Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government’s position is that the short-term let licensing legislation does not contradict the Provision of Services Regulations, the Human Rights Act 1998 (The First Protocol, Article 1), nor The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (Article 17). The Scottish Government’s position is that the development of the legislation for the short-term lets licensing scheme is in line with the Better Regulation Agenda. The Scottish Government expects local authorities to adhere to the Scottish Regulators’ Strategic Code of Practice when developing their short-term lets licensing procedures and policies.

Before any government legislation is laid at the Scottish Parliament, government lawyers carry out robust analysis to ensure that it is competent. or the licensing legislation, that includes ensuring that the Licensing Order is made within the parameters and powers of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982.

The Scottish Government is in the process of carefully reviewing the responses to the third public consultation on our proposals, which closed on 13 August 2021, with a view to making any further necessary revisions to the licensing legislation.

Draft guidance for local authorities on overprovision is set out in chapter 3 of the Licensing guidance part 2: supplementary guidance for licensing authorities, letting agencies and platforms . Paragraphs 3.37 to 3.41 explain how overprovision policies interact with control areas.

The Parliament welcomes and facilitates protests all year round and will continue to do so;  it is an important part of the expression of democracy in Scotland.  In taking the decision to apply for designated status, SPCB has carefully considered Police Scotland advice and security assessment, and the experiences of other Parliaments.  The UK Parliament has been designated for many years and the Welsh Senedd since 2018. SOCPA is an existing mechanism for bodies such as Parliament which have a critical role to play in terms of national security. It would only be used in exceptional cases where very disruptive and/or dangerous activities may impede the parliament’s democratic role, the safety of those working or visiting the Parliament and the rights of others to engage with the Parliament in a wide variety of ways. In giving effect to the designation, the SPCB and Police Scotland must still ensure on each occasion that they are used that the powers of enforcement under SOCPA are necessary, have a sound legal basis and are proportionate to the circumstances. This process provides assurance that the designation will have no bearing on the tens of thousands of people who protest in a robust but peaceful way at Holyrood each year.

The current allocation of full-time employees per Scottish Government Minister is:

We committed in our 2018-19 Programme for Government to invest up to £5 million over a three year period to support 2,000 women who have had a career break to return to the workplace. This commitment and the scale of ambition built on the learning from our 2017 pilot Women Returners Programme.

An initial Programme commenced in late 2020 which offered immediate support to women during the pandemic. Within the three month period of delivery it attracted twelve projects offering support to over 450 women. This included projects such as HRC Recruitment which provided employability workshops combined with menopause support and mental health fitness coaching to women over 50 years old.

The programme for government published in September 2021 committed to continuing the programme. SDS are delivering the programme this year on behalf of Scottish Government backed with up to £2 million. Bids from prospective providers are currently being assessed. Women will be given support to enable them to apply for jobs or take part in activity such as further training that suits their own personal needs, timescales and circumstances for returning to work.

The Scottish Government has maintained a rolling programme of rail electrification, unlike other parts of the UK. In line with our Rail Decarbonisation Action Plan it remains the expectation that the East Coast Main Line between Edinburgh Haymarket and Aberdeen will be fully electrified.

We will confirm investment decisions will be made in an appropriate manner following due appraisal, necessarily having regard to the capital funding available to the Scottish Government in the light of UK Government budgetary decisions, however positive progress is being made with Network Rail confirming ground investigation works for the Aberdeen to Central Belt project are starting in October 2021.

The Scottish Government will publish its response to the consultation on the draft Licensing Order and Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) for short-term lets ahead of laying the draft Licensing Order in November.

It is a matter for SPCB under its legal responsibilities to provide a safe and secure estate.  As the decision on applying to become a designated site was based on confidential security advice from Police Scotland, it would not have been appropriate to have held discussions with external organisations. The decision will have no bearing on campaign groups, trade unions and other organisations or individuals who protest in a robust but peaceful way at Holyrood. 

The Scottish Government is already working with key partners to address existing data and evidence deficits which will allow us to fully understand the complex picture that exists in health inequalities for people from ethnic minority groups. The Scottish Government welcomes this report and will provide an official response once we have carefully considered its recommendations.

A consultation based on Esther Roberton’s recommendations, from her independent review of legal services regulation, will be available to the public via Citizen Space from 1 October until 24 December 2021. In parallel we will be undertaking a series of consultation focus groups to increase the opportunity for stakeholders and the public to respond to the consultation in part or in whole.

As was stated in my response, the Scottish Government is open to further views on how the report recommendations should be taken forward and this consultation is intentionally broadly set to capture the fullest range of views on the recommendations and what level of reform is supported. As such the consultation has been developed collaboratively with those representing consumer interests and the legal profession.

The findings from the consultation exercise will inform the design of reform, and confirms our commitment to a modern and effective framework of legal services regulation.

The consultation will be available at: https://consult.gov.scot/justice/legal-services-regulation-reform-in-scotland .