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Under current legal aid provision, BSL interpreting costs can be paid as an outlay where legal aid or advice and assistance is in place. When a person requires such support to access legal services, the Legal Aid Fund will meet these costs. The Scottish Legal Aid Board is currently undertaking a consultation on its approach to accounts assessment, within which it has proposed to continue to assess BSL interpreting as part of its general outlays policy.

The Scottish Legal Aid Board has also promoted the availability of ContactScotland BSL service to solicitors. This Scottish Government funded service, has expanded to allow BSL signers across the country to make phone calls in their first or preferred language. It is a VRS (virtual relay service) for making phone calls, or conversation where both parties are not in the same place. It is available 24 hours a day throughout the year.

The Scottish Government has established a British Sign Language Justice Advisory Group, as part of its BSL National Plan 2017-2023. The role of this BSL-led justice advisory group is to provide expertise and guidance to justice agencies. The Group is to play a key role in developing and delivering a programme of improvements to help the justice agencies better meet the needs of BSL users.

Zero Waste Scotland’s report The Carbon Footprint of Scotland's Household Waste summarises the carbon impacts of Scotland’s household waste using the latest Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) published waste data. This report provides information on the relative carbon and weight-based impacts of Scotland’s waste generated and managed. The most recent data shows that in 2019 the carbon impacts of Scotland’s household waste fell to the lowest on record, 16% below 2011 levels. Further information is available at https://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/our-work/carbon-metric-publications .

Data on local authority household recycling rates is published by SEPA and available at https://www.sepa.org.uk/environment/waste/waste-data/waste-data-reporting/household-waste-data/ .

The Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund asks social landlords to provide evidence of tenant engagement as part of the funding application process and encourages consultation with tenants before any work begins.

The fund, which will support the social housing sector over the next 5 years, reopened this August and welcomes applications from social landlords who want to upgrade their existing housing stock. The fund remains open throughout the year. Applications can be submitted at any time and are assessed on a quarterly basis.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04485 on 29 November 2021 2021. 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 commissioned an Environmental Report as part of a comprehensive consultation process prior to the creation of the Single-use Plastic Regulations recently laid before the Scottish Parliament.

This report is published on the Scottish Government’s website here and shows the following estimated yearly figures used in Scotland for the products requested:

Scottish Government officials met with representatives from the National Union of Students (NUS) Scotland on 14 October to discuss the shortage of available student accommodation this academic year. The matter was also discussed at the meetings of the Covid Recovery Group and the Purpose Built Student Accommodation Steering Group on 20 October, and at the Student Accommodation Group meeting on 4 November. The issue of housing capacity was highlighted in these meetings, and proposals for dedicated meetings with universities and accommodation providers from areas experiencing particular problems in this academic period were explored, and will be taken forward.

The Scottish Government has no direct role in the provision of student residential accommodation whether the accommodation is managed by universities or private sector organisations. However, we remain committed to working further with universities and student associations to develop solutions to the present shortfall in renting opportunities for students.

Our Programme for Government commitment to review Purpose Built Student Accommodation and our 100 days commitment to establish the next stage of this, is already underway and will be taken forward in parallel with work to ensure rent affordability and improving standards across the private rented sector.

Since 1 January 2020 19,378 individuals have successfully applied to the Individual Training Account programme and have claimed and used their funding entitlement to access training opportunities.

As the member is aware, mainland Health Boards have postponed some of their non-urgent elective activity to ensure they can continue to protect urgent activity, including vital cancer treatments, and to cope with staffing and other pressures they are currently experiencing. As such, decisions are taken on an individual Health Board basis dependent on the particular circumstances and pressures they are facing each week. It is not possible to indicate how long such postponements will last.

However, the Scottish Government are monitoring Health Boards’ elective activity through daily and weekly Health Board returns and are providing support where it is required.

All local authorities are now offering 1140 hours of funded early learning and childcare (ELC) to all eligible children. Figures published in October 2021 by the Improvement Service show that at the end of August 2021, nearly 91,000 children in Scotland were accessing funded early learning and childcare. Of these 91,000 children, 97% are accessing expanded provision, and 87% - nearly 80,000 children – are choosing to take up the full 1140 hours on offer.

Each local authority is responsible for developing a local ELC offer that meets local people’s needs and circumstances, working in partnership with providers, and they have a statutory duty under the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 to consult with parents every 2 years on how they provide these services.

This will help local authorities to ensure that there is an appropriate mix of providers and patterns of delivery within each authority area, and that is delivered in a way which is responsive to parental demand.

In each local authority area parents should be able to choose from a range of types of setting, offering different patterns of provision, and which meet the National Standard, but we do not expect every setting to offer every possible pattern of provision that a parent may request.

Local authorities have worked incredibly hard with their partners to introduce the expanded ELC offer while dealing with the challenging circumstances and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Local ELC offers will continue to evolve in response to patterns of demand and local circumstances.

The eligibility criteria for the new round of Climate Justice Fund will be set before programming starts from April 2022. It is likely that the focus of the Fund for programmes run by the Scottish Government will be on Scotland’s three partner countries of Malawi, Rwanda, and Zambia.