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The Scottish Government understand the challenging financial circumstances that leisure centres and swimming pools are facing and are fully aware that rising energy costs are a significant issue.

We have repeatedly called on the UK Government to use all the powers at its disposal to tackle this cost of living crisis and to provide appropriate energy bill relief to sport and leisure facilities.

We are considering what support can be provided to the sport and leisure sector in Scotland, following the announcement by the UK Government of the financial package to support swimming pools in England.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government as this is an operational matter for Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park Authority. I have therefore asked the Park Authority’s Chief Executive to write to the Member to provide details.

In September 2020, ClimateXChange published a study titled “Potential sources of waste heat for heat networks in Scotland”. The report examined a variety of potential waste heat sources, including data centres.

The study identified nine commercial data centres located in Scotland, but recognised the actual number is likely to be much higher. In addition, some commercial data centres are likely to be kept confidential for security reasons. It concluded that the total waste heat that can be recovered from data centres is therefore likely to have been underestimated in the study.

The study can be accessed at the following address:

https://www.climatexchange.org.uk/research/projects/potential-sources-of-waste-heat-for-heat-networks-in-scotland/?msclkid=42fdd948b3fe11ecbd09640b7d2a6cc2

Preparatory work pre-consultation involved gathering, analysing and commissioning academic evidence. We also commissioned projects with Young Scot and the Youth Parliament to ensure that young people’s voices were central to our proposals.

We have not done any preparatory work on implementation as no decisions have been taken on scope or on the type of restrictions that might be taken forward, our next steps depend entirely on the responses to the consultation itself.

Of the fifteen gateway review recommendations for the period the question relates to, eleven are complete and four are ongoing.

A table has been placed has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (BIB number 64087). The table details the recommendation and the status against each individually at this present time.

This is a matter for NHS Boards. The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

The information requested is already available in the public domain on CalMac’s website by following the link:

Annual Carrying Statistics | CalMac Ferries

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 Scottish Government is investing in the bus network to support long term growth, with the 2023-24 budget allocating £425.7m for concessionary fares and bus. The aim of the Network Support Grant is to help commercial operators keep their fares lower, and enable these operators to run services that might not otherwise be commercially viable, thus contributing to the maintenance of the overall bus network.

I appreciate that operators are experiencing challenges with rising costs and driver shortages which has led to concerns over the Network Support Grant base rate. I chair the Bus Taskforce to consider these issues with stakeholders, while recognising that many of the levers are reserved to the UK Government. These are matters which the UK Government could be providing assistance with but have thus far failed to do so.

The Scottish Government is providing extra funding to support a marketing campaign to encourage people back to bus. In line with our long-term goal to encourage a shift from private vehicles to sustainable modes of transport, we continue to engage with operators, delivery partners and other key stakeholders to promote public transport as an attractive way to travel as more people begin to return to workplaces and travel for leisure purposes more often.

The Scottish Government has no plans to commission such research.

The BuiltPlace article itself refers to the methodology being “limited in multiple ways”.

The Scottish Government set out in response to question on 22 May 2022 how it monitors the size of the private rented sector using data from the Scottish Landlord Register.

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