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I meet jointly with the Chairs and Chief Executives of both agencies to discuss progress in collaborative working on skills every 6 weeks.

This is supported by an assurance group, chaired by Senior Civil Servants and including the Senior Responsible Officers for all collaborative skills projects.

A Shared Outcomes Framework that defines the collaborative projects, sets out strategic objectives, key milestones, deliverables, impacts and measures is currently being developed by the Scottish Government and both agencies to enable more effective monitoring and reporting of joint action in this area .

This information is not held centrally. You may wish to contact the Health Boards for the four NHS Assisted Conception Units in Scotland who may be able to provide this information. Contact details for each Health Board is set out below.

NHS Grampian – for the Aberdeen Assisted Conception Unit

By Email: gram.communications@nhs.scot

By Post:

NHS Grampian
‎ Summerfield House
‎ 2 Eday Road
‎ Aberdeen
‎ AB15 6RE

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde – for the Glasgow Assisted Conception Unit

By Email: foi@ggc.scot.nhs.uk

By Post: NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

Board Corporate Headquarters

JB Russell House

Gartnavel Royal Hospital

1055 Great Western Road

GLASGOW

G12 0XH

NHS Lothian – for the Edinburgh Assisted Conception Unit

By Email: foi@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk By Post: Lothian NHS Board

Waverleygate

2-4 Waterloo Place

Edinburgh

EH1 3EG

NHS Tayside - for the Dundee Assisted Conception Unit

By Email: tay.informationgovernance@nhs.scot

By Post: Information Governance

Maryfield House (South)
‎ 30 Mains Loan
‎ Dundee
‎ DD4 7BT

The Scottish Government has given full consideration to ensuring Distance Aware badges and lateral flow device (LFD) tests are available across Scotland, including in rural, remote and island areas.

As well as Distance Aware products being available in ASDA stores and online from a number of charities, we have also ensured badges and lanyards are available in all community and mobile libraries across Scotland. We will monitor and evaluate awareness, uptake and impact of the initiative over the coming weeks.

People living in rural and remote areas can also access LFD tests online, or collect from participating local pharmacies and dispensing GPs. Additionally, we have provided local partners with LFD tests, signage and posters, to establish additional LFD test community collection points over the winter period. These sites range from transport hubs to vaccination centres and are advertised on local authority websites.

The measures that the Parole Board had to take in response to COVID, to ensure the safe working of staff and others, meant that it has not been feasible to facilitate arrangements for a victim to observe a Tribunal. The Parole Board rules require proceedings to be kept confidential which means that a member of staff needs to be present, with the victim observing by video link.

The Parole Board has however, used this time to put in place the mechanisms needed to allow this to happen when it is safe to do so. In light of the relaxation of the working from home guidelines from 1 February 2022, the Parole Board has indicated that it will now begin to consider requests to observe hearings, with a view to testing first before moving to full implementation in the Spring. Granting of requests to view a Tribunal is a matter for the independent Parole Board following consideration of representations from the prisoner.

Lord Advocate’s guidelines to Police Scotland on the use of Recorded Police Warnings have been in place for a number of years. My statement to the Scottish Parliament on 22 September 2021 was reflected in a corresponding amendment to the guidelines.

The current guidelines permit a police officer to issue a Recorded Police Warning in relation to an offence involving simple possession of all classes of controlled drug.

We already require projects funded as part of our fuel poverty schemes including Local Authority Area Based Schemes, Warmer Homes Scotland and the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund to comply with all relevant building regulations, retrofit standards and guarantee requirements. The PAS 2035 standard has applied since July 2021 and retrofit installers must now work to this specification.

This was further developed in our Heat in Buildings Strategy where we announced our intention to adopt PAS 2035 for all our domestic schemes.

The Non-Domestic RHI (NDRHI) scheme closed to new applicants on 31 March 2021. The Domestic RHI (DRHI) scheme is set to close on 31 March 2022. The Scottish Government has set out in its Heat in Buildings Strategy a number of grant schemes which will continue to support the deployment of zero emission heating systems post RHI closure.

In total, the Scottish Government has committed £1.8 billion for heat decarbonisation for this parliamentary session, which will be delivered through various delivery schemes. This includes a £400m successor programme to the Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme, which will be launched early this year. It will provide funding to heat projects such as large scale heat pumps and heat networks whilst also prioritising new technologies for decarbonising multi-tenure buildings and retrofitting whole buildings with low carbon heating systems.

Support for homeowners to install zero emissions heating systems and improve energy efficiency is available through the Home Energy Scotland (HES) Loan and Cashback Scheme, which offers interest-free loans with up to 75% cashback. Scottish Ministers have committed to continuing our loans-with-cashback schemes for homeowners and SME businesses to support energy efficiency and zero emissions heat improvements, and will replace the cashback offer with a grant scheme during 2022-23.

Scottish Government is in discussion with the Scottish Funding Council to explore the resource needs it requires to fulfil its mission now and into the future. This includes how we can best support SFC in 2022-23 financial year.

We will continue to work with the Scottish Funding Council to ensure that it has the capacity it needs to operate effectively.

The following table details affordable unit completions in Stirling since 1 st April 2017 to 30 th September 2021 by (i) new build and (ii) off the shelf.

The Stirling Renewable Heat Demonstration Project cost £5,124,000. The Scottish Government provided £2,005,331 through the Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme. The work was completed in August 2019.

The district heating network serves a number of buildings in Stirling, including St. Modan’s High School, Forthbank Stadium and Conference Facilities, the Peak Leisure Centre, the Robertson Trust Barracks Development, Jubilee House (owned by Volunteer Scotland) and Moray House.

The project brings several benefits to Stirling, including:

• a 10% savings to end users compared to their heating costs using traditional boilers;
• reduction in associated operational costs, including servicing and boiler replacement;
• income generation to Stirling Council over 40 years;
• wider community benefits include local job creation, upskilling and regeneration of the local area.

The Stirling Renewable Heat Demonstration Project has scope for expansion, including to future proposed development at the Public Sector Innovation Hub and Heritage Hub.