Seòmar agus comataidhean

We are clear that there is no place for harassment or abuse of any form, whether in the workplace, schools, in the home, or in society. That is why Equally Safe, Scotland’s strategy to prevent and eradicate violence against women and girls, challenges the notion that violence is inevitable or acceptable and prioritises primary prevention.

Education settings have an important role in preventing violence against women before it occurs through teaching children and young adults about healthy relationships and consent. In August 2021, we launched our ‘Equally Safe at School’ initiative which was developed with Rape Crisis Scotland, Zero Tolerance, and the University of Glasgow. Our Mentors in Violence Prevention peer education programme delivered in schools throughout Scotland seeks to enable young people to recognise and speak up against gender based violence, bullying, abusive and violent behaviour, as well as the negative societal attitudes and assumptions which underpin this behaviour.

Over the next two years, the Delivering Equally Safe Fund will invest £817,350 in the continued delivery of the national sexual violence prevention programme and the implementation of the ESAS whole school approach to preventing GBV. Furthermore, the Delivering Equally Safe funds White Ribbon Scotland £150,000 to maintain and develop projects and events which engage with men and boys to end violence against women, particularly in seeking to prevent violence before it happens.

Additionally, all higher education institutions in Scotland are expected to adopt and adapt the trauma informed Equally Safe in Higher Education Tool Kit and factor a gendered analysis into their approach to this issue. We are taking action to improve gender equality in workplaces and improve the attitudes that create the societal conditions for gender based violence to perpetuate through the employer accreditation programme Equally Safe at Work.

In Autumn 2021, Police Scotland launched the 'That Guy' sexual violence campaign across various forms of social media and TV advertisements which urged men to take responsibility and to address their behaviour as well as challenging those of their peers. The campaign stimulated conversations and turned the narrative away from preventative advice to women, towards focusing on men’s behaviour.

The Scottish Government has committed within the Programme for Government to expand the availability of the Caledonian System and increase our investment to £10 million over the next two years. The innovative and internationally recognised Caledonian System programme provides male perpetrators of domestic abuse with specific rehabilitation services to address and challenge their harmful behaviours.

The design of the Just Transition Fund is currently being developed through discussion with regional partners to ensure that together we secure maximum impact. This work will also be supported by the engagement that is being undertaken to support the development of the draft Energy Just Transition Plan. An update on plans will be given in due course.

We expect the first £20 million of the Fund to be allocated within this financial year (2022-23).

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all children and young people are able to access the right support for their mental health without stigma, including medication where this is the most appropriate intervention.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the numbers of children and young people aged 19 and under who were prescribed antidepressants in conjunction with psychological therapy in 2019-20.

NICE guideline NG134 sets out the procedures for clinicians treating children and young people who may be experiencing instances of depression. The guidance is clear that psychological therapy and other therapeutic interventions are the first recommended treatments for children and young people experiencing mild to moderate depression. The guidance also makes clear that antidepressant medication should only be offered to a child or young person with moderate to severe depression in combination with a concurrent psychological therapy.

The numbers of children and young people being prescribed with antidepressant medication is extremely small. The latest Public Health Scotland data, shows that in 2019-20, in the 0–19 age category, 1.8% of children and young people in Scotland were prescribed anti-depressants.

The Energy Saving Trust publishes information on the typical range of installation costs for heating and micro renewable systems.

Installation costs for these technologies are affected by a variety of factors, including dwelling characteristics, locally available resources (such as proximity to a river) and local availability of suppliers and materials. The fact of a home being on or off the gas network does not in itself affect upfront costs for these technologies. However, the factors that do influence costs tend to be differently distributed between urban and rural areas. For example, the average floor area of rural homes is higher than for urban homes (meaning higher capacity heating systems may be required on average), and transport requirements or weather disruptions can add costs in remote rural and island settings.

We recognise the distinct challenges remote rural and island communities face in the transition to zero emissions heating. Our Heat in Buildings Supply Chain Delivery Plan will include a specific focus on developing local supply chains particularly in our islands and remote communities to help bring costs down. We will set out more details of our approach to decarbonisation in island settings in the forthcoming Islands Energy Strategy.

