While many aspects of employment law and particularly pay legislation are reserved to the UK Government, promoting fair pay is a key element of the Scottish Government’s Fair Work policy. Scottish Ministers believe that all workers should receive a fair pay for the work they do, regardless of their age and status.

The Scottish Government is committed to using all the levers it has at its disposal to promote fair work practices across Scotland including payment of the real Living Wage. We firmly oppose the inappropriate use of zero hours contracts and other non-standard types of employment that offer workers minimal job or financial security. We have set out our position in our Fair Work First approach and within our National Tourism Strategy; Outlook 2030 which states our commitment to support and enable the adoption of fair work practices in Scotland’s tourism sector.

The Scottish Government has made a clear commitment to promote collective bargaining through the inclusion of an employee voice indicator, measured by collective bargaining coverage, within the National Performance Framework. Our Fair Work Action Plan confirms our subsequent commitment to work with the STUC to achieve increased coverage focusing on four key sectors one of those being hospitality.

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting strong Trade Unions in Scotland for the benefit of workers and our economy and have provided funding of £250,000 for the last six years to STUC to help unions embed the Fair Work Framework in workplaces in Scotland.

We also support Unite’s FH Charter which helps to promote fairer working practices for its members and all workers across the wider hospitality sector as Scotland recovers from Covid and beyond.

The remit for the Just Transition Commission set by the Scottish Government tasks them with “undertaking meaningful engagement with those most likely to be impacted by the transition, hearing from a broad range of representative voices and advising on how to ensure these can shape and contribute to just transition planning work in Scotland.” The Commission is independent of Government and will be responsible for setting out a work plan that fulfils the remit they have been given.

To further ensure a range of voices are heard in the Commission’s work, the membership announced on 15 December brings together a broad range of expertise and experience. This includes those with a background in industry, trade unions and environmental organisations, with collective expertise in areas such as gender equalities, community empowerment, economic development and worker support.

We recognise the pandemic’s impact on the economy and businesses across a wide range of sectors. So far, the Scottish Government has provided £79.3 million directly to taxi and private hire drivers and operators in response to the pandemic. Further support of up to £28 million was announced on 5 January 2022 from within the £375 million package of funding announced on 21 December 2021, bringing total support for the sector to over £107 million. The Scottish Government is also calling on the UK Government to re-introduce schemes such as the Self-Employment Income Support Grant in order to make further support available. We work closely with delivery partners to make payments to eligible businesses at the earliest opportunity, which is of course our established approach.

The latest report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shows the very real threat and heightened risk the climate emergency poses to the planet - but it also makes it clear that with immediate, concerted international action to reduce emissions, global temperature rise can still be limited to 1.5°C in the longer term.

Scotland is leading the way. We will end our contribution to climate change by 2045 at the latest, reducing emissions by 75% by 2030 along the way – a world-leading target. In December 2020 we updated our Climate Change Plan which sets out how we will deliver on this ambition and published Scotland’s indicative Nationally Determined Contribution in July 2021 outlining the actions we are taking to help meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. The global evidence provided by IPCC reports, as well as the independent expert scientific advice provided by the Climate Change Committee on what this evidence means for Scotland, will be part of the evidence base that informs development of Scotland’s next Climate Change Plan and Climate Change Adaptation Programme.

We are pressing ahead to put in place arrangements to mobilise a wholly owned company of the Scottish Government to provide ScotRail services within the public sector under Scottish Government control. The revised arrangements will start when the current franchise expires as expected on 31 March 2022.

For bus services, the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 provides viable options for partnership working, franchising and wider powers for local transport authorities to run their own buses (and which sit alongside their existing ability to subsidise services). We have allocated £1 million in the draft Scottish Budget for development of the Community Bus Fund in 2022-23. This will support local transport authorities to improve local bus services and to explore the full range of options set out in the 2019 Act. In administering the fund, we and local transport authorities will need to observe competition, procurement and subsidy control rules.

The development of an integrated transport network is being guided by our National Transport Strategy, and the Strategic Transport Projects Review process is identifying investment priorities which will support this and help to deliver our commitment to create an inclusive and net zero emissions economy.

As the amount of renewable energy being produced in Scotland increases, so does the amount available to the public transport system. Already 75% of rail journeys are being undertaken via electrical traction, and we have given significant funding to zero emission buses, introducing diesel-electric hybrid vehicle carrying ferries, and promoting electric vehicles. We believe Scotland’s approach to transport decarbonisation – which focuses not only the transition to clean technology but also on reducing demand and encouraging behaviour shift – is an example of world-leading best practice and is central to our green recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

That Scottish Government does not support the manufacture of munitions and Scottish Enterprise does not provide funding for the manufacture of munitions. The support provided is mainly focused on helping firms to diversify and develop civilian applications for their technology and ensure Scotland continues to benefit from the thousands of jobs in the defence, aerospace and shipbuilding sectors.

The licensing of arms exports is a reserved matter over which the Scottish Government has no control. We have impressed upon the UK Government our expectation to act responsibly as regards export licensing.

I refer the member to the answer given in S6W-00182 on 27 October 2021 with regard to how Scottish Enterprise undertake Due Diligence assessments when assessing business support. I understand that Scottish Enterprise have also reached out to the member with an offer to discuss how they support businesses operating in the defence sector and I would recommend that the member accepts that offer.

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 .

The policing of COP26 was an operational matter for the Chief Constable, who ensured that the delivery of the event would be compliant with human rights legislation and that the priority of Police Scotland was to facilitate peaceful and lawful protest and ensure public safety.

The service prioritised regular engagement with activist groups in preparation for COP26, and throughout the summit. I am very pleased to note that this proportionate and facilitative approach resulted in a low number of arrests.

Mindful of the need for, and benefits of, independent and transparent oversight, Police Scotland established an Independent Advisory Group (IAG) to consider issues of policing around the conference. This is chaired by John Scott QC and membership includes environmental campaigners, human rights experts, academia (including representatives from national human rights institutions), policing oversight bodies and a representative from the United Nations. Specific meetings of the IAG were convened on Friday 5th November and again on Tuesday 9th November to discuss the issue of police containment raised in a letter from climate campaign groups.

There also was detailed and continual scrutiny of the approach to the policing of protest at the Conference, including at all recent meetings of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) and its dedicated monthly COP26 Oversight Group. A review published by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland in June also highlighted a high degree of assurance around Police Scotland’s planning for the event.

The Chair of the IAG has been invited to attend the meeting of the Board of the Scottish Police Authority on 24 November to offer an initial assessment and the group plans to complete a final report to the COP 26 Oversight Group of the SPA in March 2022.

I met with Police Scotland’s senior command on a daily basis about issues related to the conference and I am hugely grateful to officers and staff who ensured the safety and security of 127 World leaders, many thousands of delegates and activists and of course the people of Glasgow.