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Our Fuel Poverty (Scotland) Act 2019 came into law in July 2019.

It is the most ambitious fuel poverty legislation in the UK and sets challenging targets that in 2040 (including at local authority level) as far as reasonably possible:

• no more than 5% of households in Scotland are fuel poor,
• no more than 1% of households in Scotland are in extreme fuel poverty,
• the median fuel poverty gap of households in Scotland in fuel poverty is no more than £250 adjusted to take account of changes in the value of money.

This includes interim targets for 2035 and 2030 (which only require to be met at national level).

2035:

• no more than 10% of households in Scotland are in fuel poverty,
• no more than 3% of households in Scotland are in extreme fuel poverty,
• the median fuel poverty gap of households in Scotland in fuel poverty is no more than £300 adjusted to take account of changes in the value of money.

2030:

•  no more than 15% of households in Scotland are in fuel poverty,
• no more than 5% of households in Scotland are in extreme fuel poverty,
• the median fuel poverty gap of households in Scotland in fuel poverty is no more than £350 adjusted to take account of changes in the value of money.

Our Fuel Poverty Strategy published in December 2021 sets out a comprehensive range of actions to address the four drivers of fuel poverty, especially for those at highest risk, and in working towards meeting our statutory targets. These actions have been informed by evidence, including lived experience, and learning from the changing context in response to the global pandemic and climate emergency.

In addition, we are presently consulting on the strategy’s next steps with the Scottish Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel, established under the 2019 Act, and appointed in January 2022, to provide independent advice to Scottish Ministers on fuel poverty and scrutiny of our progress towards delivering 2040 fuel poverty targets.

The Scottish Government will continue to use the powers available to them to tackle fuel poverty, and has called on the UK government to assist in that goal by reforming energy regulation to address the root cause of fuel poverty which is the cost of fuel to households. The Scottish Government can mitigate some of the impacts of this root cause, but urgent action is required in reserved areas to bring the cost of fuel bills down.

The Scottish Government will continue to use the powers available to them to tackle fuel poverty, and has called on the UK government to assist in that goal by reforming energy regulation to address the root cause of fuel poverty which is the cost of fuel to households. The Scottish Government can mitigate some of the impacts of this root cause, but urgent action is required in reserved areas to bring the cost of fuel bills down.

The Scottish Government welcomes the recent Scottish Animal Welfare Commission (SAWC) report on handheld remote-controlled training devices (e-collars).

We are considering all their findings carefully as part of our ongoing commitment to improve and enhance animal welfare.

The Affordable Housing Supply Programme supports delivery of homes across various methods of construction, including modular, but the factories the member mentions are not part of that.

Modular construction is one of a range of offsite methods used to build new homes in Scotland. It has been used in the delivery of affordable and private homes across the country in urban, rural and island locations.

The following table provides numbers of endoscopy procedures reported from inpatient, day case or outpatient settings in the past 5 years

Table 1: Number of endoscopy procedures undertaken in NHS Scotland: 2017-18 to 2021-22

The latest available information at national level relates to the position at 31 December 2022:

Ongoing waits: For those patients still waiting for a new outpatient appointment in Gastroenterology, the median wait was 130 days and 9 out of 10 waits (90th percentile) had lasted no longer than 382 days.

Completed waits: For those patients seen as an outpatient in Gastroenterology, the median wait was 58 days and 9 out of 10 waits were no longer than 509 days.

Our 2022 consultation on a new National Litter and Flytipping Strategy included proposals to explore the role of technology to obtain better data, deter litter and flytipping and aid enforcement of offences. ‘Littercam’ technology is currently being trialled on part of the trunk road network in a targeted scheme for the purpose of monitoring litter levels. The final National Litter and Flytipping Strategy will be published this year.

The Scottish Government wants to realise as many opportunities as possible for community energy and to maximise the benefits flowing to communities from our energy transition. That is why we continue to invest in CARES, which is currently putting a strong focus on heat decarbonisation while continuing to help communities assess their priorities for net zero activity, which can include potential opportunities for energy generation. Across all projects and technologies, CARES has advised over 900 organisations and offered £60 million in funding to over 680 projects. It has supported the installation of 57.9MW of renewable energy. In Na h-Eileanan an Iar, CARES has supported 44 projects and offered over £2.74 million in funding, which has supported the installation of 13.5MW of renewable energy.

The Scottish Government has commissioned independent research to consider how we create the right policy environment and target support in a way which maximises the contribution of community energy to a just transition. The outputs from this research will be used to inform future policy development and the support provided through CARES.

The current Warmer Homes Scotland contract is drawing to a close and new applications for the scheme have now ended to allow for the current customer journeys to be completed before the end of the contract. All applications received from 1 April 2023 will be assessed by Home Energy Scotland under the eligibility criteria for the successor scheme and will be passed to the managing agent for delivery when the new contract goes live on 2 October 2023. The successor scheme will run for a minimum of 5 years and the contract includes the option to extend a further 2 years which would see the programme run until October 2030.

Warmer Homes Scotland is continuing to provide energy efficiency measures to fuel poor households. Improvements will continue to be installed up until the end of the current Warmer Homes Scotland contract on 29 September 2023.

The successor scheme expands significantly on the offer of the previous scheme with a greater focus on deep, whole-house retrofit and zero emissions heating where this is not detrimental to the fuel poverty objectives. This new approach requires significant preparation from the managing agent and sub-contractors which will take place between now and October.

Scottish Goernment funded support for households is still available through the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loans Scheme, Area Based Schemes and the Fuel Insecurity Fund.

We have no plans to review the Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act 2005.

No-one should be the victim of abuse or violence while at work and assaults on NHS staff are completely unacceptable. The courts have extensive powers to deal robustly with those who attack emergency workers and we strongly encourage staff to report all instances of violent and aggressive behaviour through their local reporting systems. If it is a serious incident, then all efforts must be made to escalate to the Police as quickly as possible.

NHSScotland has joined the multi-agency Your Safety Matters (YSM) initiative, led by Police Scotland. YSM aims to minimise incidents of violence and aggression in workplaces, through campaigns, sharing resources and good practice.

BMA Scotland are the biggest medical trade union who represent 99% of unionised Junior Doctors in Scotland. We have long established successful partnership structures with BMA Scotland, and discussions on pay are held through these.

After weeks of intense negotiations, I am delighted we have come to an agreement with BMA Scotland on pay deal which they will now put to their members.

Recognising the incredible work that Junior Doctors do, we have offered a fair and progressive rise which will mean a cumulative pay increase of 14.5% over two years - the best offer on the table in the UK.