Through Home Energy Scotland, the Scottish Government funds interest-free loans for homeowners with cashback grants of up to £7,500 for zero emissions heating plus up to £6,000 for energy efficiency measures.

The Energy Saving Trust’s running cost information can be found at:

(a) high heat retention electric heating systems: https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/advice/electric-heating/

(b) air source heat pumps: https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/advice/air-to-water-heat-pumps/

(c) ground source heat pumps: https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/advice/ground-to-water-heat-pumps/

(d1) micro-hydro: https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/advice/hydroelectricity/

(d2) micro-wind: https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/advice/wind-turbines/

The Scottish Government’s national fuel poverty scheme Warmer Homes Scotland offers low-carbon alternatives, where these are technically appropriate for the property. These include High Heat Retention Electric Heating Systems, Air Source Heat Pumps, Ground Source Heat Pumps, Micro-hydro and Micro-wind systems. We have also extended the range of measures we fund through local Area Based Schemes to include zero/low carbon heating and microgeneration measures, as well as targeting hard to treat properties requiring external or complex cavity wall insulation.

Households that are not eligible for help as part of our fuel poverty programmes can apply for a Scottish Government loan via Home Energy Scotland. Help is available with the costs of purchasing and installing a heat pump worth up to £10,000 (this is made up of £2,500 loan and £7,500 cashback). Households can also apply for up to two home renewables systems per home as part of an overall loan package worth up to £17,500. More information about the cashback and loans available from the Scottish Government is published on the Home Energy Scotland website.

£200 million in grant funding is also available over the next five years through the Social Housing Net Zero Fund (SHNZF) to accelerate the delivery of energy efficient, zero emission heating systems to social housing projects across Scotland.

Social Security Scotland routinely monitors applications received and the time between when part 1 and part 2 of applications are submitted.

Information on applications received is published as part of routine Official Statistics publications on Child Disability Payment. The second high level statistics covering the period from 26 July to 21 November 2021 were recently published on 18 January 2022 and are available at https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/reporting/publications/child-disability-payment-pilot-high-level-statistics-to-21-november-2021 . The next set of Child Disability Payment statistics are due to be published in February 2022. This will cover the period from 26 July 2021 to 31 December 2021.

Segregated waste collected for recycling is sent to either a recycling facility or a materials recovery facility to be sorted before recycling. In some cases, where waste is too contaminated to be recycled or sorted, it may be diverted to incineration or landfill.

Data on the amount packaging within waste that is too contaminated to be recycled or sorted and which is incinerated or landfilled is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government welcomed the recommendations of the Overton Report on Deepening Collaboration on Food and Drink in Scotland, including the recommended physical co-location of key personnel within food and drink industry leadership bodies and the public sector. These recommendations have informed how the Scotland Food and Drink Partnership has evolved over time and helped foster deeper collaboration and integration across the public and private sectors to achieve common goals. Scotland Food and Drink and Seafood Scotland are now co-located at Ratho Park.

While the impacts of COVID have created a demanding operating environment for businesses, home and hybrid working arrangements have also facilitated much closer working between the bodies that make up the Partnership and removed physical location as a barrier to collaboration.

The Scottish Government has provided support to households for energy saving measures through a number of support and advice schemes over the last 5 years. Home Energy Scotland, administered on behalf of the Scottish Government through Energy Saving Trust, acts as a single point of access for advice on sustainable energy and fuel poverty support in Scotland. We also offer support and advice through other Scottish Government schemes providing energy saving help or fuel poverty relief to households. The information on these schemes has been provided to the Scottish Parliament Information Centre at BIB number 63123.

During the COVID-19 pandemic we prioritised work on the Short-term lets Licensing Order and Amendment Regulations for short-term let control areas. This enabled the statutory instruments for these to be considered by the Scottish Parliament in this session and meant the review of the tax treatment of short-term lets was deferred.

We intend to recommence the tax treatment review in the coming months to ensure that short-term lets make an appropriate contribution to the communities they operate in.