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There are a range of responsibilities on Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) to engage and provide information to their members and service users about proposed mergers or transfer of engagements.

RSLs are required by legislation to consult and seek the approval of tenants if it proposes to transfer its homes to another landlord. The regulator has published statutory guidance for RSLs to ensure RSLs consider and act in accordance with the views of their tenants and that tenants interests are protected.

An RSLs constitution will also set out how it should engage with its members regarding these decisions.

Standard 2 of the SHRs Regulatory Framework requires RSLs to be open and accountable and give tenants and service users information that meets their needs about the RSL, its services, performance and future plans.

Additionally, the Scottish Social Housing Charter sets the standards and outcomes all social landlords should aim to achieve when performing their housing activities, this includes that social landlords manage their business so that tenants and other customers can get the information they need about their landlord, how and why it makes decisions.

The Scottish Government is committed to maintaining high standards of animal welfare. The Scottish Government is currently working closely with the other GB administrations on potential improvements to animal transport legislation and consulting stakeholders through a series of workshops, to ensure all options are fully considered before any specific proposals are brought forward.

The Scottish Government remains committed to consulting on proposals to phase out cages for gamebirds and laying hens, as well as farrowing crates for pigs. The consultations will be prepared and brought forward in due course.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07387 on 30 March 2022. 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

This includes the funding provided to the Home Energy Scotland Advice Service in each year of operation. In each of the years listed Home Energy Scotland has fully used the allocated budget. Please note spend covers the main Home Energy Scotland funding relating to advice delivery cost.

A Home Energy Scotland advisor supporting an inbound enquiry from a new “unique” household will result in multiple separate advice interactions with that enquirer. Advisors also field calls from multiple different types of clients, including potentially fuel-poor clients. It is not feasible therefore to split the cost of delivering advice into the separate parameters requested.

The Scottish Government believes that all children and young people should have the opportunity to participate and engage as fully as possible in all aspects of school life, including trips and extracurricular activity. Scottish Government guidance on the presumption to provide education in a mainstream setting makes clear that children and young people who may face barriers to participation should be appropriately supported to access these opportunities.

The Scottish Government funds an Education Officer at Carers Trust Scotland, who works with Education Scotland, the General Teaching Council for Scotland and the Scottish Qualification Authority help ensure education staff are aware of young carers and are able to support them appropriately.

During the last Parliamentary term, the #YSAttain project supported Young Scot and local authorities to explore new entitlements around transport, leisure infrastructure and access to extra-curricular activities for young people, including young carers, aimed at improving health and wellbeing and reducing poverty. In 2022-23, £101,200 will be provided for this purpose.

The Scottish Government also funds social care support for unpaid carers, including young carers, under the Carers Act. We invested an additional £20.4 million in the 2022-23 local government settlement for Carers Act implementation. Added to similar (baselined) increases in previous years since the Act came into force in April 2018, this brings the total additional investment to £88.4 million per year. Support to young carers can include activities, including group activities.

The Scottish Government funds Young Scot to provide an exclusive platform for young carers with tailored discounts and opportunities, with funding of £234,000 in 2022-23. The package offers high value e-vouchers, subscriptions to streaming services, wellbeing boxes, opportunities to win iPads and Kindles and vouchers for family days out. As of August 2022, 2,529 young carers have signed up.

The Scottish Government also funds Carers Trust Scotland to run an annual Young Carers Festival, with £130,000 in 2022-23. This event is designed to provide an opportunity for young carers to have a break, have fun, meet other young carers from across Scotland, and speak directly to key decision makers.

Three Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services (RCDS), formerly known as Early Cancer Diagnostic Centres (ECDC), have been established in NHS Scotland, and we are committed to ensuring equitable access across the country.

RCDS’s provide primary care with a new referral route for patients with non-specific symptoms suspicious of cancer (i.e. weight loss, fatigue, nausea), which can often be a sign of blood cancer. The Clinical Leads for two of the Services are Haematologists, reflecting the role that this new model can play in diagnosing blood cancers earlier.

Our NHS Recovery Plan commits to providing greater public awareness of signs and symptoms of cancer, with a new national campaign in development and website being re-designed.

The Scottish Government will continue to work closely with primary care clinicians, including the Scottish Primary Care Cancer Group, to identify possible symptoms as early as possible and support appropriate referral via the Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer.

Our Programme for Government this year committed to use our Emergency Budget Review to double our Fuel Insecurity Fund to £20 million in 2022-23, to help households at risk of self-disconnection or self-rationing of energy use. This Fund is delivered through third sector partner organisations, specifically the Fuel Bank Foundation, Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and Advice Direct Scotland, and supports people struggling with their energy bills to the point that they are at risk of self-rationing their energy use, or self-disconnecting entirely. It includes provision for households on any tariff type and using any type of fuel.

These are operational matters for Scottish Canals. Scottish Canals receives Grant in Aid for its core duties of operating and maintaining the waterways for which it is responsible as navigation authority .

Scottish Canals has benefitted from significant increases in grant in aid awards in recent years. Since 2019, the Organisation’s capital grant from the Scottish Government has increased by 87% and it has received an annual uplift in resource funding since 2020.

We are continuing to work on the review of the Housing for Varying Needs design guide, including engagement with stakeholders, with a view to publishing a consultation on proposed updates to the guide before the end of the year.

The Scottish Government has committed to invest at least £1.8 billion in heat and energy efficiency over the course of this parliament. This funding is delivered via a range of support options, which are available to households and businesses across Scotland, including those in rural areas.

Business Energy Scotland (BES) provides support to Scottish SMEs for implementing energy efficiency and heat decarbonisation measures. The service is delivered by Energy Saving Trust (EST) on behalf of the Scottish Government and has at least one dedicated Business advisor in each of its regional call centres. BES provides a gateway for SMEs to access funding for energy efficiency and zero emissions heating through the SME loan scheme and access to the Green Network for Business.

For household support, we continue to invest in our Home Energy Scotland Loans with Cashback scheme, Warmer Homes Scotland and Area-Based Schemes and we recognise the need to tailor support to specific challenges in remote rural areas, where we know installation and labour costs are higher. Our flagship domestic energy advice service, Home Energy Scotland (HES), administered by EST on behalf of the Scottish Government, provides a single point of access for free, bespoke, impartial advice on energy efficiency, renewable heating, funding for energy efficiency and zero emissions heating systems and fuel poverty support in Scotland. HES advisors in five regional advice centres provide tailored energy advice that is location specific and takes account of the different energy use requirements of properties in different parts of Scotland, taking rurality into account.

It is vital that the supply chain is equipped with the necessary skills and qualifications to provide a high quality service to consumers and we are supporting workforce growth through a combination of reskilling, upskilling and youth employment. Skills support and training provision must be aligned at a local level with business needs and future local demands. This year, we will publish a new Heat in Buildings Supply Chain Delivery Plan, which will outline specific actions and support focussed on strengthening the broad supply chains needed to deliver at the pace and scale of our transition.

The Scottish Government has no plans at this time to amend the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 to limit peat extraction for those with valid planning permission, and no assessment of costs has been undertaken.

Our draft National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) made clear the critical role that peat and carbon rich soils have to play in helping to achieve net zero target by 2045, through sequestering and storing carbon and proposed new national planning policies such that development proposals for new commercial peat extraction, including extensions to existing sites, should not be supported except in very limited circumstances. We are pleased with the wide interest in NPF4 from across society and are carefully considering the broad range of views shared with us before finalising NPF4 for Scottish Parliament approval.

At the same time, we are taking forward work to develop and consult on a ban on the sale of peat-related garden products, as part of our commitment to phase out the use of peat in horticulture.