- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 11 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to work with local authorities that have historically high fuel poverty rates.
Answer
Our Fuel Poverty Strategy, published on 23 December, details how we aim to meet our statutory fuel poverty targets, as set out in the Fuel Poverty (Targets, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Act 2019 ("the 2019 Act"). The 2019 Act requires us to meet our 2040 targets both nationwide and within each local authority area, so we recognise that local authorities will be key partners in our efforts to achieve our fuel poverty goals.
Local authority fuel poverty and extreme fuel poverty rates are used to determine the funding allocations for our Area Based energy efficiency schemes (ABS), which are delivered in partnership with local authorities, ensuring money is distributed according to need.
Local authorities are currently required to set out their plans for how to tackle fuel poverty in their Local Housing Strategies (LHS). We will be refreshing our guidance on the fuel poverty requirements of the LHS to reflect the approach taken in our Fuel Poverty Strategy. In future local authorities will also be required to produce Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies (LHEES), within which they will set out how poor energy efficiency will be removed as a driver of fuel poverty.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 11 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether the early warning system, referenced in the Scottish Drug Deaths Taskforce’s Interim Report, is on track to be developed and rolled out by 31 March 2022, and whether it will detail how the system will operate.
Answer
The early warning system, referenced in the Scottish Drug Deaths Taskforce’s Interim Report, is on track to be developed and rolled out by 31 March 2022.
Public Health Scotland is leading the development and will operate this system by working closely with Health Boards to monitor information on drug harms. The early warning system will review evidence of trends or clusters of drug harms or deaths and support early, targeted and intelligence-led action in response. When concerns about clusters or trends in drug harms are identified, a risk assessment will be completed to guide actions and communicate risks where appropriate.
An advisory group will be in place to ensure actions are taken at a local and national level to reduce further harms.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 11 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the National Patient Safety Alert issued by Public Health England, Potent synthetic opioids implicated in increase in drug overdoses, which was issued on 18 August 2021, whether it has been notified of any instances of (a) isotonitazene and (b) other synthetic opioids having been detected in the illegal drugs market in Scotland, and, if so, (i) when and (ii) where each instance occurred.
Answer
The emergence of new drugs is regularly monitored by Public Health Scotland and, following the alert from Public Health England in 2021, work is underway to incorporate screening for isotonitazene into toxicology procedures for both drug-related deaths and police seizures in Scotland.
In relation to detection of substances, unfortunately we do not hold information broken down to the level of detail requested. Scottish Government publish statistics on the number of drug possession and supply crimes and the quantities seized. These statistics relate to drugs controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. The full report can be accessed via this link:
Drug seizures and Offender Characteristics, 2018-2019 and 2019-20 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
The Psychoactive Substance Act 2016 made it an offence to produce, supply, offer to supply, possess with intent to supply, possess on custodial premises, import or export psychoactive substances. The number of crimes of production, supply or possession in custody of a psychoactive substance was 2 in 2018-19, 10 in 2019-20 and 8 in 2020-21 (source: annex of the above noted report).
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 11 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the comments by the Minister for Drugs Policy on 17 June 2021 about Public Health Scotland’s ongoing surveillance work (Official Report, c.57), how many people (a) have died and (b) were admitted to hospital in connection with the consumption of (i) isotonitazene and (ii) other synthetic opioids in 2021, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
Unfortunately, we do not hold the information requested.
National Records of Scotland produce an annual National Statistics publication each year on drug-related deaths in Scotland. The most recent year for which this drug death information is available is 2020. The next report, covering drug-related deaths during 2021, is due to be published in summer 2022.
Public Health Scotland information on hospital activity relating to illicit drug use in Scotland does not identify the substances specified - heroin and methadone are the only opioids with specific ICD-10 diagnostic codes (ICD-10 refers to ‘International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision, the international standard diagnostic classification for all general epidemiological, health management purposes and clinical use).
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 11 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the changing situation with the COVID-19 pandemic, what additional support it will make available to mitigate any financial hardship faced by taxi drivers in (a) Dundee and (b) Scotland as a result of the pandemic's impact on their ability to earn a living, and what assurances it can provide that any support will be made available to taxis drivers in a timely manner.
Answer
We recognise the pandemic’s impact on the economy and businesses across a wide range of sectors. So far, the Scottish Government has provided £79.3 million directly to taxi and private hire drivers and operators in response to the pandemic. Further support of up to £28 million was announced on 5 January 2022 from within the £375 million package of funding announced on 21 December 2021, bringing total support for the sector to over £107 million. The Scottish Government is also calling on the UK Government to re-introduce schemes such as the Self-Employment Income Support Grant in order to make further support available. We work closely with delivery partners to make payments to eligible businesses at the earliest opportunity, which is of course our established approach.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 11 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it is considering making eligible green plant and machinery, such as solar panels, wind turbines and battery storage that is used with renewables, exempt from non-domestic rates.
Answer
The Scottish Government currently provides the most generous non-domestic rates regime for renewable energy generation in the UK. Under the Valuation for Rating (Plant and Machinery) (Scotland) Regulations 2000, solar panels, wind turbines and storage batteries are already exempt from rating where they are used for the generation, storage, transformation or transmission of power, where the power is mainly or exclusively ‘for distribution for sale to consumers’.
The Scottish Budget 2022-23 will expand the Business Growth Accelerator relief for property improvements to include the installation of solar panels as a qualifying improvement. The Business Growth Accelerator is unique in the UK and provides 100% relief on new builds for up to 12 months after first occupation and no rates increases for 12 months after a qualifying property improvement.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 24 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 11 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what work it has undertaken to understand what proportion of local area emissions public bodies have (a) direct and (b) indirect leverage over.
Answer
The statutory targets to reduce Scotland’s economy-wide emissions to net-zero, set under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 and Climate Change (Emissions Reductions Target) (Scotland) Act 2019, are set at the national level and are not disaggregated to local authority levels.
New regulations, which came into force on 9 November 2020, require around 180 Scottish public bodies by November 2022 to report, where applicable, the body’s target date for achieving zero direct emissions of greenhouse gases (or such other targets that demonstrate how the body is contributing to Scotland achieving its emissions reduction targets) and, where applicable, targets for reducing indirect emissions of greenhouse gases. It is for those public bodies to determine where best to target their resource and effort to support achievement of respective targets to reduce emissions.
- Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 January 2022
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 11 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an explanation of its decision not to proceed with the sale of Glasgow Prestwick Airport at the present time.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 11 January 2022
- Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 January 2022
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 11 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how it will assist young people to access the expanded free bus travel scheme.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 11 January 2022
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 January 2022
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 13 January 2022
To ask the First Minister what support the Scottish Government can provide to people struggling to pay their energy bills.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 13 January 2022
