Chamber and committees

Our regulatory proposals will give local authorities powers to strike a balance between the needs and concerns of their local communities, with the wider economic and tourism benefits of short-term lets.

We published a draft Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) on 25 June 2021 for consultation. The economic and Scottish firms impact of the legislation is discussed at paragraphs 120 to 131 of the BRIA. We are now in the process of updating the BRIA as part of preparing the Licensing Order for laying in November 2021.

We have conducted an Island Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA) which we published in December 2020 and will update to reflect the revised Licensing Order. The ICIA can be found in our December 2020 consultation report: Short-term lets – licensing scheme and planning control areas: consultation analysis - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

I refer to the previous answer S6W-03362 on 22 October 2021 which details the guidance available on the Scottish Government and National Bee Unit websites, including changes in import conditions made since EU Exit:

• Importing bees into Scotland: guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) )
• Beebase - Beekeeping information resource for Beekeepers (nationalbeeunit.com)

Requirements include registration on the Import of Products, Animals, Food and Feed System (IPAFFS), notification of imports on the system, entry via an appropriate route (usually a border control point), provision of a health certificate and post import checks.

The legal framework surrounding international trade requires certification of freedom of notifiable diseases and pests. Imports from areas where certain diseases of pests are present is not allowed, for example areas of Italy affected by Small Hive Beetle (SHB).

Beekeepers also have a significant role to play by ensuring disease management within their own apiaries is in order, by being proactive in making themselves aware of the signs of diseases and sourcing bees that are healthy.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Local authorities have discretionary powers under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 to provide assistance to any home owners. Funding for this, and other housing activities, is included in the general capital and revenue grants provided to local authorities, and the allocation to assistance is at the discretion of the local authority.

We have provided £0.5 million additional funding for Care and Repair Scotland to provide help installing alarms for older and disabled homeowners on low incomes. We have also provided £1 million to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to provide alarms for owners who are considered most vulnerable to the risk of fire.

Paragraphs 13.30-13.35 of our 2020 islands communities impact assessment (ICIA) sets out details on licensing related costs. The ICIA notes that, although operators in island communities may face higher costs in implementing measures to comply with the basic safety standards required by the licensing scheme (compared to mainland operators), these basic standards are required under existing legislation or best practice. Therefore, these are costs that responsible operators will already be incurring.

In addition, further detail on licence fees and compliance costs has been set out in our consultation draft Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA), published on 25 June 2021, which can be found at: Short-term lets - licensing scheme and planning control area legislation: draft business and regulatory impact assessment (BRIA) - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

We have heard evidence of noise and antisocial behaviour issues in rural and island areas relating to short-term lets through: correspondence, consultation responses and meetings with affected residents.

Party mansions have not been formally defined, but the term is commonly used to refer to a large house used to accommodate large numbers of guests, often for stag and hen parties.

We are already delivering 11 benefits, seven of which are new. These include the first major disability benefit, Child Disability Payment, which launched as a pilot on 26 July and will roll out across Scotland on 22 November 2021. The new benefit also marks the start of our complex and large-scale programme of case transfer.

We have ambitious plans for the coming years. Next year we will deliver Adult Disability Payment and extend Scottish Child Payment to all eligible under 16s, subject to DWP cooperation. Last month, we announced further benefit dates including the planned launch of Low Income Winter Heating Assistance in winter 2022 and Pension Age Winter Heating Assistance, provisionally scheduled for winter 2024. We are working with DWP to confirm a launch date for Scottish Carer’s Assistance and will consult this winter on the new benefit.

As we emerge from the worst of the pandemic, with a new Ministerial team in post, we will take the opportunity to review our full timetable with our delivery partners in light of what we have learned during COVID-19, to see where there are options to do things differently and more efficiently.

We are removing the overprovision powers from the Licensing Order. Having considered representation made through the 2021 consultation, the Scottish Government is of the view that the powers given to local authorities to establish control areas are sufficient to manage high concentrations of short-term lets, where local authorities wish to do so.

We will publish updated versions of all previously published impact assessments, including an islands communities impact assessment, ahead of the Licensing Order coming into force.

In 2021-22, South Ayrshire Council has been allocated £176,000 from the Ending Homelessness Together Fund. To date, South Ayrshire Council has been allocated an additional £30 million to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic over and above its regular grant payments. It is the responsibility of individual councils to allocate the financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities.

However, South Ayrshire Council has reported that there has not been an increase in homelessness applications and that they are continuing to support people through the system and into settled accommodation as quickly as possible.

The National Transition Training Fund (NTTF) is being delivered through various sector-based projects which will have different application procedures. The data below sets out information on course participants in Year One as far as it is currently available.

In Year One of the NTTF, support for the Aviation sector was provided through Scottish Union Learning. Unite the Union developed a programme which continues this year to enable Aviation workers – many of whom were furloughed - to upskill to help support job retention. This provided a variety of training opportunities for ground and air crew.

In addition, Strand One of NTTF, which was managed by Skills Development Scotland, supported driver training, including Driver CPC, LGV with CPC and PCV with CPC.

In terms of NTTF college delivery, The college figures for 2020-21 are yet to be finalised as collection of college data only concluded on 12 October 2021 and still require to be quality assured before publication as Official Statistics in January 2022.

I have previously advised that a final report on NTTF Year One will be made available this year. As the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) will not publish data until January 2022, I intend to issue a report immediately after the SFC publication is released. I do however, intend to update Parliament in November on anticipated outturns.