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Earlier this year, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) wrote to the Scottish Government setting out a series of recommendations for the reform on EPCs, noting that the current energy efficiency rating on EPCs is a measure of energy costs, not energy efficiency. Homes with lower EPC ratings are more likely to use expensive heating fuels, and this is often the case for off-gas grid properties. So, they can be relatively well insulated but still receive a low EPC rating. In addition, if fuel costs change in the underlying methodology used to generate EPCs, the energy efficiency rating for a property could change.

In response to this advice from the CCC, the Scottish Government published a consultation on EPC reform on 25 July 2023. Our proposals include the addition of a new metric of fabric efficiency - how well the building retains heat. This proposed metric will be independent of the heating fuel used in a property. This metric, alongside the existing cost based metric and information on the heating source will provide a more a holistic reflection of a dwelling’s energy performance.

There is no proposal within our EPC Reform consultation to penalise any property. Rather, our proposals for reform should ensure that current and prospective building owners and tenants have better information on the energy performance and emissions of their building and how this could be improved.

SW1 was a draft plan option that was considered in the draft Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy (SMP-OWE) and formed part of the consultation in 2019 and 2020. The option was removed before adoption of the final SMP-OWE.

The INTOG planning process, which considered the output of the adopted SMP-OWE, excluded the Solway Firth for the purpose of this plan. As the SMP-OWE review and INTOG planning processes have been combined to provide a full assessment of offshore wind across Scotland and consideration of cumulative and in-combination impact, that exclusion is still relevant.

The SMP-OWE sets out the work that would need to be carried out that would allow Scottish Ministers to reconsider the option.

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering the grade separation of Sheriffhall roundabout as part of its £300 million commitment to the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal.

Following publication of the draft Orders and Environmental Statement, Transport Scotland received a significant number of objections to the proposed scheme. Although Transport Scotland engaged widely with objectors, it was unable to resolve all objections. In view of this, a Public Local Inquiry was held from 31 January to 8 February 2023. As with all trunk road projects this is the appropriate statutory forum for considering objections received and not withdrawn. The independent Reporter is now giving detailed consideration to all evidence before making recommendations to the Scottish Ministers for a decision.

Construction of the proposed scheme can only commence if it is approved under the relevant statutory authorisation process and thereafter a timetable for its progress can be set.

Additionally, the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) will inform the Scottish Government’s transport investment programme in Scotland over the next 20 years and was published in December 2022. It recommends that the priorities for future investment on the A720 are focused on improving safety, reliability and resilience. The transport appraisal that supported the review did not recommend any further large scale intervention beyond that proposed at Sheriffhall.

At this stage it is not possible to estimate the cost of the removal or remedial action required for reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete within the NHS.

The Scottish Government (SG) provides Financial Transactions (FTs) in the form of loans (such as Health Board GP Loans) and equity investments (such as the Help to Buy Scotland programme). Loans are capital amounts that are to be repaid.

FTs are managed and monitored by the SG Portfolio business area that issue them. FT outturn data is reported annually as part of the provisional and final outturn process. For those business areas falling within SG’s accounting boundary, information on performance is reported in the Scottish Government’s Consolidated Accounts. Overall FT performance is set out in the Scottish Government Annual Report, which reviews both the cash impact of schemes (advances, repayments, and write-offs) and their valuation through consideration of an annual impairment review and review of their fair value.

The Scottish Government and Agencies are responsible for reviewing and monitoring the performance of their FTs and reporting will vary: Fund managers (including Energy Savings Trust and the Scottish Investment Fund) may provide monthly or quarterly reporting alongside annual reports and multi-year programme performance reports to SG Portfolio teams. Loans paid out directly to loan applicants (such as the Help to Buy Scotland Programme) will be monitored directly by the Portfolio area responsible for them. These reports are reviewed and used to provide advice to Ministers on the future of individual programme and project funding.

The financial information provided in the answer to question S6W-21659 on 4 October 2023 is for FTs that fall within the SG’s accounting boundary and are reported within the SG Consolidated Accounts. The loan values are the net book value, after consideration of any impairment of changes to fair value through multi-year discounted cashflow models or from consideration of the impact of housing prices on the housing equity based loans. All arms-length bodies outside of the SG accounting boundary will be responsible for their own reporting.

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 Scottish Government agreed to include targeted Land and Buildings Transaction Tax relief and Non-Domestic Rates relief, alongside UK Government reserved tax reliefs and seed capital funding, to ensure that the offer to Green Freeports in Scotland was competitive with Freeports elsewhere in the UK.

Working with Transport Scotland, Scottish Futures Trust published a market insights report looking at electric vehicle (EV) tariffs on its website in November 2022. This report highlights significant opportunities to harness private sector investment to support the continued development of Scotland’s EV charging network.

The pace and scale of investment in the public network will increase over the coming years; and our Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund aims to leverage £60 million of public and private investment to increase the size of the network to 6,000 charge points by 2026.

Overall, ScotRail passengers will benefit from significant reduction in the average fare charge. Super off-peak journeys only account for 2.7 per cent of all journeys made on ScotRail services. The purpose of this trial is to establish impact on removing time restrictions on tickets and therefore this trial is looking to establish the effect of the flat fare throughout the day, to encourage modal shift from car to rail.

The Task Force has been meeting during 2023, most recently in August, to progress this work. Minutes of the Ministerial meetings are published on the Transport Scotland website.

Scottish Government and Orkney Islands Council (OIC) officials have also met regularly to support OIC’s consideration of options for the long term renewal of the Orkney internal ferry fleet. OIC is currently preparing an updated business case to inform future budget discussions.

The enhancement delivery plan document is a Network Rail document, not a Transport Scotland document. It is for Network Rail to comment on the status of its Enhancement Delivery Plan milestones.

Transport Scotland actively monitors progress across Network Rail’s Enhancement portfolio, including the Aberdeen – Central Belt 2026 enhancement project.