The Scottish Government are aware of the issues around leading edge erosion, but have had no specific discussions with Siemens on this topic.

The voluntary review into Glasgow homelessness services is a partnership approach by Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council focused on improving practice around the failure to provide temporary accommodation to homeless households. The voluntary review is on - going and is aligning with the inquiry of the Scottish Housing Regulator into Glasgow's homelessness services. I have been clear with Glasgow City Council that he expects it to meet its statutory duties to provide those at risk of homelessness with appropriate housing and support.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with the Council to ensure that duties to provide accommodation to homeless households are met.

Any recommendations from this process will be for Glasgow City Council and it will be a matter for the Council to consider the publication of any findings.

The Working Group has identified options in Lancashire and between Abington and Glasgow that, in conjunction with HS2, could also increase capacity and achieve an air competitive Glasgow to London journey time of approximately 3¼ hours.

The Working Group is currently taking forward work to determine if there would be a strong business case for implementing these options, which will be presented to the Scottish Government and the UK Government in due course to inform their investment decisions.

Scotland’s response to the global climate emergency must be a truly national endeavour. There is a significant role for the whole of Scottish society in supporting transformational change. For this reason, constructive dialogue with the Scottish public must be a central pillar of our approach.

Last summer, the Scottish Government ran a series of public engagement events called the Big Climate Conversation. Over 2,500 people across Scotland in rural, island, and urban areas participated. These events were an opportunity for people to voice their opinions and concerns about climate change, Scotland’s net-zero target, and the Scottish Government’s response to the global climate emergency. All the findings have been summarised in the Big Climate Conversation Report that was published on 30 January and is available on the gov.scot website.

The findings from the report will be used to inform the revision of our new climate change public engagement strategy, which is due to be published in Spring 2020. This strategy will set out our approach to engaging the Scottish public on climate change and encouraging public participation in the transition to net-zero emissions.

As we update our Climate Change Plan, three cross-cutting engagement events are being held this month in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. Several hundred stakeholders, including a mix of public, private and third sector organisations, as well as community groups are invited to join the national dialogue. These events have been designed to gather views on Scottish Government policy proposals, and invite further constructive proposals, as well as offer advice and support for businesses, communities and the public sector on the collective action that’s required to end Scotland’s contribution to climate change.

Later this year a Climate Citizens’ Assembly for Scotland will meet. The Assembly will play an important role in informing decision making as we consider the far reaching changes across society that will be required to meet our ambitious targets.

COP 26 in Glasgow will be focused on addressing the global climate crisis and setting the world on course to transition to a net-zero world in a way that is fair and just for everyone. Our approach to tackling climate change is supported by the Just Transition principles, to help ensure that no one is left behind as we move to a net-zero economy. We established an independent Just Transition Commission which is conducting a wide range of engagement to ensure its recommendations will reflect the concerns and aspirations of people across the country.

 A number of impact assessments which consider socioeconomic factors are undertaken for new Scottish Government policies and strategies, where appropriate. This includes the Fairer Scotland Duty, Equalities Impact Assessments and Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessments.

In particular, the Fairer Scotland Duty places a legal responsibility on the Scottish Government and other public bodies in Scotland to actively consider how they can reduce inequalities of outcome caused by socioeconomic disadvantage, when making strategic decisions.

The Scottish Government is committed to tackling the global climate emergency and reaching net-zero emissions in a way which is fair and just for all.

The Scottish Government currently funds a number of schemes to support the uptake of renewable and low carbon heat, including support for heat networks and for individual households and businesses to install low carbon heating. Where we currently provide funding for fossil fuel heating systems we have already increased support for renewable and low carbon heating, for example via Warmer Homes Scotland.

We recognise the need to phase out support for fossil fuel heating, which we will do between now and 2024, where it is appropriate and does not adversely affect achieving our statutory fuel poverty targets. We are also committed to working with industry to introduce a requirement for new homes to have low carbon heating from 2024, i.e. for all new build properties to no longer use fossil fuel boilers from this date.

The Draft 2020-21 Budget allocates £120 million for a Heat Transition Deal to accelerate the deployment of low carbon heating sources. Later this year, we will publish a Heat Decarbonisation Policy Statement which will include a programme of actions to scale up deployment of low carbon heating and taking into account the need to scale up capacity within the supply chain.

As stated in the answer to S5W-27472 on 27 February 2020, if, in advance of the backstop date, the tenant has not changed, and has legitimate reasons to refuse access for installing measures, the regulations allow the landlord to seek an exemption based on this precise situation.

There are further existing safeguards for tenants from eviction. A landlord must provide the correct notice and obtain an eviction order from the First-tier Tribunal (Housing and Property Chamber) before a property can be recovered. Depending on the tenancy agreement, there could be penalties for misleading a tenant into leaving.

Of course, should the landlord wish to subsequently let the property again, they will face delay and additional expense to find a new tenant. They will of course need to meet the energy efficiency regulations .

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

The Scottish Government regularly met with local authorities, individually or as part of a group before and during the 2019 consultation and continues to have discussions with local authorities.

The Scottish Government set up a short life working group on enforcement, made up of representatives of local authorities, that met several times to discuss and inform proposals for enforcement before and after the 2019 consultation.

The Scottish Government continues to take part in a number of local authority forums to discuss the role of local authorities in enforcement.

Senior officers from the Scottish Government met with COSLA on a number of occasions to discuss the role of local authorities in enforcing the regulations for energy efficiency in the PRS.

The Scottish Government will publish draft guidance in April and will use this to continue engagement with local authorities and key stakeholders.

Addressing fuel poverty, climate change and tackling energy efficiency have been long term priorities for the Scottish Government.

Improving the energy efficiency of homes in the PRS sector is part of an overall framework of standards and support across all tenures and buildings through our Energy Efficient Scotland programme. This is early action, going ahead of the owner occupation sector in recognition of the existing levels of poor energy efficiency within this tenure, and following the progress of the social sector. The higher levels of Fuel Poverty in the PRS supports the need to press ahead with this early action in the PRS.

For these reasons, there is a further commitment that all PRS properties should be at EPC C by 2030, where technically feasible and cost effective – bringing these homes up to the same standard as owner occupiers.

Our Warmer Homes Scotland Scheme helps homeowners and private rented sector tenants who are on a low income and are struggling to heat their home. The scheme is designed to make their homes warmer through installing a range of energy efficiency measures, who meet the qualifying criteria. Further information and qualifying criteria is available on the Home Energy Scotland https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/scotland/grants-loans/heeps/heeps-warmer-homes-scotland-scheme or by contacting Home Energy Scotland on 0808 808 2282.