Chamber and committees

There are currently no plans to exempt mid-market rent (MMR) properties from the requirements in the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022.

As MMR properties are delivered through Registered Social Landlord subsidiary companies and are therefore not subject to regulatory oversight by the Scottish Housing Regulator, they require to be offered as a Private Residential Tenancy, meaning households benefit from all of the rights and protections flowing from that tenancy. This includes the current temporary rent cap measures, in place to support tenants during this time of economic uncertainty.

While the focus of the emergency measures is on protecting tenants, the Scottish Government fully recognise that the ongoing impacts of the cost crisis may also be impacting some private landlords. Therefore, MMR providers are able to apply to Rent Service Scotland to increase the rent for a property, by up to 6%, in order to partially take account of increases in certain prescribed property costs.

Earlier this year the emergency rent cap was expired in relation to the social sector, after discussions led by COSLA, in respect of local authorities, and SFHA and GWSF for Registered Social Landlords, reached an agreed position with their members that would see increases of 6.4% and 6.1% respectively, as an average across Scotland. This voluntary approach to rent setting is intended to equate to an approximate average rent increase of less than £5 per week. Due to rents in the private rented sector being approximately twice as high as in the social sector, a 3% increase in the average rent of a two-bedroom private rented property (the most common size) is broadly comparable in monetary value to the average increase in the social sector.

The project to introduce a pilot National Dashcam Safety Portal in Scotland is in the initial business case stage, with Police Scotland currently looking at the internal processing, handling and storage of digital images and how that best fits with current and projected processes. The initial implementation date for the project pilot was indicated as January 2023, however, Police Scotland has now stated that they are reviewing the project’s timings as part of their wider planning for 2023-24 and beyond.

My officials remain in discussion with Police Scotland on this matter and will meet with them again later in August as we look to progress this important road safety initiative.

The decision to remove shared cabins was taken solely by NorthLink following their risk assessments. The Scottish Government notes concerns about the impact of the removal of shared cabins on the National Concessionary Travel Scheme entitlement and this is being reviewed as part of the Fair Fares Review and Islands Connectivity Plan.

Officials received a scoping paper from Police Scotland that outlines their programme for delivery, particularly on what they are looking to deliver and a detailed timescale. My officials met with Police Scotland on 13 July and during the meeting they discussed the development of the business case. The business case will look at the service design, delivery, organisation policy and life time management of the National Dashcam Safety Portal.

My officials remain in discussion with Police Scotland on this matter and will meet with them again later in August as we look to progress this important road safety initiative.

The Scottish Government has no additional plans to provide specific funding for local road bridges. However, an additional £793 million cash funding has been provided to local government in 2023-24. It is the responsibility of each local authority to manage their own budget and to allocate the financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

Scottish Ministers are responsible for trunk road bridges and structures and plan to invest £85 million in 2023-24 on maintenance and the operations of trunk road structures.

SG does not currently hold central information of individual grants at the locality level. Most grants are provided to organisations for specific policy aims and those grants are managed by various specific policy areas within SG. To ensure fair and transparent application processes, these funds are advertised as appropriate on the Gov.scot website or other specific sites to ensure stakeholders and key specific groups are targeted for applications. Although it won’t cover all grants in the locality requested, Scottish Enterprise may be able to provide more information on specific enterprise grants in the area, I have instructed my officials to reach out to Scottish Enterprise to provide you with the information you have requested.

National Concessionary Travel Scheme vouchers can currently only be used for cabins on overnight sailings. Concessionary Travel arrangements are being reviewed as part of the Fair Fares Review and Islands Connectivity Plan.

The decision to remove shared cabins was taken solely by NorthLink following their risk assessments. The Scottish Government notes concerns about the impact of the removal of shared cabins on the National Concessionary Travel Scheme entitlement and this will also be considered through the Fair Fares Review and Islands Connectivity Plan.

The Scottish Government and COSLA agreed jointly in 2018 to a significant investment in the training of educational psychologists, to address a shortfall in numbers of practitioners across Scotland. This investment was made to secure a workforce for employment in Scotland, acknowledging that there are a range of career paths available including those who require part-time employment.

Under the grant terms and conditions of the Qualification in Educational Psychology (QEP), trainees must make every reasonable effort to secure employment as an Educational Psychologist with a local authority to begin as soon as possible after the completion of the Training Programme.

Failure to meet these requirements may result in default of the grant terms and conditions. In these circumstances the full Grant Funds received by or in respect of the Trainee, or a pro rata share, may be required to be repaid to the Scottish Ministers.

No adoption records have been made available via ScotlandsPeople Centre, nor the ScotlandsPeople website.

National Records of Scotland (NRS) continue to engage with relevant stakeholders to provide further reassurance following the removal of index entries to the Adopted Children Register from the ScotlandsPeople website. Relevant entries were removed as a precautionary measure while NRS reviews the way this information was made available.

We are determined to ensure that women who need it are able to access care and support for menopause, in primary and specialist care.

Work continues through the menopause actions of the Women’s Health Plan to facilitate women’s access to holistic care. This includes commissioning NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to develop a bespoke training package on menopause and menstrual health for general practice and others working in Primary Care.

The Women's Health Plan: Progress Report published in January 2023 and the recently published Women's Health Plan: Interim Progress Update 2023 provide comprehensive updates on progress of all the actions in the Women’s Health Plan.