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The appointment of a new ministerial team has presented an opportunity to simplify portfolio titles across all parts of government. This in no way changes our commitment to the principles of a Wellbeing Economy, as set out in the National Strategy for Economic Transformation.

A growing economy that is fair and green supports delivery of our other priorities to work towards eradicating child poverty, delivering sustainable public services and tackling the climate emergency. These are and will continue to be the key focus for the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government does not currently collect any information about compliance with the new repairing standard requirements on electrical fittings. Where a tenant believes the Repairing Standard is not being met in the house they rent from a private landlord, they can apply to the First Tier Tribunal (Housing and Property Chamber) for a determination.

No new requirements for fire safety came into force under the Repairing Standard in March 2024.

A requirement for fire alarms and carbon monoxide detectors was previously part of the Repairing Standard. Since 1 February 2022, this requirement has been part of the Tolerable Standard and is therefore required in all tenures, including private rented housing.

In 2022 the Scottish House Condition Survey asked the following new question on fire alarms: Has the dwelling satisfactory equipment for detecting fire and giving warning in the event of fire or suspected fire. Responses were recorded as a yes or no answer, and in order to be recorded as ‘yes’ a dwelling must have interlinked fire alarms installed meeting a number of criteria.

The Scottish House Conditions Survey conducted in 2022 shows that around 41,000 dwellings (14% of private rented sector dwellings) failed the smoke alarm criteria.

While all dwellings meeting the fire alarm criteria have interlinked fire alarms, there may be some dwellings recorded as having insufficient fire detection equipment that do have interlinked fire alarms but failed the fire alarm criteria due to other factors such as insufficient number of alarms, improperly powered alarms, or improper locations of alarms. However, due to the yes / no mode of question this number cannot be quantified from 2022 SHCS data.

From 2023 the SHCS question on fire alarms will provide details as to why a dwelling’s equipment for detecting a fire is unsatisfactory which will allow analysis in this area from 2025.

While there is no specific, separate engagement with food delivery industry employers, the Scottish Government engages broadly with businesses and trade unions across the retail and hospitality sector on a range of issues, including fair work. Many of these businesses also operate food delivery services. There are also Industry Leadership groups for both sectors co-chaired by Scottish Government, which provide strategic oversight of key policy issues and development.

As there are currently no Standard Industrial Classification codes that specifically identify food delivery as an industry; and no Standard Occupational Classification codes that specifically identify food delivery as an occupation, it is not possible to robustly estimate the size of the sector in Scotland.

Our vision, shared with the Fair Work Convention, is for Scotland to be a leading Fair Work Nation by 2025, where fair work drives success, wellbeing and prosperity for individuals, businesses, organisations and society.

Control over employment and industrial relations legislation is currently reserved to the UK Parliament; while this remains the case, we will continue to use our Fair Work policy to drive up labour market standards for workers across the Scottish labour market.

The number of homes completed through the Rural and Islands Housing Fund in each year since 2016-17, broken down by rural (mainland) and islands is provided in the following table. There are over 80 housing units currently on-site which are expected to complete in 2024-25 through the fund. The Rural and Island Housing Fund plays an important role in offering support to community organisations and others to deliver affordable homes, while complementing the delivery through our mainstream programme by Councils and Registered Social Landlords. Between 2016-17 and 2022-23 the Scottish Government has supported the delivery of more than 10,000 affordable homes in rural and island areas.

The Scottish Government has accepted the Panel’s recommendation and agrees it is essential that we consider the impact of policy and regulation on investment and investor sentiment. The New Deal for Business is improving how policy makers consider the regulatory impact of new policies on business and investors through an updated impact assessment. This will include early engagement with the investment community on policy proposals.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-27394 on 28 May 2024. 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

One of the major contributors to the increase in wildfire risk comes as a result of climate change. The 2022 Fire and Rescue Framework sets out seven strategic priorities for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS). Strategic Priority 4 is focused on climate change, and ensuring that SFRS is suitably equipped to respond to the realities of our changing climate, including wildfires.

On a practical level, planning for and taking action to prevent wildfire is the responsibility of the land owner, with SFRS as Category 1 Responders under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.

While we know that the majority of wildfires in Scotland are related to grassland and moorland, rather than forest land, wildfires can move into woodland once established. That is why guidance on Building wildfire resilence into forest management planning (forestresearch.gov.uk) Practice Guide 22) was published in 2014 to support the UK Forestry Standard, and help reduce the likelihood and severity of wildfires in forests and woodlands, especially given the increased risk of fire due to climate change.

The Scottish Forestry - Wildfire prevention published by Scottish Forestry in 2023, supports forest owners, planners, and managers in Scotland to implement Practice Guide 22 in a Scottish context, to understand the wildfire risk to the forests they manage, and how to reduce this risk through good practice in forest design and planning.

As we continue to work to meet the challenge of changing climates we will continue to assess the suitability of our climate plans and strategies.

Wildfires are costly to fight and can cause significant damage to woodland as well as water catchments and other ecosystem services. We know that wildfires can not only result in substantial carbon loss but also cause damage to our wildlife and require costly restoration in the aftermath.

Where a wildfire has occurred on land managed by Forestry and Land Scotland, FLS monitors the area damaged by fire, it’s cause if known, and an estimate of the SFRS resource used. Last year the burnt area of the FLS estate increased from over 250 hectares in 2022 to over 340 hectares in 2023. The scale of the impact of a wildfire will depend on the severity and in some cases that recovery will be quicker than others, but research has shown that even relatively small peat carbon losses from combustion take 10 to 30 years to reaccumulate post-fire.

In March of this year we published a Fire Danger Assessment of Scottish Habitat Types Deliverable-D2_3b-Fire-Danger-Fuels-Final-6-3-23.pdf (hutton.ac.uk) as part of our Strategic Research Programme for Climate Change Impacts on Natural Capital. That report, carried out by the James Hutton Institute, includes consideration of wildfires in Scotland. However we have not undertaken any research into the economic impact of wildfires more specifically.

As we expect to see more extreme weather events, and further warming in Scotland, the Scottish Government recognises how important it is to adapt and prepare for the impacts of climate change.

Our land managers and local communities have a vital role in mitigating and responding to wildfires. In line with the Fire and Rescue Service Wildfire Operational Guidance Fire and Rescue Service Wildfire Operational Guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) t he Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) continues to encourage and support the formation of local fire groups such as those operating in North and South Grampian as well as Badenoch and Speyside.

At recent significant wildfires, the involvement of partners has been instrumental in successfully managing the incidents. SFRS have, and will continue to, learn from these experiences as well as consider where improvements can be made.

Wildfire mitigation is an important part of land management, and the Scottish Government will continue to engage with communities to ensure we are able to respond to wildfire risks.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of modal shift to help achieve transport emission reduction targets. The Freight Facilities Grant scheme is designed to provide assistance to companies who wish to move freight by rail or water instead of by road. The scheme required State Aid clearance and under the terms of the approval rail and water haulage equipment, including rail wagons, was prohibited from support.