Seòmar agus comataidhean

That information is not held centrally. Local authorities are responsible for the provision of local waste services and are, therefore, best placed to comment on contractual arrangements for waste services.

Scotland’s land and the natural capital it supports is one of our most valuable assets, vital to our national prosperity and to our wellbeing as individuals and communities. By addressing the twin climate and biodiversity crises while improving individuals public and community wellbeing, progressive land use and development brings many positive benefits to Scotland by combining sustainable land use/development and people’s requirements in a fair and accountable way. As such it is in line both with our long standing vision and objectives for sustainable land use in Scotland as set out in our Land Use Strategy and the overarching principles of our Just Transition.

The Heat in Buildings Strategy sets out the Scottish Government’s proposed approach to introducing energy performance standards for all existing buildings. It confirms our intention to introduce regulations from 2025 for private housing to reach a minimum energy performance standard equivalent to EPC C at respective trigger points, where technically feasible and cost-effective to do so - with backstops of 2028 (for the private rented sector) and by 2033 (for owner occupiers).

For mixed-tenure and mixed-use buildings, including tenements, we intend to introduce regulations from 2025 onwards, with an expectation that all of these buildings should meet the standard of a good level of energy efficiency, equivalent to EPC C rating by 2040-45.

For non-domestic buildings, we intend to consult on the regulatory approach in 2022 and introduce regulations by 2025 to require owners to reduce demand for heat through energy efficiency improvements where feasible.

To support the introduction of these proposed regulations, we have set out proposals to reform the metrics underpinning Energy Performance Certificates. As set out in the Heat in Buildings Strategy, we plan to consult on our proposals for regulations during 2022.

We have no plans to include future designation of any new national parks as a national development in the forthcoming National Planning Framework 4. A draft was laid in Parliament on 10 November 2021 and a public consultation is also running alongside parliamentary scrutiny.

Scottish Government is open minded as to the size of the areas which are put forward as candidate areas for National Park status. Reference to ‘smaller in scale’ in the Bute House Agreement was to dispel any perception that areas nominated would need to be of the same scale as the two existing National Parks.

This is an option that the Scottish Government has considered in the past, but it was agreed that hotels were not suitable places to provide health and social care. For a facility to operate as a care home in Scotland, it must be registered with the Care Inspectorate. When registering a service, the Care Inspectorate will consider if the premises in which the proposed service will be provided is fit to be used for the intended purpose. In the case of using hotel rooms as care homes, it is likely the case that such premises would not be suitable to meet people's needs in a person centred way. We recently issued £40m for interim care to make use of spare capacity in settings that are able to provide care in this way

We also aim to create additional capacity in the community by scaling up the provision of Hospital at Home services and £500,000 has been specifically invested to support the creation of a Covid remote monitoring pathway which will support people to stay safe at home through the provision of remote monitoring kits and dedicated support teams.

The Scottish Government currently provides a substantial, free advice and support offering to Scottish SMEs to understand how to become more energy and to take action to implement renewable heating measures, through its Energy Efficiency Business Support Service. Scottish SMEs benefit from a variety of support packages including online tools, onsite visits, bespoke energy audits, webinars, information events and advice on funding.

The Energy Efficiency Business Support (EEBS) service is responsible for signposting businesses to the SME loan and cashback scheme, administered by Energy Saving Trust on behalf of the Scottish Government, and for producing the bespoke assessment reports that are a prerequisite for an application to these schemes. The SME Loan and Cashback scheme provides interest free loans from £1,000 up to £100,000 to small and medium sized Scotland based businesses. Furthermore, SMEs can apply for a 75% cashback grant of up to £10,000 towards the costs of a renewables heating system and a further 30% cashback grant up to £10,000 for energy efficiency measures.

The Scottish Government's Heat in Buildings Strategy has committed to phasing out the need to install new or replacement fossil fuel boilers, in off-gas grid homes from 2025 and in on-gas grid homes 2030, with consideration of additional trigger points and subject to technological developments and decisions by the UK Government in reserved areas.

The Scottish Government will consult further on these proposals during 2022.

The Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 places the statutory responsibility for local roads improvement, maintenance and repair with local road authorities.

As such, the local authority road network condition is assessed via the Scottish Road Maintenance Condition Survey, which is organised by the Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland (SCOTS).

The Treatment Time Guarantee already outlines that after a diagnosis is determined and treatment agreed, each health board must ensure that patients receive inpatient and day case treatment within 12 weeks. This applies to all treatments and services apart from fertility treatment, obstetrics services, organ and tissue transplantation, direct referrals to Allied Health Professionals, dental treatment provided by undergraduate dental students, direct access referrals to diagnostic services, and mental health services.

The current unprecedented pressures on the NHS means that Health Boards are not currently able to reinstate services to such a degree as to be in a position to meet the existing waiting times standards and targets, which is why we published the NHS Recovery Plan. This includes a focus on providing alternative pathways of care that will allow people to be treated more quickly closer to home, delivering long term sustainability.

At this time, the Scottish Government has no plans to develop any further waiting time targets for cardiovascular disease.