Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-16208 on‎ 27 March 2023, which provided an update on Winter Heating Payment. 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 .

More than 670 businesses have registered so far, representing 95% of products sold in Scotland.

The number of companies in the drinks industry inevitably changes over time and, at the outset of developing a deposit return scheme, approximately 4,500 companies were estimated to have an interest in the scheme.

However, significantly less would have to register – for example, once groups of companies registering under one registration are identified, the number of individual producers/importers is likely to be below 2,000.

The Scottish Government has committed to designating at least one new National Park in Scotland during this parliamentary session provided relevant legal conditions can be met. In the Spring we will publish a draft evaluation framework with proposed selection criteria before opening the nominations process for new National Parks later this year.

We are aware of several areas which are interested in National Park status, including some which have well established campaigns. Through the nominations process, we will ask interested parties to register their interest and submit a nomination. We intend to make support available to local groups and organisations wishing to submit a nomination, for example to help arrange and host local discussions and workshops.

All proposals for New National Parks that are received will be assessed against the criteria set out in the evaluation framework and a report will be prepared. A panel of experts will then review the evaluation report and will provide advice to Scottish Ministers on which nomination or nominations should be considered for National Park designation. In theory it would be possible for the panel to recommend that overlapping or contiguous areas are considered.

NHS Lanarkshire identified that the current performance of the ventilation system within Ward 16 (haematology) does not meet the recommendations of the current Scottish Healthcare Technical Memorandum (SHTM). The health board is currently undertaking a project to upgrade the ventilation system within Ward 16, in line with SHTM requirements. A number of mitigations have been implemented to address the performance of the ventilation system in Ward 16 whilst the works are being developed and clinical teams continue to closely monitor patients with patient safety remaining at the centre of all decisions.

As at Friday 24 March, Social Security Scotland had concluded the final processing of client data and expect all automatic payments to be made by 31 March.

This means that throughout February and March almost 400,000 low income households will have automatically received £50 financial support towards their energy bills for this winter.

In line with our policy, every eligible household in Scotland will have received reliable support, regardless of the weather or where they live. At a time when energy bills are increasing, this investment of over £20 million will have provided an important financial contribution to many low income households, including those with disabled people, young children and older people, many of whom would not have received a £25 Cold Weather Payment in previous years.

Even though there is no statutory requirement to do so, I have already made the decision to uprate Winter Heating Payment in April 2023 by 10.1%, to £55.05, recognising the difficulties people are facing and will be facing going forward.

There are a very small number of payments requiring manual intervention prior to being processed, for example where we are awaiting further information from the eligible person, and Social Security Scotland is taking all measures to ensure that those final payments are made as soon as possible.

A first release of Official Statistics on Winter Heating Payment will be published on
‎ 6 June 2023 and then on an annual basis in future. These will be available on Social Security Scotland’s statistics publication page at:

https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/about/statistics/social-security-scotland-statistics-publications .

I am pleased to inform Parliament that Scottish Government has today published its improvement plan for air quality.

The improvement plan confirms that the Scottish Government welcomes and accepts all six of ESS’s recommendations.

https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781805256229

The Scottish Government has reviewed the article Night shift work and risk of aggressive prostate cancer in the Norwegian Offshore Petroleum Workers (NOPW) cohort and notes its findings.

We strongly encourage all employers to adopt Fair Work practices and apply a flexible approach regarding continuous and prolonged night shift working to protect the health and wellbeing of the workforce.

The potential carbon footprint of the vehicles used in Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme was factored into the modelling work carried out during the scheme’s development and the work concluded that scheme will reduce CO2 emissions by 4 million tonnes over 25 years – the equivalent to taking 83,000 cars off the road.

More information is contained in the Strategic Environmental Assessment Addendum published on 22 December 2021, which you can read here .

The Scottish Government engages continuously with the UK Government about energy costs in Scotland and the specific difficulties experienced by some Scottish consumers throughout the cost of living crisis. These costs can be even more pronounced for those living in our more remote areas where there may be fewer energy supply options and the climate can be more severe.

We are disappointed that the UK Government’s Spring Budget didn’t deliver an extension to the Energy Bills Support Scheme or any progress on targeting support towards those who need it the most – both of which we have been calling for on a regular basis.

The Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Covid Recovery wrote to the Convener of the Finance and Public Administration Committee on 13 December 2022, which provided the Scottish Government’s response to the ‘Ambitions into Action’ Inquiry. The letter expressed the Deputy First Minister’s shared ambition for an NPF that better achieves impact that is recognised and felt by the people who live in Scotland. The letter also set out more details on the development of the Wellbeing and Sustainable Development Bill.

The Committee, in their inquiry into the National Performance Framework, stated that where necessary the Wellbeing and Sustainable Development (WSD) Bill should also give legal effect to the outputs of the statutory review of the National Performance Framework and National Outcomes. The Scottish Government is therefore considering how the NPF can be further embedded in the practices of government and public bodies which will therefore form a key part of the development of the WSD Bill.

The Scottish Government continues to develop the policy proposals for the Bill and intended to set out more detailed proposals after the Review of National Outcomes is complete.