Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04012 on 11 November 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 published its new air quality strategy ‘Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 – Towards a Better Place for Everyone’ in July this year. The strategy sets out a wide variety of actions. One action is to work with businesses, and others that might be affected, on proposals to control the sale of the most polluting domestic fuels, which include wet wood. In order to take this forward we have set up a specialist domestic (household) emissions working group, with representation from industry and key stakeholders. These proposals are still at an early stage, further consideration will be required and additional information will be made available in due course.

In taking forward this work, we will be mindful of the potential impact on businesses and domestic users. Any new measures would require to be implemented over a period of time, such as a transitional period during which businesses could adapt to the new requirements without disproportionate costs.

Plans to create and provide training courses to support the heat in buildings strategy:

Working with industry, we have developed a set of installer skills requirements to help professionalise services in the sector, and provide clearer career pathways for young people. We consulted on these earlier this year and we are now integrating these requirements into the relevant industry standards.

We anticipate that the heat in buildings transition will require a substantial growth in supply chains, particularly in the availability of skilled heating and energy efficiency installers. However, the specific scale and timing of the required workforce growth will depend on a range of factors including the changing demographics and supply chain demand across the construction sector.

We have partnered with Scottish Renewables and Skills Development Scotland to undertake a ‘Heat in Buildings Workforce Assessment Project’ which will help us define the timing of workforce growth and how best to support people transitioning into key roles. This work will report back in Spring 2022. This will improve our understanding on how best to support workforce investment and ensure that jobs will be available for people to move into as they complete their training.

Ensuring that colleges and schools have sufficient trained professionals to teach the skills required to deliver the strategy:

At the end of 2020 the Scottish Government and Skills Development Scotland published the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan, (CESAP) setting out the actions we need to take to ensure our workforce is able to support the transition to net zero.

The launch of the Green Jobs Workforce Academy also demonstrates our commitment to providing accessible information on training opportunities and skills transferability to job seekers.

Gathering and communicating data on the demand for green jobs will be crucial in developing and delivering the right skills interventions at the right time. As part of the ongoing CESAP Implementation, Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council are currently reviewing training provision in the context of our Heat in Buildings Strategy. The results of the workforce assessment project, detailed above, will serve as an evidence base for this review.

Encouraging potential students to undertake relevant heat in buildings training:

The Modern Apprenticeship (MA) is the key pathway for young people into the heating and plumbing industry. The Scottish Government provides a contribution towards training for Modern Apprenticeships through Skills Development Scotland. The public funded training contribution is structured by age and level, and prioritised to support outcomes within the Scottish Government’s skills and economic strategies.

In addition to the apprenticeship pathway, our National Transition Training Fund aims to tackle the rise in unemployment caused by Covid-19 by offering short sharp training opportunities for people to learn in-demand skills. Projects this year include funding for Historic Environment Scotland, which will deliver training on retrofitting pre-1919 buildings, while the Construction Scotland Innovation Centre (CSIC) will support the delivery of training on Passivhaus construction and retro-fit.

Cost and support to Local Authorities:

Local Authorities do not have a specific role in the provision of training through the modern apprenticeship framework. However, we are keen for Local Authorities to play a constructive role in supporting the supply chain growth required to deliver our Heat in Buildings Strategy.

We will work with Local Authorities in the development of our Heat in Buildings Supply Chain Delivery Plan, to be published next Summer, and consider any role they might have in supporting training provision as part of this work.

The Scottish Government is currently consulting on proposals for the National Care Service to ensure a wide range of views are heard and understood. Co-design with people using services and delivering services is a foundational principle in the National Care Service programme. The scope of external involvement is for the setup of the Design Authority programme management structure which will support the introduction of a National Care Service pending the outcome of consultation responses.

Additional external expertise and specialisms are required to ensure safe and robust governance for programme development. Ensuring our design processes are robust, take account of the views of people, promote system clarity and improved outcomes for people is paramount. Having external expertise to support major transformation is essential to ensure robust design process.

The PricewaterhouseCoopers contract was awarded to provide recommendations for the National Care Service design authority programme management structure which will support the proposals for community health and social care outlined in the National Care Service consultation.

