Seòmar agus comataidhean

A final response to S6W-15363 was issued on Monday 13 March 2023.

There were five full-time equivalent lead teachers that met the required inclusion criteria for the 2022 School Staff Census, these were all from Scottish Borders. The role of lead teacher was established in June 2021, therefore figures are not available for earlier years.

The School Staff Census predominantly reports on posts with a classroom teaching remit, some lead teachers may be employed in posts without a classroom teaching remit and therefore will not be included in the counts collected and reported as part of the annual census.

There is no information held centrally on the budget or funding for lead teacher appointments. The recruitment and employment of teachers in local authority schools are matters for individual councils, as they have the statutory duty for education expenditure and to deliver education. Councils have the statutory responsibility for providing a complement of teachers, including lead teachers, and all other necessary support staff which best meets the needs of each of their schools and its pupils within the resources available.

The Scottish Government allocates budgets to the college and university sectors at aggregate level. SFC holds the responsibility to distribute funding to individual colleges and universities. Prior to publishing funding allocations, the SFC works with the college sector to identify the best split of the available resources provided in the Budget, taking into account Government priorities and the college sector’s needs. Scottish Government priorities are outlined in the annual letter of strategic guidance, which is normally issued in March/April each year. SFC announces indicative allocations in March and final allocations to the sectors in May each year.

The Scottish Government expects to issue the 2023-24 Letter of Guidance to the Scottish Funding Council in April this year.

Management Agreement Costs

Schemes for Annex 1 goose species (barnacle geese, white-fronted geese) and pink-footed geese at Strathbeg

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15692 on 20 March 2023. 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 .

We intend to publish a consultation on the third phase of our review of permitted development rights (PDR) in the Spring. Phase 3 will consider PDR for renewable energy equipment, which will include the proposal to remove the 50kW restriction on domestic and non-domestic solar PV sites.

The Warm Home Discount is a rebate upon energy bills that large energy suppliers are obliged to provide, not a social security payment administered by the Scottish Government. Whilst some powers are provided to Scottish Ministers to design a separate Warm Home Discount scheme in Scotland, these require the consent of the UK Government.

All households in receipt of Pension Credit Guarantee Credit are automatically eligible for a WHD rebate in Scotland, England and Wales (Core Group 1). Households in England and Wales in receipt of low income benefits or tax credits (Core Group 2) are not automatically eligible for a WHD rebate. The UK Government further restricts eligibility for this group in England and Wales based upon data matching.

These low income households only receive a rebate if they also live in a property that is assumed to have low energy efficiency. The UK Government uses Council Tax data held by the Valuation Office Agency to estimate energy costs and uses this as a proxy for low energy efficiency. This approach reflects the definition of fuel poverty adopted by the UK Government in England (low income, low energy efficiency).

Scottish Ministers do not agree that energy efficiency is the main driver of fuel poverty. The Scottish Parliament has unanimously agreed a definition of fuel poverty that is not dependent upon the energy efficiency of people’s homes. The valuation roll data held by the Scottish Assessors Association is not relevant in establishing fuel poverty on this basis.

In 2021, Scottish Ministers formally proposed a more flexible, fairer and simpler fuel poverty scheme to replace the WHD scheme in Scotland. This would have provided an automatic rebate to vulnerable households across Scotland. We have also repeatedly pressed UK Ministers to increase funding for the WHD rebate to reflect the higher level of need in Scotland. UK Ministers did not agree to do so and continue to decide the total value and number of rebates provided. Nevertheless we remain willing to work with the UK Government to improve the help available to vulnerable families across Scotland.

Scottish Ministers have limited powers to design and implement a separate scheme in Scotland. These require the consent of the UK Government. Previous proposals by Scottish Ministers to increase the value and number of rebates provided to vulnerable households were not agreed by UK Ministers. The UK Government continue to reserve to themselves the powers to set the value of the rebate and the total value of the obligation in Scotland. However we remain willing to work with the UK Government to improve the help available to vulnerable families across Scotland.

The value of the rebate and total value of the scheme in Scotland was established in regulations approved by the Westminster Parliament. The Warm Home Discount (Scotland) Regulations 2022 (legislation.gov.uk) .

Information about the number of rebates provided by the scheme is published as an annual report by Ofgem, the independent regulator. Warm Home Discount (WHD) - Reports and data | Ofgem Further information about delivery of the 22-23 Warm Home Discount scheme has not yet been provided to the Scottish Government.