations from the Internal Market Act. This has been the subject of discussion with the UK Government beginning in 2021 when we sought a broad exclusion under the Resources and Waste common framework when an exclusion was agreed covering Scotland’s single use plastic regulations. We will continue to press the UK Government for a decision as soon as possible to give businesses the clarity they need.

The Scottish Government does not hold that specific information. However statistics collected from local authorities includes information on housing for disabled people: Housing for Older People and People with Disabilities and the Scottish Housing Regulator also collects information on numbers of housing units for disabled people: Statistical information | Scottish Housing Regulator .

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the lives of people with complex care needs. Along with the Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care, I recently wrote to all areas to encourage greater collaborative working across integration authorities and local authorities to deliver integrated housing, care and support services for people with complex care needs living in Scotland.

Scottish Government recognise that Scotland’s Caledonian Pinewoods are an irreplaceable and iconic habitat which is a treasured part of Scotland’s natural heritage. Scottish Forestry, NatureScot and Forestry and Land Scotland were partners in this project along with Woodland Trust Scotland, Scottish Land and Estates and the lead organisation Trees for Life. We are currently working through the findings of the recently published reports.

Scottish Government currently support landowners and managers to improve the condition and extent of Caledonian Pinewoods through the Forestry Grants Scheme. This funding supports regeneration and expansion of pinewoods through management of deer as well as ongoing maintenance and improvement work. Support is also provided to help with preparing long-term forest plans for these woodlands, which is often the first step towards recovery. Engagement with private land managers is ongoing in order to encourage them take up and make use of this available funding. Forestry and land Scotland who manage approximately 10% of Scotland’s Forests and Land, are actively engaged with pinewood restoration.

Scottish Forestry has committed over £14 million since 2015, to help secure the sustainable management of native woodlands and associated habitats, and much of this funding will directly benefit the Caledonian Pinewoods . In the same timeframe current figures show that an additional 20 million has been committed on creating nearly 5000 hectares of new pine woodland.

The Scottish Government has provided local government with an additional £147.1 million capital funding in 2023-24. The maintenance of buildings and assets is the responsibility of individual local authorities and it is up to councils to manage their own budgets and allocate the total financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities.

Local authorities also have a range of powers enabling them to take action on buildings that fall into disrepair, such as the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 and Building (Scotland) Act 2003 (the Act). Section 28 of the Act gives local authorities powers to take action on defective buildings, this includes serving a notice to bring the building back into a reasonable state of repair having regard to its age, type and location.

Further support is made through the Place Based Investment Programme which aims to align place based investment, working collaboratively with local communities to deliver shared aspirations for their place. The programme includes investment of £140 million over the course of the parliament to local authorities. This investment is expected to support delivery of our policy ambitions for place, 20-minute neighbourhoods, town centre action, community led regeneration, community wealth building and contribute to net zero. The funding can be used for example for the repurposing of buildings, maintenance and repairs, reallocating external space and community led land acquisition.

The Scottish Government’s financial commitments to create green jobs include funding support provided through our Green Jobs Fund and the Just Transition Fund.

The Green Jobs Fund is a five-year, capital fund of up to £100m over 5 years which will support businesses and their supply chains to help them better transition to a low carbon economy and create new green jobs. In year one of the Green Jobs Fund, between the Enterprise Agencies and Scottish Ministers, 57 projects have been supported with grant funding of £16.8m. Figures provided by the recipients of these awards estimated this fund will support up to 3,886 jobs over the life of the individual projects. Figures for year 2 of the fund are not due to be published until Q2 2023 as contractual negotiations are continuing to be finalised.

The fund consists of £50 million provided by our Enterprise Agencies for businesses which provide sustainable or low carbon products and services to help them develop, grow and create jobs and up to a further £50 million to help ensure that businesses and supply chains across Scotland can capitalise on our investment in five priority sectors: energy transition; transport; manufacturing; construction; agriculture and land use. The Green Jobs Fund will make focused investments in, for example, machinery and equipment and research and development to ensure businesses are well placed to win public and private contracts.

Our Just Transition Fund is a ten year, £500m investment to support a fair transition to net zero and to diversify the regional economy, with the first £50m committed this year. Examples of the projects supported in the first year of the fund include a digital offshore energy skills passport which empowers offshore workers to utilise their existing certification; and an advanced manufacturing skills hub.

The Scottish Government also ring-fenced £1m of the Just Transition Fund this year for participatory budgeting, whereby local communities are able to influence and have a direct say on how money is spent in their local areas.

The Scottish Government is determined to maximise the economic opportunity for the Scottish supply chain from our offshore wind potential. That is why we asked Crown Estate Scotland to introduce the Supply Chain Development Statement as part of the ScotWind leasing round to demonstrate how serious the Scottish Government is about holding developers to account if they do not honour their supply chain commitments and create green jobs.

ScotWind developers have committed to invest an average of £1.4 billion per project, equating to more than £28 billion of potential investment in Scotland's supply chain. Government and its agencies continue to work closely with developers and those at the top of the supply chain to ensure that local suppliers in Scotland have a realistic opportunity to compete for key manufacturing contracts.

We are already seeing the employment benefits from the development of Scotland’s offshore wind sector. Scotland is the best performing UK region in the Green Jobs Barometer, a tool to track job creation, wider employment benefits, job loss, carbon intensity of employment, and worker perceptions with relevance to the green transition.