The contract was awarded on 2 September 2021 in accordance with the Crown Commercial Services (CCS) Management Consultancy Framework 2 (RM6008) terms with the Contract Award Notice.

Through the LEZ support fund, eligible households disposing of a non-LEZ compliant car can claim a cash grant, plus up to £500 per adult in ‘Travel Better’ vouchers towards the cost of a range of travel options such as rail pass, bus pass, bike, car hire, or bike hire.

As eBikes are more expensive than the £500 ‘Travel Better’ grant, applicants can use the 'Travel Better' grant to part-fund the cost of an eBike and pay the additional costs themselves.

We have received 63 applications for part-funding purchases of eBikes and 63 grants have been approved as of 21 October 2021. A further 3 ‘Travel better’ grants have been also been given towards the cost of recycled/repurposed eBikes.

Applications for part-funding of eBikes represent 17% of all ‘travel better’ grants approved.

Includem, the charitable organisation who were awarded the contract for the National Childhood Bereavement Coordinator, facilitated roundtable discussions earlier this summer exploring the theme of ‘Training & Education’. These roundtable discussions were open for attendance to any individuals with experience of working with bereaved children and young people under the age of 25 in Scotland and attendees came from a wide range of backgrounds.

The Project will continue to work with those with lived experience of childhood bereavement, practitioners working to support them, and with schools, to make progress in this area and to work with schools on improving how they support bereaved children and young people. A full report, including final recommendations, will be delivered to the Scottish Government later in 2022.

The guidance on international school and educational visits was updated on 10 November to confirm that international school trips and wider educational and youth work visits can now be arranged. The guidance is available at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-school-and-youth-work-visits-and-trips/pages/international-educational-visits/

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The Throughcare Support Service was introduced in 2015 and until its suspension on 13 September 2019, comprised of 3 Regional Managers and 42.1 (FTE) TSS Officers.

Between 2015-2019 a small number of staff rotated in and out of these roles and undertook training as part of the recruitment process. However, no new staff have been trained or employed to provide SPS Throughcare Support Services since the suspension of these services in 2019.

Scottish Government is committed to decarbonising all of Scotland's building stock, including transitioning Scotland’s many valuable heritage assets to low and zero emissions heating in a way that respects and protects the special characteristics of these buildings and places. Our Heat in Buildings Strategy recognises that for traditional and heritage buildings, bespoke approaches, including skilled design and construction, may be required. We are working with stakeholders, including Historic Environment Scotland, to develop more solutions to transition Scotland’s historic buildings to zero emissions heating while respecting and preserving the special characteristics of our buildings and places, and where needed continue to build our evidence base and the guidance available for the heat transition in these buildings and areas, including in our approach to regulation.

To ensure property owners have access to suitably qualified installers, we have developed, with industry, installer skill requirements for our Heat in Buildings Strategy which includes skill requirements for any work carried out on pre-1919 buildings where installers will be required to have a 'SQA Level 3 award in Energy Efficiency Measures for Older and Traditional Buildings'.

A range of guidance is available from Historic Environment Scotland to help with potential options for the installation of micro-renewables technologies, energy efficiency measures and climate change adaptations in listed buildings, traditional homes and buildings in conservation areas. This support can be accessed through the Historic Environment Scotland website at: www.historicenvironment.scot . Of particular interest may be:

Owning a Traditional Property: https://www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support/your-property/owning-a-traditional-property/

Making changes to your Property: https://www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support/your-property/making-changes-to-your-property/

Saving Energy in Traditional Buildings: https://www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support/your-property/saving-energy-in-traditional-buildings/

Domestic loans and grants are available through the Home Energy Scotland service which acts as the gateway to all Scottish Government-funded domestic energy efficiency schemes. Home Energy Scotland advisors can offer free and impartial energy efficiency advice, and advice on how to keep homes warmer and more affordable to heat, and are contactable Freephone on 0808 808 2282. Their website containing details of all Scottish Government energy efficiency schemes available for home owners can be found at: https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/scotland/home-energy-Scotland .

Additionally, property owners may be eligible for support through heritage-related grant schemes or relevant funds which can be found : https://www.heritagefundingdirectoryuk.org/ .