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Streetlighting is the responsibility of local councils. We are not aware of any particular supply chain issues but we would be happy to consider this if the member can provide more information.

The Scottish Government works in partnership with Local Government and Local Employability Partners to offer key worker led, person-centred holistic support. At a local level they work in communities and with partners to deliver employability services to those who are experiencing or are at risk of becoming long term unemployed and this includes people with disabilities or long-term health conditions.

Supported employment including Individual Placement and Support can offer assistance to those requiring intensive and specific help especially those with severe and enduring mental ill health.

These evidence-based models of delivery help people find or re-enter sustainable employment that fits their needs and interests. It offers intensive, individual support, rapid job search followed by placement in paid employment in the open labour market, and time-unlimited in-work support for both the employee and the employer.

We are working with a range of partners, to inform options on development of the Supported Employment offer which is currently delivered through Fair Start Scotland. From 2024 this type of support will be made available through our No One Left Behind approach with the Local Employability Partnerships.

The most recent data from the Scottish Health Survey on sports participation by children aged between 11 and 15 in each of the last five years is detailed in the following table.

Learning and evaluation continue to be a key aspect of our approach to employability services in Scotland.

The Implementation evaluation of the development and early delivery of No One Left Behind and the Young Person’s Guarantee was commissioned by the Scottish Government and published on 10 August 2023.

We will consider the recommendations from the evaluation alongside the outputs from our recent national stakeholder discussion events and actions will be reviewed to identify how we can improve.

Professor Britton’s 2018 Investigative Review gave 46 recommendations regarding the process of establishing, managing and supporting Independent Reviews in Scotland.

We accepted and agreed with the vast majority of her conclusions and recommendations. The recommendations have already been reflected in a number of inquiries and reviews established in recent years. We are also developing guidance to support inquires and reviews that will build upon Professor Britton’s recommendations and hope to publish that soon. The Scottish Government is also working on a handbook that will clarify and enhance the support that government can offer to independent inquiries.

This work has been fully informed and benefited from Professor Britton’s work and recommendations. All reviews and inquiries in recent years have also benefitted from Professor Britton’s work.

The Scottish Government remains committed to implementing the provisions of the Vulnerable Witnesses (Criminal Evidence) (Scotland) Act 2019 to ensure that the presumption in favour of pre-recorded evidence extends to children and adult deemed vulnerable witnesses.

While the presumption does not currently apply beyond children giving evidence in specified cases in the High Court, the Court does have the power to, upon application of either the prosecution or the defence, direct that the evidence of other children and vulnerable adult witnesses should be pre-recorded. This is provided for in the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 and in 2017 the High Court issued a practice note to give guidance around the use of evidence by commissioner hearings. Evidence by commissioner hearings are therefore regularly being conducted to pre-record the evidence of a wider cohort of witnesses that are not yet covered by the statutory presumption.

The Climate Change Committee has previously written to the Scottish Government setting out a series of recommendations for the reform on Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs). In response to this advice, the Scottish Government published a consultation on EPC reform on 25 July 2023. This consultation highlights proposals to revise the information displayed on EPCs by expanding the current suit of metrics and reporting other relevant information. This would provide a more holistic view to current and potential homeowners for all types of buildings. The consultation on EPC reform does not cover Scottish Government proposals to ensure homes reach a particular standard of energy efficiency or decarbonise their heating systems. This will be subject to a separate consultation on proposals for a Heat in Buildings Bill planned for later this year.

An EPC assessment for existing buildings is a non-intrusive survey and so the methodology makes assumptions based on the age and characteristics of the building. Our consultation highlights that we are reviewing the assessment and quality assurance processes to enhance the accuracy of EPCs.

The Scottish Government does recognise it may be more challenging for some homes and buildings to meet the proposed energy efficiency standards than for others. We will work with stakeholders, including Historic Environment Scotland, to develop approaches and solutions to transition Scotland’s traditional buildings, where it is technically feasible and cost effective, to achieve a good level of energy efficiency and transition to zero direct emissions heating while respecting and preserving the special characteristics of our historic buildings.

Questions of compensation in respect of a necessary wayleave will not be addressed by the Reporter when making a recommendation on whether a necessary wayleave should be granted. Although, issues which relate to the impact on the use or enjoyment of the land which may subsequently be the subject of a claim for compensation may be considered by the Reporter.

The Scottish Ministers have no power under Schedule 4 to the 1989 Electricity Act to prescribe financial conditions in any necessary wayleave case or to resolve disputes on the level of compensation. Compensation will fall to be settled by agreement between the parties or, failing agreement, by the Lands Tribunal for Scotland at the request of either party.

Zero Waste Scotland last provided advice on textiles to the Scottish Government in August 2023.

Preliminary work so far has focused on identifying and considering targets in other countries and initial proposals for a circular economy indicators framework. Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) has published:

- a review of target setting legislation across Europe Target Setting Legislation A review of UK legislation and statutory Circular Economy targets across Europe;

- a report which highlighted that there is currently no consistent approach to measuring consumption in other countries and that consumption-based targets are rare Consumption Reduction Targets (Legal Status Research) | Zero Waste Scotland ; and

- ZWS has also published initial research on proposals for a circular economy indicators framework in Scotland Proposals for a Circular Economy Indicators Framework for Scotland.