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The Creative Digital Initiative (CDI) launched on 23 March 2021, with businesses being able to register their interest to be informed when grant funding would be made available.

Businesses who had registered their interest were offered the opportunity in Mid-June 2021 to submit summaries for innovative digital projects. These summaries were appraised by an team consisting of representatives of Scottish Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise, and decisions will be finalised shortly. Successful projects will receive funding of between £20,000 and £50,000, as well as advice, information and development support or a mixture of these in order to fully deliver the project objectives within this calendar year.

South of Scotland Enterprise have also run a number of courses through the CDI that aim to increase confidence in digital understanding while breaking down technical jargon – these courses have been attended by 56 practitioners/organisations. As part of the CDI, Creative Scotland are currently delivering a programme that will support up to 50 individuals and cultural organisations to leverage digital tools and skills in their creative practice, audience engagement and organisational strategy.

In addition, following the success of the DigitalBoost Grant, where the Scottish Government invested £20 million in over 2200 SMEs to help improve their digital capacity and capability, the Scottish Government is investing a further £25 million to re-open the programmes, as part of our 100 days commitment. This forms part of a broader commitment to invest £100 million over the life of parliament to support our SMEs to take advantage of digital technologies to drive forward our economic recovery.

All businesses who have registered on the CDI website (XpoNorth | Register Your Interest) will receive a notification once the DigitalBoost Grant scheme is live.

Since the beginning of the pandemic the Scottish Government has announced £175 million support to the culture, creative, heritage and events sectors. The dates in brackets are the announcement dates:

• £1.2 million for Creative / Screen Bursaries (March 20)
• £17 million to address hardship faced by creative freelancers (August 20, March 21)
• £12.5 million then £12 million for Performing Arts Events Venues Relief Fund (July 20, June 21)
• £13.1 million then £13m for Culture Organisations and Venues Recovery Fund (August 20, June 21)
• £3.5 million Open Fund (August 20)
• £4.25 million for youth arts, including the Youth Music Initiative (August 20 and subsequent additional funding)
• £0.5 million Creative Communities (August 20)
• £6.0 million for the Culture Collective programme (November 20)
• £6.2 million for Grassroots Music Venues (July and December 20)
• £5.6 million for independent cinemas (2 rounds) (August 20 and March 21)
• £0.4m for Museums Urgent Response fund (March 20)
• £7.1 million for Museums Recovery and Resilience Fund (2 rounds) (July and December 20)
• £31.5 million for the Events sector (July and December 20)
• £3.8 million for National Trust for Scotland to protect jobs (August 20)
• £21.3 million for Historic Environment Scotland (August 20 )
• £5.9 million to support heritage organisations via committed grants (August 20)
• £270,000 for the New Lanark Trust (August 20 )
• £3.1 million for historic environment recovery (September 20) (£2.6m resource, £0.5m capital)
• £1 million for V&A Dundee (October 20)
• £0.5 million for Capital Theatres (October 20)
• £150,000 for Glasgow International (November 20)
• £81,00 for Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society (November 20)
• £3 million for Aberdeen Performing Arts, Eden Court Highlands and Capital Theatres (January 21)
• £150,000 for St Giles (February 21)
• £1 million Creative Digital Initiative (CDI) (March 21)
• £900,000 in Capital for Capital project increases (Burrell Collection, David Livingstone Birthplace and Fruitmarket Gallery) (October 20, November 20, January 21)

This includes the most recent announcement in June of £25 million for the Cultural Organisations and Venues Recovery Fund (COVRF) and the Performing Arts Venues Relief Fund (PAVRF). £17m of this has now been allocated and contracting is underway. The Scottish Government is currently in discussion with cultural stakeholders, including Creative Scotland, regarding how the remaining £8 million will be allocated.

In total therefore £167 million has been formally allocated and contracted and passed to our delivery partners including, Creative Scotland, Museums Galleries Scotland, Events Scotland and Historic Environment Scotland. A small amount of this funding is not yet fully spent. This includes £287,000 of funding to heritage organisations, £132,000 for museums, and £1.5 million funding for events. There are in addition final payments to be made from Creative Scotland to Culture Collective, Youth Arts and Open Fund.

We are still awaiting clarity from HM Treasury on why the additional £40 million of culture consequentials, which were announced as part of the £300 million uplift to the Culture Recovery Fund in the UK Budget in March 2021, have not yet been passed on to the Scottish Government.

Scottish Government officials continue to hold frequent meetings with SEPA to support them and to better understand risks, consequences and responses as they recover. SEPA’s progress is reported through their weekly service status update which is published on its website. They have also recently published their Annual Operating Plan which outlines their priorities to March 2022.

The Scottish Government authorised an overspend of up to £2.5m against the approved 2020-21 resource budget allocation to cover unforeseen costs including accessing cyber recovery expertise in the immediate aftermath of the attack and fund recovery work. In 2021-2022 SEPA have been given the flexibility to use all available funding to best effect to ensure a successful recovery.

SEPA continue to manage within their overall allocated annual budget for 2021-2022. This is reviewed on a monthly basis with Scottish Government Officials.

On 11 November 2020, the Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning announced in Parliament the continuation of the Rural and Islands Housing Funds beyond March 2021 with up to £30 million available to support this demand led scheme as part of the five year Affordable Housing Supply Programme in the current parliamentary term.

