Chamber and committees

In Scotland, guidance in relation to preparing for emergencies is generally structured around key consequences or themes, rather than specific risks. The Scottish Government’s suite of emergency planning guidance, “Preparing Scotland” ( https://ready.scot/how-scotland-prepares/preparing-scotland-guidance ), covers topics such as response, exercising, scientific and technical advice, preparedness assessments, public communications, and recovery from emergencies, which are all directly relevant to pandemic preparedness.

This guidance is developed in consultation with the organisations which have legal duties in relation to emergency preparedness under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, which includes all local authorities.

There have been no recent discussions between the Scottish Government Culture and Major Events Directorate (a) ScotRail and (b) Transport Scotland.

However Culture and Major Event Officials, along with relevant transport stakeholders, routinely take part in the multi-agency Events Planning and Operations Group (EPOG) dealing with Summer Events. EPOG is run by the City of Edinburgh Council as the lead planning authority in respect of Summer Events within Edinburgh, such as Edinburgh Festivals.

Outwith Edinburgh, Transport Scotland continue to discuss planning arrangement for major events with transport deliver partners and key stakeholders through quarterly Major Events Planning meetings in addition to regular event specific meetings.

In addition, ScotRail is required under the terms of its grant agreement to use all reasonable endeavours to provide for reallocation of Passenger Carrying Capacity to serve Special Events.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who reply in writing within 20 days.

The Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans was invited to address the 2023 Scottish Police Federation Biennial Conference in person on 29 March 2023. While the Cabinet Secretary was not able to attend in person, he provided a pre-recorded address to the conference, which was attended by two Scottish Government officials.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who reply in writing within 20 days.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who reply in writing within 20 days.

The Scottish Government recognises the role that the private rented sector plays in meeting Scotland’s housing need. However, tax is just one of a wide range of financial, regulatory and other considerations that landlords will need to consider when making their investment decisions.

The Scottish Government continuously monitors and considers all available data regarding the impact of LBTT and the ADS on the housing market. Furthermore, I would note that the Scottish Government is continuing to support the emergence of the large-scale private rented sector through the exemption from ADS for purchases of 6 or more properties.

Increasing the ADS is expected to raise an additional £34m in 2023-24, with the ADS forecast to raise £165m in total. This rate increase protects opportunities for first-time buyers and raises vital revenue to support high national priorities, including education and health.

The Scottish Animal Welfare Commission recently investigated the use of electronic dog training collars at our request. We will consider their findings carefully as part of our ongoing commitment to improve and enhance animal welfare.

The Scottish Government is committed to a service design approach to policy making involving user-centred co-development. Appropriate testing and measurement will be applied at each stage of development and following implementation of measures to evaluate their ease, cost and impact against the outcomes of the Scottish Government’s Vision for Agriculture.

Examples underway this month include testing the list of measures published on 10 February directly with farmers who engaged in the Testing Actions for Sustainable Farming survey . This is being done through interviews conducted by professional researchers to understand how stakeholders view the measures and their applicability within future agricultural support mechanisms as well as areas for improvement.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. After clarifying the specifics of the question with the member, her response is as follows:

• How many items of contraband have been detected by the photocopying of mail?
• Photocopying of mail does not detect contraband. The process for establishments that have this in place is that original mail items are photocopied and the prisoner is given the copy with the option to destroy the original or have this placed in their property for issue upon release. If during the opening of correspondence an item is suspected to be suspicious then this is sent to security for testing on the rapiscan machine.
• How many items of contraband have been detected by the rapiscan machine since the introduction of this policy?
• Since the introduction of the photocopying of prisoners correspondence 2,677 items have tested positive on the rapiscan machine.