The Scottish Fiscal Commission produce independent income tax revenue forecasts for Scotland and in March 2018 published a paper setting out its approach to modelling taxpayer behaviour change in response to changes in income tax policy. The Scottish Government’s Chief Economist published a report in December 2017 informed by advice from the Council of Economic Advisers on the potential behavioural impacts of increasing the top rate of tax.

HMRC is entirely responsible for the operation of Scottish income tax, including the management of taxpayer data. HMRC is bound by taxpayer confidentiality and the Scottish Government has no access to its systems. However, as more data becomes available over time we will continue to review the impact of tax policy on behavioural change and revenue.

Scottish Government officials are in regular contact with the nuclear safety and security regulator, the Office for Nuclear Regulation, (ONR) in respect of safety matters at all Scottish Civil Nuclear Sites.

The latest contact between the Scottish Government Resilient Essential Services team and ONR was on 11 May 2018, when ONR briefed Scottish Government officials in respect of matters relating to the shut down of generation at Reactor 3, Hunterston, and relating to safety at Torness.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

This is a matter for the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service. The information requested is not held centrally.

The charging or receiving of an illegal premium is a criminal offence and enforcement is therefore a matter for Police Scotland.

Where a tenant has paid an illegal premium, they can make an application to recover the fee paid at the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber).

More broadly, to help raise standards of practice within the letting industry, the Scottish Government has introduced a robust framework for the regulation of letting agents.

Applications for the trial were accepted from all UK registered fishing vessels. All applications were considered on an objective basis, as per the published scoring criteria, with safety being of paramount importance. During the sift of applications points were deducted for any fisheries related convictions or Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN), including for electrofishing related offences. Two of the applicants awarded a place on trial had previously received FPNs for electrofishing, one has been convicted of electrofishing related offences, and one has both an FPN and a subsequent conviction. These individuals have paid their Fixed Penalties and there are no outstanding convictions.

There is no difference in the implementation of the trial between Scottish and non-Scottish vessels. All fishing by UK vessels for razor clams is prohibited further to the Razor Clams (Prohibition on Fishing and Landing) (Scotland) Order 2017. Vessels taking part in the trial are authorised to do so further to a bespoke derogation issued in accordance with the terms of Section 9 of the Sea Fish (Conservation) Act 1967, Article 43 of Council Regulation 850/98 and Section 3(2) of the Razor Clams (Prohibition on Fishing and Landing) (Scotland) Order 2017.

The legal basis of the trial is Article 43 of EC Regulation 850/98.

There are three fishing vessels presently registered in England that have been invited to take part in the trial.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-15314 on 26 April 2018. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .