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The third sector is hugely diverse and works alongside the public and private sectors across all services and industries, often providing lifeline services in our most vulnerable communities. It faces many pressures but we know that there are particular challenges given fixed grants and falling donations.

We recognise that the third sector needs stability of funding and the opportunity for longer term planning and development. We are committed to delivering a Fairer Funding approach for the third sector, the cornerstone of which is multi-year funding, and we are now beginning the roll out of this commitment. We hope this will provide a much needed stable platform to enable the sector to work to its full potential.

Transport Scotland is currently developing a detailed programme and procurement strategy to deliver the improvements to the Old Military Road as quickly as possible. It is expected that these works will be carried out on a phased basis starting later this year. Once this work is complete I will share with the A83 Taskforce the estimated timescale for delivering Phase 1 of the medium-term solution. I share the urgency communities and businesses place in maintaining and improving connectivity of this vital route, and remain absolutely committed to ensuring continuity of access to Argyll and Bute so that the region remains open for business.

Licensing authorities have wide discretion in granting temporary exemptions or temporary licences within the powers of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 and the Licensing Order.

Temporary licences of up to six weeks are permitted under the 1982 Act. The Licensing Order also makes provision for licensing authorities to grant temporary exemptions on application for a specified single continuous period not exceeding 6 weeks in any period of 12 months. Licensing authorities can make the temporary exemptions process light touch by offering a reduced fee, shorter application form or not applying some of the mandatory licence conditions.

These powers give licensing authorities the flexibility to cater for home sharing arrangements or large local events through the provision of short-term let accommodation.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15120 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

The Scottish Government has a number of retail operations such as staff canteens that sell drinks containers and therefore, like other organisations, is working with Circularity Scotland Limited (CSL) to prepare for the launch of Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) in August.

Further to my letter to you dated 11 January 2023, an incident or pattern of wildlife mortality can be determined to be a “major conservation concern” where it might have an impact on the conservation status of the species concerned. This could be because of the scale of the impact, or because of the vulnerability of the species in question.

The conservation status relating to species can be found in the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species determines the listings on the UK Birds of Conservation Concern, and Species of European Conservation Concern.

Since becoming the first developed country to pledge funding for Loss and Damage at COP26, the Scottish Government and Ministers have actively sought to push the issue further up the global climate agenda. For example, in October 2022 the Scottish Government hosted a conference which brought together international representatives and practitioners to articulate best practice on addressing loss and damage. During COP27, the First Minister met with other governmental and organisational representatives, including Prime Minister Mia Mottley, Germany’s Special Envoy for International Climate Action Jennifer Morgan and UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell. The Minister for Environment and Land Reform also met with Ministers from Bangladesh, Ghana, Vanuatu and Malawi. Our COP27 outcome report has further details on the Scottish Government’s engagements and achievements at the UN conference. We are delighted that there is now over $300m of finance committed to address loss and damage and an international agreement for a Loss and Damage Fund.

However, we recognise we cannot lose momentum following this breakthrough. Since COP27, Scottish Government Ministers and officials have met with various other governments to better understand their plans for funding loss and damage, share lessons and urge both commitment of funding and rapid disbursement. For example, the Minister for Environment and Land Reform has discussed the issue with a Minister from North Rhine-Westphalia and will shortly meet and discuss it with a Minister from Ghana. At official level, the Scottish Government has met with representatives from UK, US and New Zealand. In addition officials have presented through subnational knowledge-sharing networks on loss and damage and climate justice. The Scottish Government will continue its convening role on loss and damage to platform best practice and to activate potential funders.

As part of this, the Scottish Government launched an extensive report on practical action to address loss and damage on 16 March at the online international Gobeshona conference hosted by International Centre for Climate Change and Development in Bangladesh. This report gathers, analyses and platforms case studies on existing action to fund and address Loss and Damage, building on the outcomes from the Scottish Government’s Loss and Damage conference. The report is be available online but the Scottish Government will make it specifically available to key governments (for example, those who are members of the UNFCCC Transitional Committee on loss and damage). With this report and our programming we are making the case internationally on the impact funding can have to support communities facing climate-induced loss and damage.

The Scottish Government’s budget of £126m is available to grant recipients to draw down until the end of March 2023. This means that there is still time for spend to be incurred, including grant funding to our delivery partners which we may need to accrue for if payment hasn’t been made before the 31 March 2023. The final actual spend for the 2022-23 financial year will be known when the Annual Accounts are finalised.

Transport Scotland is working with the grant recipients to ensure as much of the maximum amount of grant funding available is drawn down before the end of the financial year.

The Scottish Government recognises that all recorded information relating to its business is subject to Freedom of Information law, irrespective of its format or the platform on which it is held. This includes any information held in or originally generated in WhatsApp or similar messaging apps.

The Scottish Government has previously released such messaging exchanges in response to Freedom of Information requests. However, to ascertain the number of responses which have included such exchanges officials would require to individually check every FOI response the Scottish Government has issued. For that reason, this information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The number of households in each local authority that are experiencing fuel poverty is published annually (based on a three-year average) from the Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS).

The latest published set of tables for 2017-2019 are available at:

Scottish House Condition Survey: Local Authority Analysis 2017-2019 .

As the 2020 SHCS was suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic and results from the 2021 External+ SHCS are not yet published and unlikely to be consistent with previous years, the 2017-2019 results are the latest available at Local Authority level.

More recent estimates of fuel poverty at a national level based on scenario modelling have been produced. These reflect the Energy Price Guarantee of £2,500 from April to June 2023 and the end of the £400 Energy Bill Support Scheme with differing levels of additional support for various households. These estimates show fuel poverty increasing from 613,000 households (24.6%) in 2019 to 920,000 households (37%) by April 2023. This 50% increase in the number of fuel poor households will also be reflected across all local authorities in Scotland, albeit with some variation based on the characteristics of dwellings and households in each local authority.

The SHCS recorded households who reported receiving CWP in 2018 and 2019. As three years of data are needed to provide analysis at local authority level, this is not currently available.

At a national level, the SHCS estimates that about 10% of fuel poor households received CWP in 2018 and 2019, as shown in the following table. 2019 is the most recent year for which SHCS data is available.

Fuel poor households self-reporting receipt of CWP