Chamber and committees

accines are approved through an established four nations basis framework and the current approved vaccines are those used by the NHS as part of the UK rollout, as well as those approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or from an eligible country using the Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna or Janssen vaccines. We do not currently accept others such as the Sinopharm vaccine at this time. This is based on clinical advice and represents a consistent approach across the four nations.

To qualify under the fully vaccinated rules for travel to Scotland, you must have been fully vaccinated with a full course of an approved vaccine under:

• the UK or UK overseas vaccination programme
• the United Nations vaccine programme for staff and volunteers
• an approved programme in one of the programmes found on the link below

Approved COVID-19 vaccines and countries with approved COVID-19 proof of vaccination - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Those who do not meet the COVID-19 vaccine eligibility criteria must continue to take a pre-departure test, self-isolate for 10 days upon arrival and take day 2 and 8 tests. All arrivals from red list countries must continue to book and stay for 10 days in a managed isolation hotel.

Travel restrictions are in place to prevent cases of COVID-19 being imported to Scotland. Travel restrictions will be in place as long as they are required and Scottish Government will continue to liaise with affected groups and stakeholders over any restrictions and exemptions that may apply.

To qualify under the fully vaccinated rules for travel to Scotland, you must have been fully vaccinated with a full course of an approved vaccine under:

• the UK or UK overseas vaccination programme
• the United Nations vaccine programme for staff and volunteers

Approved COVID-19 vaccines and countries with approved COVID-19 proof of vaccination - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

As part of our work to implement rent controls during the course of this Parliament, we will examine and consider a wide range of information, evidence and expert views, including submissions to the Scottish Parliament's Non-Government Bills Unit on fair rents, to inform the policy development of this important area of work.

Since 25 January 2019, a period largely covered by Covid restrictions, there have been the following cases referred to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) for consideration of prosecution:

Should an incident reported to Police Scotland involve criminality then this will be recorded and investigated by Police Scotland, and therefore be included in the Recorded Crime in Scotland National Statistics published by the Scottish Government. The recorded crime statistics include several types of crime in relation to the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 as detailed below.

In 2020-21, Police Scotland recorded:

• 92 crimes of slavery or forced labour (under sections 1 and 4 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015)
• Zero human organ crimes (under section 1 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015)
• 23 crimes of immoral traffic (under section 1 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015, section 22 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 and section 11 of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995)
• 1 breach of Trafficking & Exploitation Order crime (under section 32 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015)

The Scottish Government only holds data on chargepoint installation on our ChargePlace Scotland network. Data is available by local authority and not at a community or settlement level. The following table sets out the breakdown of charging by local authority as at September 2021.

Once firmer options for the design of rent controls are developed, including through a full public consultation, we will carefully consider the potential impact on the quality and quantity of private rented housing at a national and sub-national level. We will be gathering evidence and engaging with stakeholders in the private rented sector to develop a range of Impact Assessments, including a Business Regulatory Impact Assessment.

We have met with a range of private rented sector representatives, including those representing tenants and landlords, and will continue to do so as we progress work on implementing an effective national system of rent controls, including those representing the North Ayrshire and Inverclyde areas. Our aim is to ensure quality, affordability and fairness for everyone who rents a home, whilst carefully examining potential unintended consequences.

This policy is still being developed and will also be consulted on publicly within the new draft Rented Sector Strategy due to be published at the end of this year, providing further opportunities for all stakeholders to share their views. Upon consideration of the consultation responses, a final Rented Sector Strategy will be published later in 2022 and deliver a key commitment, set out in Housing to 2040 , Scotland’s long term vision for housing.

We recently launched the Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board to help develop new proposals for sustainable farming support by considering the Climate Change Plan Update and the Farmer-led Groups recommendations. This was one of our 100 days commitments and will help Scottish agriculture become more economically and environmentally sustainable.

Today the Scottish Government is announcing “The National Test Programme”, a £51m package to assist farmers, crofters and land managers to transition to a system of sustainable agriculture that will reduce GHG emissions and enhance biodiversity in our agricultural landscape.

The package is a twin track approach made up of two components:

Track 1 is to encourage farmers to improve their knowledge of current environmental performance and efficiency, and will allow all those in receipt of a basic Agricultural Support payment to make a start in addressing GHG emissions reduction for their businesses. This will include the following;

• Substantial public support for Carbon audits and Nutrient Management Plans .
• The establishment of a Livestock Data Performance Feedback Scheme.

Track 2 is to design and test the tools and process necessary to reward land managers for the climate and biodiversity outcomes they deliver. It will create a robust understanding of how new conditions or activities could be applied to future support, and to ensure delivery of environmental outcomes in a way that supports sustainable businesses. This will be a more detailed design and test how measuring environmental performance of farms will be managed in future and include;

• The creation of a Conditionality Test Programme.
• The instigation of an Active Livestock Management initiative for suckler beef farms.

We intend to launch the consultation of the draft Onshore Wind Policy Statement later today, in line with the commitments we set out in the Programme for Government.

The consultative draft of the Policy Statement will be available to view on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781802014990 from today and the consultation questions will be available on Citizen Space at https://consult.gov.scot/energy-and-climate-change-directorate/onshore-wind-policy-statement-refresh-2021/ . The consultation will be live for 12 weeks from today until 21 January 2022.

The draft Onshore Wind Policy Statement (OnWPS) sets out the Scottish Government’s ambitions for onshore wind in Scotland out to 2030 in the context of our 2045 net zero emissions commitment. It outlines the huge potential for this technology, and assesses the significant economic opportunity of future deployment, particularly in light of green recovery aspirations. Scotland has excellent onshore wind expertise and is recognised as having one of the best wind regimes anywhere in the world in which to deploy projects.

The consultative draft of the OnWPS has been informed by stakeholder consultation and engagement and seeks views on specific questions, in particular on the Scottish Government ambition to secure an additional 8-12 Gigawatts of installed onshore wind capacity by 2030.