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An implementation evaluation of No One Left Behind and Young Person’s Guarantee was published in August 2023.

This evaluation considered progress in implementation and delivery of No One Left Behind and Young Person’s Guarantee, the experiences of service providers and service users, barriers and enablers to implementation and identified lessons from early delivery. These areas are core features of process evaluations .

The Implementation Evaluation of No One Left Behind and Young Person’s Guarantee is available at: No One Left Behind and the Young Person's Guarantee: implementation evaluation - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The working groups that fall under the remit of the Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy portfolio are:

1. A trading Nation Delivery Working Group

2. All Age Employability Steering Group

3. Community Wealth Building (CWB) Bill steering Group

4. Construction Leadership Forum

5. Employability in Scotland Operational Group (ESOG)

6. European Structural Funds Joint Programme Board

7. European Structural Funds Programme Monitoring Committee

8. Financial Services Growth & Development Board (FISGAD)

9. Green Freeports Programme Board

10. Green Investment Portfolio Project Assessment Panel

11. Hydrogen Industry Forum

12. Improvement Working Group

13. Industry Leadership Group Chairs Roundtable (ILG CRT)

14. International Trade Partnerships 2 Trade Missions Working Group

15. Investment Co-ordination Group

16. LENCG: Local Electricity Networks Coordination Group

17. Life Sciences Export Plan Delivery Group

18. Manufacturing Strategic Leadership Group

19. MEPG: Major Electricity Projects Group

20. National Strategy for Economic Transformation Delivery Board

21. National Strategy for Economic Transformation Portfolio Board

22. Net Zero First Minister Investor Panel

23. New Deal for Business Group (NDBG)

24. Non-domestic energy consumers working group

25. No One Left Behind Working Group

26. Onshore Wind Strategic Leadership Group

27. Offshore Renewables Short Life Working Group

28. Partnership Assurance Group

29. Regular Construction for Leadership International Group

30. Renewables Export Plan Delivery Group

31. Retail Industry Leadership Group [please note this group is economy related but chaired by the Minister for Local Government Empowerment and Planning]

32. Rural energy consumers working group

33. SEAB: the Scottish Energy Advisory Board

34. Scottish Taskforce Green & Sustainable Financial Services

35. Oil and Gas and Energy Transition SLG

36. Supply Chain Development Programme Steering Group

37. Tourism & Hospitality Industry Leadership Group

38. Tech Export Plan Delivery Group

39. Vulnerable energy consumers working group

40. Wellbeing Economy Expert Advisory Group (WEEAG)

41. Wellbeing Economy Governments WEGo

Please note these groups will be kept under review.

We take the threat from fraud very seriously and, through the NHS counter-fraud standards, continue to work with NHS Boards to combat fraud against our NHS to ensure that health funding is used where it is needed most – treating patients.

Procurement by NHS Boards is administered independently of Scottish Ministers and it is for NHS Boards to ensure that tendering exercises are in accordance with relevant rules and guidance to ensure that all bidders are treated appropriately and best use of public funds.

The Scottish Government has an ongoing programme of evaluation on the employability services it provides.

A programme of evaluation has been in place for Fair Start Scotland (FSS) since its inception and all evaluation reports are publicly available on www.gov.scot . The evaluations have adopted a range of methodological approaches to represent and capture the experiences of a variety of contexts, including rural, medium, or large urban areas. The Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3 FSS overall evaluation reports provide information on outcomes associated with taking part in FSS for individuals with a range of socio-demographic characteristics, including participants living in rural areas.

The Year 1 report is available at: Fair Start Scotland evaluation report 2: overview of year one - November 2019 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Year 2 report is available at: Fair Start Scotland - evaluation report 3: year two - overview - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Year 3 report is available at: Fair Start Scotland: evaluation report 4 - year 3 overview - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

An implementation evaluation of No One Left Behind and Young Person’s Guarantee was published in August 2023. The evaluation explored how effectively No One Left Behind and the Young Person's Guarantee had been implemented, the experiences of service providers and service users, and lessons from early delivery. The first stage of fieldwork included interviews with local employability stakeholders within several local authority areas, with areas selected to ensure a mix by geography (island, rural, medium / large urban), size and stage of implementation of service delivery.

The Implementation Evaluation of No One Left Behind and Young Person’s Guarantee Implementation is available at: No One Left Behind and the Young Person's Guarantee: implementation evaluation - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government will continue to undertake evaluation of its employability services, and plans for further evaluation activity are under development.

I am pleased to announce that a £500,000 pilot fund will be made available this month to support women to leave an abusive partner.

Supporting victim/survivors of domestic abuse is a priority for the Scottish Government and financial uncertainty should not be a barrier to women leaving a relationship with an abusive partner. We are piloting a fund to leave in the 5 local authority areas where there are highest number of presentations to local authorities for homelessness assistance by women due to domestic abuse. These are Glasgow, South Lanarkshire, Edinburgh, North Lanarkshire and Fife.

The Scottish Government publishes grant support that it has provided to the marine and fisheries industries, including aquaculture. Details can be found here - https://www.gov.scot/policies/marine-and-fisheries-grants/grants-awarded/

Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) have provided the following information regarding funding they have provided:

• In 2019-2020, Scottish Enterprise provided Mowi Scotland Limited £750 for a learning journey showcase event.
• In 2021, HIE awarded Mowi Scotland Limited £51,074 grant in aid towards a £248,600 staff training project for its new fish feed facility in Kyleakin.

The safety of homeowners and residents is our absolute upmost priority and Ministers are committed to the assessment of and ensuring remediation of multi residential buildings with potentially unsafe cladding. Work is underway to ensure that the 105 buildings in the pilot programme are on a pathway to a Single Building Assessment by the summer of 2024 and we will continue to engage closely with developers and the supply chain to ensure further assessment, mitigation and remediation so that no homeowner or resident is left without an assessment or a pathway to remediation.

I can confirm that the Scottish Government has undertaken a scoping exercise on the feasibility of a fund to provide financial support to women experiencing domestic abuse in order that they can leave that relationship safely.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6O-02601 on 5 October 2023, and reiterate the points made in that response. Meeting of the Parliament: 05/10/2023 | Scottish Parliament Website .

I am pleased to announce that the Rural and Islands Housing Action Plan has been published today. https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781835210239 .

My previous reply to question S6W-21311 set out that home exchanges are within scope of short-term let licensing legislation. This is because the host is benefitting from exchanging their accommodation, whether this is by gaining 'points' for letting their accommodation that they can save up and use to secure holiday accommodation for themselves at a future time or through a reciprocal exchange of accommodation with another host (that may or may not be simultaneous). Further explanatory information about the inclusion of 'benefits in kind' as part of commercial consideration is set out in the Policy Note published alongside The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022 (legislation.gov.uk) .

Where an individual has asked another individual to house or pet-sit and the arrangement does not involve payment for the accommodation or a benefit in kind, this is an ‘informal arrangement’ between individuals and is out of scope of short-term let licensing.

Where the host is offering the accommodation for the principal purpose of facilitating the provision of work or services by the guest, this is also exempt from the requirement for a short-term let licence.