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Our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan is currently being developed. This will include co-design as a key underpinning principle, ensuring workers from across the energy sector have the opportunity to contribute towards this process.

In addition, the Scottish Government is investing £300m in the Edinburgh and SE Scotland City Region Deal, which will create new economic opportunities across the area and is expected to provide up to 21,000 jobs. This includes £25m for an Integrated Regional Skills and Employability Programme, which will help local people prepare for the changing regional labour market and benefit from the many new jobs that the Deal and other investments across the region are creating.

Today I am announcing a new Network Support Grant which will run from 1 April 2022 to help maintain bus services while passenger numbers recover from the effects of the pandemic.

The Network Support Grant will replace the COVID Support Grant, COVID Support Grant - Restart, and the Bus Service Operators Grant. The Network Support Grant will provide more flexibility than the emergency COVID funding schemes, allowing services to adapt to changed travel patterns and will be available on the same terms to new as well as established operators to help improve efficiencies and the offer to passengers. The level of support provided under the grant will reduce as passenger numbers recover and we will retain key controls and obligations on participating operators

The draft Scottish Budget for 2022-23 provides up to £93.5 million for this, including £40 million in additional funding. Full details of the Network Support Grant can be found on the Transport Scotland website.

Scottish Ministers have met with the Scotch Whisky Association four times since June 2021. On occasion, Scotch Whisky Association staff also attend meetings such as the Scottish Government’s Ministerial Trade Board, where various industry stakeholders and the Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism & Enterprise is also in attendance. Discussions between Scottish Government officials and the Scotch Whisky Association take place regularly.

The Scottish Government does not assess risk on a sector by sector basis as the risks of a significant number of people gathering together indoors is the same regardless of the activity that brings them together.  

For the purposes of the capacity limits on indoor gatherings the Scottish Government considers a live event to be something that brings together a significant number of people for communal participation in a leisure or entertainment activity.  

The Scottish Government carried out an impact assessment of the live event regulation and its impact on businesses which include, but is not confined to, Bingo halls. This has been published at the link below: The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Requirements) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 6) Regulations 2021 (legislation.gov.uk).

The current list of prescribed offences where a victim impact statement can be made is set out here - The Victim Statements (Prescribed Offences) (No. 2) (Scotland) Order 2009 (legislation.gov.uk). The Scottish Government has committed to expanding the scope of the Victim Statement Scheme and work is currently ongoing to explore extensions to this list.

As I noted in my previous response to the member, the indoor events capacity limits were introduced in regulations from 26 December 2021 in order to mitigate the greatly increased transmission rates of the omicron COVID-19 variant, recognising that large capacity events indoors pose a high risk of transmission of the virus. The capacity limits were removed from 24 January.   The Scottish Government does not assess risk on a sector by sector basis as the risks of a significant number of people gathering together indoors is the same regardless of the activity that brings them together.   For the purposes of the capacity limits on indoor gatherings the Scottish Government considers a live event to be something that brings together a significant number of people for communal participation in a leisure or entertainment activity.

While the restrictions on the number of people who can attend live events have been relaxed from 24 January, I understand it will take time for audience confidence to be rebuilt.

The Scottish Government is keen to encourage audiences to return to cultural events. The First Minister held a media visit at the Scottish Opera on 2 February. The First Minister welcomed the return of live events and encouraged people to support theatres and other aspects of the arts.

The Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs & Culture is giving the opening address at the Association of British Orchestras conference on 9 February. Mr Robertson will highlight during this speech the need for audiences to feel confident in returning to cultural events.

The Scottish Government is keen to work with stakeholders, including the performing arts and live music sector, to seek opportunities to encourage audiences to return to cultural events, in line with current guidance for public places.

The Scottish Government published new guidance, Public Sector Leadership on the Global Climate Emergency , on 29 October, to provide advice for public bodies on robust, consistent and comprehensive carbon management.

The guidance says it is vital that public bodies understand the carbon impacts of their decisions and therefore embed carbon into decision-making processes. The guidance says that any investment should consider the whole life impact with regards to climate change to ensure that truly sustainable options are selected. The guidance defines whole life costing as referring to the total cost of ownership over the life of an asset and that typical areas of expenditure which are included in calculating the whole-life cost include planning, design, construction and acquisition, operations, maintenance, depreciation and cost of finance and disposal. The guidance also says that budget holders must understand and actively support a strong focus on climate considerations within procurements and that additional focus must be placed upon whole life costing.

The Climate Change (Duties of Public Bodies: Reporting Requirements) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2020 requires that, from this year, public bodies must report how they will align their spending plans and use of resources to contribute to reducing emissions and delivering emissions reduction targets.

I also refer the member to the answer to your question S5W-05786 on 31 January 2022 and the Scottish Government’s commitment to using public procurement to address the Climate Emergency. 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 .

As independent Chair, it is for Dr Church to determine and manage the process of the review. I am, therefore, unable to respond on his behalf regarding the number of meetings he will hold with waste industry representatives.

However, Dr Church has assured me he wishes to hear from all interested stakeholders during the review and I would encourage anyone interested to respond to the Call for Evidence which is open until 21 February.