Today's political diary: Tuesday, May 23

Scottish Parliament

Today’s business includes:

• Topical Questions
• Scottish Government Debate: Scottish Connections Framework
• Decision Time
• Members’ Business: S6M-07928 East Renfrewshire Good Causes (in the name of Jackson Carlaw)

The following Committees are meeting this morning:

• Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
• Finance and Public Administration Committee
• Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
• Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
• Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
• Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee

UK Parliament

Today’s business includes:

• Oral Questions: Energy Security and Net Zero (including Topical Questions)
• Westminster Hall debate: Renumeration for Post Office subpostmasters and subpostmistressess
• Westminster Hall debate: Societal impacts of autonomous last-mile delivery
• Oral Questions (Lords): Plans by water companies to increase customer bills to fund investment
• Legislation (Lords): Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Bill – third reading
• Legislation (Lords): Online Safety Bill – committee stage (day 8)
• Orders and Regulations: Immigration (Electronic Travel Authorisations) (Consequential Amendment) Regulations 2023 - motion to regret
• Data Protection and Digital Information (No.2) Bill – Debate to further consider the Bill
• Energy Bill [HL] – Debate to consider the Bill
• Sixth Delegated Legislation Committee – Debate on The draft road Vehicles (Authorised Weight) (Amendment) Regulations 2023
• Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee – Oral evidence session on the Work of the UK Statistics Authority
• Treasury Committee – Private meeting
• Business and Trade Committee – Oral evidence session on Batteries for electric vehicle manufacturing
• Science and Technology Committee (Lords) Private meeting on The effects of artificial light and noise on human health
• Treasury Committee – Oral evidence session on Bank of England Monetary Policy Reports
• Industry and Regulators Committee – Private meeting
• Communications and Digital Committee – Oral evidence session on Review of the Digital Markets, Consumer and Competition Bill
• Defence Committee – Oral evidence session on Defence and Climate Change
• Foreign Affairs Committee – Oral evidence session on Recovery in Ukraine
• Justice Committee – Oral evidence session on Constitutional relationship with Crown Dependencies
• Economic Affairs Committee – Oral evidence session on Bank of England: how is independence working?

Aberdeenshire Council

Today’s business includes:

• Banff and Buchan Area Committee
• Marr Area Committee

Aberdeen City Council

Today’s business includes:

• Education and Children’s Services Committee
• Urgent Business Committee

News/Funding/Consultations

• NEW: Consultation: Royal Mail service changes. The Scottish Parliament’s Economy and Fair Work Committee are gathering public views on the proposed Royal Mail service changes and the impact of recent strikes, in advance of a Committee evidence session in which these views will be put to Royal Mail. The Committee are particularly interested in hearing from businesses and rural communities. For more information, or to respond to the consultation, please click here. The closing date for responses is 8^th June.
• Consultation: New National Parks – appraisal framework. One of the priority actions contained within the draft Biodiversity Strategy is the designation of a new National Park within Scotland. This consultation is seeking views and comments on the associated appraisal framework and the selection criteria to be used in determining the successful applicant park. For more information, or to respond to the consultation, please click here. The closing date for responses is 4^th August.
• Consultation: Local living and 20 minute neighbourhoods: draft planning guidance. The fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) sets out a clear commitment to think differently about our places, putting climate and nature at the forefront, tackling long standing challenges and inequalities, and leading the transition to stronger, greener, fairer and healthier communities across Scotland. A key element of this agenda is the need to plan, design and deliver places that support local living and 20 minute neighbourhoods, where people can meet the majority of their daily needs within a reasonable distance of their home. Delivering local living and 20 minute neighbourhoods requires an understanding of the specific context of a place. Whatever the context - cities, town, village, rural and island communities - the views and interests of local people must be at the forefront of the decisions made about a place. The Scottish Government is therefore consulting on the draft planning guidance in relation to this. For more information or to respond to the consultation, please click here. The closing date for responses is 20^th July.
• LAST CHANCE TO RESPOND: Consultation: Planning for new energy infrastructure: revised draft National Policy Statements. The energy National Policy Statements (NPS) set out the government’s policy for the delivery of energy infrastructure and provide the legal framework for planning decisions. The re-consultation seeks views on: clarifying that offshore wind is now a critical national priority; the offshore wind environmental improvement package, designed to help accelerate deployment of offshore wind; strengthening the electricity networks NPS ; and updating the civil and military aviation and defence interests to reflect the status of energy developments, the impacts and how these should be managed. For more information, or to respond to the consultation, please click here. The closing date for responses is 25^th May.
• Consultation: Council tax on second and empty homes/Non-domestic rates. The Scottish Government is consulting on proposals to assist councils in making the best use of existing housing in their areas. This includes managing the numbers of short-term lets, second and long-term empty homes, where these are causing issues. This consultation focuses on a number of potential changes to taxation policy in order to aid this management. For more information, or to respond to the consultation, please click here. The closing date for responses is 11^th July.
• Consultation: National Event Strategy review and refresh – Scotland: the perfect stage. Scotland’s national events strategy was first published in 2008 in response to Scotland’ burgeoning potential as a global leader in the events industry. Although Scotland has had many successes under the current strategy the events sector has recently faced a period of unprecedented disruption and challenges and therefore it is being reviewed and updated. For more information, or to respond to the consultation, please click here. The closing date for responses is 30^th June.
• Consultation: Prescribing the minimum annual number of learning hours. Traditionally, Scottish primary schools provide around 25 learning hours per week, and Scottish secondary schools around 27.5 hours per week. However, while local authorities are required to have their schools open for 190 days each year, the number of learning hours is not prescribed. The Scottish Government is now consulting on whether there should be a legal minimum number of hours of school education that pupils should receive every year. For more information, or to respond to the consultation, please click here. The closing date for responses is 13^th June.

