Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government supports the general principle of driver education as an alternative to prosecution, where this is appropriate. At present, prosecutors may offer diversion from prosecution courses in relation to careless driving, but there is no equivalent diversion scheme in relation to speeding.

Partners on the Road Safety Framework Strategic Partnership Board have been considering this collectively and Police Scotland are currently undertaking an exercise to identify the practical steps that would be required to introduce a speed awareness course in Scotland and report back to the board. Ultimately, the introduction of any such course in Scotland would require the approval of the Lord Advocate.

The EU schemes known as ‘protected designation of origin’ and ‘protected geographical indication’ promote and protect names of quality agricultural products and foodstuffs from misuse and imitation, and help consumers by giving them information concerning the specific character of the products. Scotland currently boasts 14 such products, including Scottish Farmed Salmon, Scotch Beef and Native Shetland Wool. In addition, Scotch Whisky is also registered as a Geographical Indication in many countries across the globe, including the EU.

The UK Government have confirmed to the Scottish Government that applications for products to be awarded protected designation of origin and protected geographical indication status will continue to be processed for as long as the UK remains part of the EU. The UK Government have also confirmed that they are looking at options for when the UK formally leaves the EU, including a potential British protected food name status scheme. The Scottish Government’s intention is to seek ways to remain within the EU, in line with the wishes of the Scottish people, and thereby to continue to enjoy the benefits of the EU’s arrangements for protected geographical indication products.

The Scottish Government welcomes the report, Independent Review of Scottish Aquaculture Consenting, as a positive step forward in identifying opportunities to streamline, simplify and speed up the planning and consenting regime.

The Scottish Government intends to publish a formal response to the report later in 2016, following engagement with key stakeholders.

Total single farm payments made in 2014 was 3,631,066.01 euros.

Total 2015 Basic Payment Scheme payments made to Shetland producers 2015 at 8 July 2016 was 3,035,355.31 euros.

There are currently no plans to review maximum class size limits.

In Scotland, these changes by the UK Government will principally impact on single people under 35 and potentially on people in supported accommodation from April 2018.

For single claimants under the age of 35, the shared accommodation rate within the LHA sets a limit based on the costs of a room in a shared property. Based on current housing benefit caseload the imposition of the shared accommodation rate could affect between 25,000 and 30,000 social sector households in Scotland if their rents are above the shared accommodation rate for their area.

The UK Government has not yet announced how its policy will apply to households in supported accommodation and we will continue to press the UK Government to ensure that supported accommodation is exempt from these changes.

The Scottish Government has been inviting comments and views from all stakeholders on the use of future social security powers through the Fairer Scotland programme of activity and will continue to do so as part of the consultation on the Social Security Bill later this year.

The Scottish Government has discussed this issue with a range of stakeholders through the Housing Benefit Reform Stakeholder Advisory Group, the Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group and meetings with organisations including COSLA, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and Scottish Women's Aid. Scottish Government officials have also taken part in meetings between the UK Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Scottish stakeholders about the issues.

The Scottish Government is particularly concerned about the potential impact of imposing local housing allowance rates on supported accommodation. The DWP is expected to clarify its position on the issue in summer 2016, and depending on that clarification, the Scottish Government will then consider whether it should take any action in this area.

Information from the Scottish Survey of Adult Literacies 2009 provided a baseline to the Strategic Guidance Adult Literacies in Scotland 2020 (ALIS 2020) which states:- Our vision for ALIS 2020 is that successful implementation of this strategic guidance will significantly increase the numbers of adults with improved literacies capabilities in Scotland.

Research will be required in order to evaluate and determine the impact of ALIS 2020, the form of this research will be subject to available funding post 2020.

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering 100% superfast broadband by 2021 and further details will be available in due course. The current focus is on finalising the coverage footprints that will be delivered by the two digital Scotland superfast broadband projects, and then undertaking an open market review(s) to confirm a new intervention area for the next phase.

All telecoms suppliers capable of delivering projects within the intervention area will be eligible to bid for the contracts, and any decisions to break the programme down by region will be determined after the digital Scotland superfast broadband coverage footprint has been finalised and the open market review(s) has been completed.

The Rural Payments and Inspections Division is working to validate the 1,400 applications received for around 118,000 animals claimed. As part of European Commission regulations, animals must be validated against the electronic records held by SCOT-EID (the animal identification database). As this work currently underway and not yet complete, I am not able to give an exact date when payments will be made but every effort is being made to make these payments as soon as possible.