In relation to how the Scottish Government monitors the quality of customer service, specialist expertise and willingness to undertake and quote for work for Warmer Homes Scotland and Area-Based Schemes, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-01002 on 21 July 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 following information relates to Home Energy Scotland (HES) advice services and the HES loans/cashback scheme, which includes domestic biomass as an eligible measure.

It is a condition of the HES loan/cashback that the customer must use an MCS certified installer for renewable heat systems (including biomass). Furthermore, the measure must be recommended on either the EPC or in a report issued by a HES specialist renewables advisor.

The Home Energy Scotland (HES) advice service, managed by the Energy Saving trust (EST) on behalf of the Scottish Government, is the gateway to the HES loan/cashback scheme and other SG-funded schemes.

Customer service quality at HES is monitored through monthly customer satisfaction surveys. All HES advisors are trained and qualified in accordance with the Home Energy Scotland SQA accredited training programme. HES also recommends that all customers (whether accessing HES loans/cashback or not) use installers with relevant certifications, such as MCS for renewables installations. This ensures that the work carried out meets MCS’ technical standards which also requires membership of a consumer protection body. They also recommend that customers get three quotes for each piece of work to allow reasonable price and detail comparison for work proposed.

Customers are also directed to the Scottish Government-funded Renewables Installer Finder tool to search for local MCS-certified installers. HES are strictly impartial in terms of installer recommendations but this tool provides customer reviews to help support their decision making.

In terms of installer capacity to undertake and quote for work, the Scottish Government funds EST’s sustainable energy supply chain programme to help develop capacity amongst installers through development of support and training in low and zero emissions heating technology installations, webinars and events as well as support for training costs which we deliver in partnership with Energy Skills Partnership.

We are committed to ending the practice of landfilling biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) in line with recommendations from the Climate Change Committee.

While we have not made an assessment of the isolated employment impact of the ban on sending BMW to landfill, landfill will continue to be an important treatment method for some waste types. Moreover, there is no restriction preventing landfills currently accepting BMW from continuing to accept other waste types, for which landfill presents the best environmental outcome, following implementation of the ban on landfilling BMW.

We have an opportunity for renewed impetus in building a fully circular economy in Scotland which will drive materials up the waste hierarchy and keep them in high value use for as long as possible. Many businesses are already promoting the adoption of circular economy practices, for example to actively increase waste prevention and reuse by rethinking operations, diversifying businesses and supporting innovation. Research suggests that the same amount of waste can create far more jobs through recycling, re-use or repair than landfill. The report is available here: Final-briefing-on-reuse-jobs-website-2.pdf (rreuse.org) . In addition, ZWS have also carried out research to identify how many current jobs are associated with the circular economy as well as the future roles and skills required: New research from Zero Waste Scotland and Circle Economy reveals scale of sustainable jobs | Zero Waste Scotland .

Our policies continue to support suitable hydrogen projects and proposals of smaller scale Schemes of this funding scale may fall under the banner of local energy systems, in which case support may be available through:

• CARES which may be able to provide funding support: https://www.localenergy.scot/funding/ . This scheme has supported projects such as the Huntly hydrogen project in the north east: https://www.localenergy.scot/projects-and-case-studies/case-studies/community-owned/huntly-hydrogen
• The Local Energy Systems Scottish Industry network (LESSIN) can also direct towards funding whilst providing other types of support - https://es.catapult.org.uk/impact/projects/local-energy-systems-scottish-industry-network/

Where there is clear economic benefit (jobs, regional growth etc.) and a contribution to net zero and in particular Scottish Enterprise’s Hydrogen Economy national programme ambitions, Scottish Enterprise’s place team may be able to become involved as a partner on projects and provide support for certain activities such as strategy development, market and economic research, meetings and events, facilitation of workshops & appraisals

Any prospective hydrogen production project owners in the North East are also encouraged to contact Scottish Enterprise’s hydrogen economy national programme team ( SEHydrogenEconomy@scotent.co.uk ) so that they are aware of the project and can connect it to other relevant projects, companies and initiatives.

If the project involves buses (including mini-buses for smaller projects), Transport Scotland’s Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge fund ( https://www.transport.gov.scot/public-transport/buses/scottish-zero-emission-bus-challenge-fund/ ) could help with the cost of the vehicles, but also associated infrastructure (e.g. hydrogen refuelling stations at a very attractive 85% intervention rate).

Additionally, the Hydrogen Policy Statement published on the 21 December 2020 sets out the Scottish Government’s vision for Scotland to become a leading Hydrogen Nation with an ambition to generate 5GW’s of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen by 2030, committing to £100 million funding to accelerate the hydrogen economy in Scotland over the next five years.

The framework provided by the Hydrogen Policy Statement is informing the development of a Hydrogen Action Plan in 2021 which will provide further detail on the planned approach and necessary actions to assist the growth of a Scottish hydrogen economy.

In the development of the Hydrogen Action Plan, the Scottish Government is considering a wide range of options and actions to provide financial support to companies investing in the Scottish hydrogen sector to assist the Government in meeting the ambition to reach 5GW’s of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen production by 2030 as set out in the Hydrogen Policy Statement.

I refer the member to the question S6W-01692 on 16 August 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 .

We have not made an assessment of this kind. Scottish Ministers’ view, as set out in our Climate Change Plan update, is that renewables, carbon capture technologies, storage, system flexibility and greater energy efficiency comprise a more efficient and economic means of meeting Scotland’s energy needs and emission reduction targets than investment in new large nuclear stations.

I refer the member to the question S6W-02013 on 22 August 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 .