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Engagements and events are an essential part of official government business. Ordinarily, the Scottish Government will routinely publish this information online. However during the Covid response it has been necessary to reprioritise staff resources to support the Covid recovery and the publication schedule has been delayed.

The Scottish Government are working hard to address this and anticipate that transparency data publication will return to normal mid-December.

The Heat in Buildings Strategy sets out that, to meet our emissions reduction targets, by 2030 the vast majority of the 170,000 off-gas homes that currently use fossil fuel heating systems, as well as at least 1 million homes currently using mains gas, must convert to zero emissions heating. Together these amount to around half of domestic properties, on top of the 11% of homes that currently use zero emissions heat. In addition, the equivalent of 50,000 non-domestic buildings, around a quarter, must also switch from fossil fuels to zero emissions heating, which will bring the total using zero emissions heat to around three quarters.

Our existing commitments are therefore broadly equivalent to those recommended by Scottish Renewables in terms of numbers of heating system conversions. However, at this time we have not adopted these as specifically renewable heat targets, in order to accommodate other sources of decarbonised heat. We will review our provisional minimum renewable heat target of 22% in the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan which we will publish for consultation in spring next year.

It is the responsibility of the Scottish Police Authority and the Chief Constable to allocate resources across policing priorities, and to allocate officers to cases.

Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) provide a strong statutory framework to manage the risks posed by registered sex offenders with the greatest resources put towards those who present the highest risk to the public. Under MAPPA, Police, local authorities and other agencies work together to assess and monitor these individuals to reduce the risk they pose to the public. This includes proactive policing and zero tolerance of non-compliance which involves reporting cases to the Procurator Fiscal.

In 2021-22 the Scottish Government invested an additional £75.5 million in policing bringing the total policing budget to more than £1.3 billion, including £15 million one-off funding specifically to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the police budget. Police officer numbers in Scotland have been maintained and are favourable relative to elsewhere in the UK with around 32 officers per 10,000 population in Scotland compared to around 23 in England and Wales.

The section of the A1 between Edinburgh and the border with England is a trunk road and therefore responsibility for investment decisions on the route rests with Scottish Ministers. There has been no recent meaningful engagement with the UK Government on their plans for the A1 in England. Furthermore, I would like to refer the member to the previously answered question S6W-02271 on 14 September 2021 on the Scottish Government’s plans for dualling and improving the A1. 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 .

The Scottish Government recognises the value Agritourism brings to the Scottish economy and has committed to allow funds of between £50,000 to £80,000 to support a delivery plan for the Agritourism Growth Strategy.

The Scottish Government wants individuals and organisations to see energy efficiency and low and zero emissions heating as a positive choice, to understand the options available, and know where they can get help and trusted advice. The new National Public Energy Agency, as set out in our 2021/22 Programme for Government, will lead on a programme of public engagement to raise awareness and understanding of the changes that people need to make.

In the Heat in Buildings Strategy, the Scottish Government committed to developing and implementing a bespoke public engagement strategy for heat in buildings, with a focus on raising the profile of energy efficiency and zero emissions heating options so that people are aware of the benefits, as well as enabling people to actively participate in shaping the development of policy. This will be underpinned by an inclusive, people centred approach. We have also committed to developing a quality assurance policy statement which will outline our actions for quality assurance and consumer protection in relation to domestic energy efficiency and heat retrofit work in Scotland.

The Scottish Government currently provides significant support to both domestic and non-domestic groups through Home Energy Scotland (HES) and the Energy Efficient Business Support (EEBS) service (Business Energy Scotland from April 2022) respectively. HES is a single point of access for householders, providing free, bespoke, impartial advice and support on energy efficiency, renewable heating and fuel poverty support in Scotland. EEBS currently provides a substantial, free advice and support offering targeted to Scottish SMEs to uptake energy efficiency measures and zero emission heating.

As we accelerate the transformation of Scotland’s homes and workplaces, as well developing plans for the National Public Energy Agency, we are investing in growing our advice services and continuously improving them to meet the needs of householders and businesses.

The Tenant Hardship Loan Fund has not been administered by local authorities so I have assumed that you are referring to the £10m Tenant Grant Fund announced in June and have responded to your question on that basis.

The purpose of the Tenant Grant Fund is to mitigate the short to medium term financial challenges being experienced by tenants adversely impacted by restrictions and regulations introduced since March 2020, to control the spread of Covid-19.

The fund enables local authorities to prevent homelessness and sustain tenancies by directly reducing, alleviating or paying off rent arrears altogether where a tenant is in either the social or private rented sectors, and has faced difficulties due to Covid-19.

On timings, the non-statutory guidance issued to support local authorities in their administration of the grant fund sets out that it is to be used specifically to help repay rent arrears that have arisen due to the Covid-19 pandemic between 23 March 2020 and 9 August 2021; and that arrears before 23 March 2020 cannot be covered.

However, local authorities have discretion as to payment in individual cases and should consider whether the payment is a necessary or justified action to avoid the tenant becoming homeless. This recognises the experience that local authorities have in supporting people in a housing crisis, and will help identify where funding would be most effectively provided.

The Tenant Hardship Loan Fund and the PRS Landlord (non-business) Covid-19 Loan will close to new applications at the end of December allowing final loans to be paid before the end of 31 March 2022, in line with the allocation of the Tenant Grant Fund.

The Tenant Hardship Loan Fund has not been administered by local authorities so I have assumed that you are referring to the £10m Tenant Grant Fund announced in June and have responded to your question on that basis.

The following table sets out the allocation each local authority has received from the Tenant Grant Fund:

The Scottish Government since 2010 has provided funding to the Energy Saving Trust to deliver the Domestic chargepoint scheme, this scheme provides grant funding to support individuals across Scotland install electric vehicle home chargepoints.

To date Energy Saving Trust have provided 433 grants with a value of £137,423 to individuals across the Scottish Borders to install electric vehicle chargepoints.

The Scottish Government recognise the negative impact that noise disturbances can have on building occupiers. In response to queries regarding such issues Building Standards Division has previously published 'Noise - Guidance on Home Improvements' which provides advice to those considering the installation of hard surface floor coverings (such as laminates, wood, or tiles) and the benefits of providing suitable underlay materials.

Further guidance on improving sound insulation within homes can be found within 'Housing and Sound Insulation: Improving existing attached dwellings and designing for conversions' (Edinburgh Napier University) which sets out good practice on how to upgrade separating walls and floors to improve sound insulation performance. Individuals seeking to make improvements to the sound insulation of their properties are encouraged to seek advice from an acoustics professional to ensure appropriate solutions to reducing noise levels from their neighbouring properties.

Where noise from neighbouring properties is deemed excessive, individuals are encouraged to liaise with their local authority to seek specific advice on such matters.