• Support/Training: The Princes Trust Explore Enterprise Course. The Prince’s Trust Explore Enterprise Course consists of up to seven online sessions providing information and support on the basics of self-employment, HMRC and finance, pricing and sales, marketing, networking, cashflows, and business plans. These sessions are open to individuals aged between 18-30, who are resident in Scotland and been trading for less than 2 years. For more information, or to sign up, please click here.
• Support/Funding: UK Tradeshow Programme. The UK Tradeshow Programme offers government support to help UK businesses attend or exhibit at overseas trade shows more effectively. For more information, or to apply, please click here.

• Funding: District Heating Loan Fund. The District Heating Loan Fund is managed by the Energy Saving Trust on behalf of the Scottish Government. It provides capital loan funding of more than £1 million to organisations in Scotland that use renewables technologies to build out heat networks. For more information, or to apply, please click here.
• Funding: Circular Textiles Fund. The fund supports the development of circular supply chains and helps businesses achieve net zero carbon emissions across the textiles industry in Scotland, from fashion to upholstery, industry and technology. Zero Waste Scotland is administering the fund, which is backed by the Scottish Government, to help reduce the environmental impact of textiles. The fund can help businesses in Scotland take part in Scotland's circular economy by creating their own innovative circular projects. This means resources will be valued and kept in circulation for as long as possible. For more information or to apply, please click here. The closing date for initial expressions of interest is midday on 9^th June.
• Funding: Heat Network Fund. This Scottish Government fund encourages commercial interest and investment that will help make the most of Scotland's vast potential in the low carbon sector and contribute to the positive progress already made in reducing Scotland's greenhouse gas emissions. Eligible projects must be large-scale and based in Scotland. As well as helping reduce emissions, successful projects should also have positive social and economic benefits for Scotland. For more information or to apply, please click here.
• Funding: Marine Fund Scotland. This fund will support investments and jobs in seafood sectors, the marine environment and coastal communities in Scotland. It replaces the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) following the UK’s exit from the EU. For more information, or to apply, please click here.
• Funding: ETZ Ltd Challenge Fund. The ETZ Ltd's Challenge Fund supports high-growth potential companies across North-east Scotland's energy sector to enter the low-carbon industry, awarding grant funding between £50k and £250k to accelerate innovation and market entry, support business growth, and create new jobs in the energy transition into the low-carbon market. The fund will primarily support SMEs servicing the oil and gas market in Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Moray to transition to new or existing opportunities in green energy. For more information or to apply, please click here. The closing date for applications is early June.
• Funding: Feasibility Funding (Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre). The Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC)'s Feasibility projects provide members with the opportunity to tap into the expertise of Scotland’s academics to assist with a biotech-focused proof of concept study to support a future funding application for a larger scale research work programme. Feasibility projects should focus on innovative applications of industrial biotechnology and address a real market need or commercial opportunity through collaborative knowledge exchange and research between industry members and at least one of Scotland’s talented higher education institution (HEI) research teams. For more information, or to apply, please click here.
• Funding: Workforce Innovation Voucher. The Workforce Innovation Voucher scheme can be used to support innovation to develop a company’s workforce in partnership with a college or university – for example, a new or enhanced workplace business processes, workplace practice or innovative business expertise. Interface provides support with finding a suitable academic partner who has the right specialist expertise to progress your Research and Development project. For more information, or to apply, please click here.
• Funding: National Lottery Open Fund of Organisations – Creative Scotland. The National Lottery Open Fund for Organisations is a funding programme for artistic, creative and cultural organisations based in Scotland. Organisations can apply for between £1,000 and £100,000 to support creative activity that lasts up to 18 months. For more information, or to apply, please click here.
• Funding: National Lottery Extended Programme Fund – Creative Scotland. The National Lottery Extended Programme Fund is a time-limited funding programme for non-profit artistic, creative and cultural organisations based in Scotland. Organisations can apply for between £100,000 and £200,000 for programmes of creative activity that last between 18 and 24 months. For more information, or to apply, please click here. Deadline to apply is 14^th November.
• Funding: Flexible Workforce Development Fund. The Flexible Workforce Development Fund (FWDF) helps employers in Scotland access workforce training opportunities to upskill or reskill their employees. Eligible employers can get up to £15,000 in funding for tailored training programmes. Applications will be accepted up until the 31^st July or whenever the fund has been fully allocated, if earlier. For more information, or to apply, please click here.
• Funding: Green Heat Innovation Support Programme. The Green Heat Innovation Support Programme provides grant funding, competitive procurement and other forms of support to help Scottish-based companies or companies looking to invest in Scotland develop innovative products, services or business models that address the challenges of green heating. For more information, or to apply, please click here.