Chamber and committees

Throughout the legislative process, we have engaged proactively with the Association of British Insurers, which has ensured that its members are aware of the changes. It has stated that, although insurers might ask customers questions about whether their property is fitted with working fire alarms, they are not likely to ask questions about specific standards. Anyone who is unclear on their policy terms and conditions in relation to the new law should speak to their insurer.

The Scottish Government is not liable for environmental remediation costs.

The Scottish Government owned the Dalzell and Clydebridge steelworks momentarily in 2016 before the same were immediately sold to Liberty House.

A programme of work led by the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework Partnership (SCQFP) is underway to look at substantiating military-gained skills and qualifications (which are based on the English qualifications system) to be more easily recognised by civilian employers and institutions in Scotland. The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) funding for SCQFP included support for extended work on the mapping of military qualifications against the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework and a number of leaflets were produced for different cap badges which are available on the SCQF website. Additionally, following a £35,000 grant from the Scottish Government in 2021, SCQFP are developing a more sustainable online skills-mapping tool for Service leavers and veterans.

The tool, hosted on the Skills Development Scotland My World of Work website, is intended to offer veterans and Service leavers a simple method of inputting details of their military experience, training and qualifications so they can better understand the level of the formal and informal learning they have achieved and take this forward either into additional education or civilian employment in Scotland.

This tool is currently in the beta testing phase and a number of veterans have been engaged to ensure that the system meets their needs. The tool should be live by March 2022 and a final report will be produced with recommendations on the future development and promotion of the tool.

We have committed to working with local authorities to review levels of short-term let activity in hotspot areas in summer 2023. This will assess how the actions we are taking are working and whether any further measures are required. This review will also seek to confirm that the wider sector is still healthy, and checking there are no unintended consequences.

In addition to the 2023 review, from 1 October 2022, licensing authorities must on a quarterly basis share the content of the public register of applications, in relation to short-term let licences only, with the Scottish Ministers in a format which enables analysis of the information. This will allow the Scottish Government to monitor trends at a national and local level.

The Scottish Government does not assert that Tata Steel has liabilities relating to the environmental remediation costs for the site of the Dalzell steelworks. In the majority of cases potential contaminated land is dealt with routinely through the development planning system or voluntary remediation with the responsibility and costs for carrying out site investigation and any required remediation resting with the site owner / developer.

The salary information relating to the Chief Operating Officer appointment is personally confidential information pertaining to an employee of Abellio ScotRail Ltd.

Once the Chief Operating Officer becomes a public sector employee and in line with the Scottish Public Finance Manual, details of the Chief Operating Officer’s remuneration will be published in due course within Scottish Rail Holdings’ year end accounts. These accounts will be published on Transport Scotland’s website once audited and laid before Parliament.

Channels of communication between the Scottish Government and Tata Steel UK remain open so both parties are aware the other’s position on this commercially sensitive topic.

In line with the Scottish Public Finance Manual, details of the Chief Executive Officer, Scottish Rail Holdings, remuneration will be published in due course within Scottish Rail Holdings’ year end accounts. These accounts will be published on Transport Scotland’s website once audited and laid before Parliament.

In 2020-21, as a response to the pandemic and the closure of school buildings, we provided £25 million to councils across Scotland to tackle digital exclusion. This resulted in over 72,000 devices and 14,000 internet connectivity solutions being distributed to disadvantaged pupils across Scotland to support their learning. 72,000 equates to 10.3% of pupils.

These figures do not include devices that will have been distributed from local authorities via their own programmes or any additional COVID funding. However, COSLA have reported that 122,000 devices (including the 72,000 funded by the Scottish Government) have now been distributed.

In addition, since May 2020, the Scottish Government has invested over £48 million in the Connecting Scotland programme which has resulted in 60,000 digitally excluded people being brought online.