Chamber and committees

We welcome the UK Government’s plans to introduce a Sustainable Industry Reward into the Contracts for Difference scheme.

The Scottish Government responded to the initial consultation in January 2024, welcoming the UK Government’s work to introduce these reforms and raising key issues on the definition of deprived areas in Scotland as well as implementation timescales and flexibility.

Throughout our engagement with UK Government on this, we have been clear that any reward mechanism should encourage early investment in manufacturing and infrastructure rather delaying it, creating certainty and allowing the supply chain to ready itself to support the delivery of our tremendous offshore wind ambitions.

We will continue to work with the UK Government to ensure Scottish interests are represented.

Lothian Buses provided an update on service 69 to Transport Scotland officials in 2022, noting they had no plans to reinstate the service at that time. Most bus services across Scotland operate in an open de-regulated market and have done so since the 1980s. Scottish Ministers do not have the power to intervene directly in the provision of local services. This is solely a matter for individual bus operators who use their own commercial judgement on service routes, frequencies, and vehicle types.

Lothian Buses is owned by the City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian Councils. However, it is operated and managed as an arms-length commercial operation by a board of directors. It would remain a matter for the local authority to determine whether there is a social need for a bus service that is not being provided commercially. Local authorities can subsidise these at their discretion.

The location and deployment of police officers is an operational decision for the Chief Constable. However, under its estate plans for Edinburgh and the Lothians, Police Scotland intends that front-line operational officers will be relocated within the same geographical policing area, meaning there will be no loss to community-based policing.

Police Scotland is currently considering options, and is in discussion with a number of partners around possible locations, to ensure it continues to provide a local policing service that meets the needs of communities across Edinburgh and the Lothians, and has committed to undertake a public consultation in advance of any decisions being reached.

The Scottish Government has had no meetings or discussion with Eurostar Group and other operators regarding the Regional Eurostar and Nightstar services, which was cancelled in the 1990's.

The objective of the Housing (Scotland) Bill as introduced to Parliament on 26 March 2024 is to deliver a package of reforms which will help ensure people have a safe, secure, and affordable place to live. If passed by Parliament, the Bill will enable the delivery of our commitments which include longer-term private sector rent controls; duties aimed at the prevention of homelessness; and supporting social rented sector tenants experiencing domestic abuse.

On the specific issue of properties being habitable and well ventilated, all rented homes in Scotland must already meet the minimum Tolerable Standard which includes elements that require housing to be free from damp and have adequate ventilation. Social rented homes are also required to meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard.

If landlords fail to comply, tenants can escalate complaints to the Scottish Public Sector Ombudsman. In the private rented sector, landlords are required by law to comply with the Repairing Standard. Where the minimum standards are not being met, tenants can apply to the First Tier Tribunal (Housing and Property Chamber) for a determination.

The £500,000 fund to leave pilot was announced in October 2023 and ended on 31 March 2024. Women’s Aid groups disbursed the funding on behalf of the Scottish Government in five pilot areas. The Scottish Government expects a full report from Scottish Women’s Aid on the outcomes achieved by the start of June. Interim reports show that the £500,000 fund has been fully distributed, with over 500 applications being approved.

We do not have plans to review the legislation or statutory guidance for the current offer of funded ELC.

Statutory eligibility for access to funded early learning and childcare (ELC) is set out in the relevant legislation (Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 and the Provision of Early Learning and Childcare (Specified Children) Order 2014, as amended).

As set out in my previous answer, we provide statutory guidance for local authorities on their duties and powers in relation to funded ELC: Introduction - Early learning and childcare: statutory guidance - July 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . Local authorities have a discretionary power to provide access to funded ELC to any child residing in their area, as they see fit.

Over the next year we will begin work to develop an expanded national offer for more families with 2-year-olds, in doing so we will engage with various family types to identify need, focusing on those who will benefit most, aligning with the finding from the recent Joseph Rowntree Foundation report that noted “low-income families must be prioritised in a wide expansion of early years childcare”.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of complaints received by Police Scotland or any other public body that relate to Non-Crime Hate Incidents (NCHIs).

On 9 May 2024, Police Scotland published their interim guidance on ‘ Responding to Hate Crime ’ which includes information on the recording and handling of NCHIs. They also have a dedicated complaints system for instances where an individual may feel they have not been provided the level of service expected.

You may wish to contact Police Scotland directly regarding any other questions you have in relation to these procedures.

An evaluation of Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC) has been commissioned and publication is expected in Autumn 2024.

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) uses a live, operational database to manage the processing of reports submitted to Procurators Fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies throughout Scotland. It is designed to meet business needs in the processing of criminal cases, rather than for statistical purposes and the information within it is structured accordingly. Information provided is at date of extract and may therefore be subject to change as data and systems are updated for operational reasons.

From 1 April to 14 May 2024, 123 hate crime charges and 422 charges with one or more hate crime aggravations have been reported to COPFS. The combined total number of charges is 545.

As at 14 May 2024, 343 charges have been marked for court proceedings and a further 60 charges have been marked as “not separately actioned”. Where a charge is marked as “not separately actioned”, no action was taken against the charge, but action (prosecution in court) was taken against the accused and some of the libel in the charge may have been incorporated into a charge that was actioned.

COPFS is not the holder of conviction data but, according to our case management system, 26 charges have so far resolved after court proceedings, a conviction is recorded in 17 of these charges.