Chamber and committees

Without further information about which status the member is referring to, it is difficult for the Scottish Government to provide any further information about the applicable procedure, as this could range from a statutory procedure set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 to a change in the legislation applicable to the Park in the Holyrood Park Regulations 1971 (as amended in 2001 and 2005). These regulations were made under the Parks Regulation Act 1872 and the Parks Regulation Amendment Act 1926, both of which are still in force.

There are also vehicular access restrictions in place for the Park. Some of these, such as the speed limit and the restrictions on commercial vehicles, are required by the Holyrood Park Regulations. Others, such as the road closures during the day on Saturdays and Sundays, have been introduced by Historic Environment Scotland in order to manage the safety of the Park users as well as improve visitors’ enjoyment of the Park.

For more clarity, I would advise the member to contact Historic Environment Scotland directly with her specific enquiry at [email protected] so it can offer a thorough and tailored response.

The previous Minister for Culture, Neil Gray MSP, and Lorna Slater MSP (in a constituency capacity) met with Historic Environment Scotland in May 2022 to discuss specific issues relating to the management of Holyrood Park around speed limits and car parking.

I, and wider Scottish Government officials continue to meet with Historic Environment Scotland regularly to discuss a broad range of issues which affect our many and varied Properties in Care. The most recent regular meeting was held on 13 December.

The Scottish Government is working closely with partners to support Scotland as an attractive location to open new businesses across the whole of the tourism sector. Our work in the sector is driven by Scotland Outlook 2030, Scotland’s National Tourism Strategy, which is a key component of the National Strategy for Economic Transformation.

Conditions attached to any planning permission are published as part of the consent on the relevant planning authority’s publicly available Register of Applications. Any member of the public who considers that a developer may not be in compliance with any condition of planning permission can report their concerns to the relevant planning authority, which has extensive powers to investigate, and if necessary, take action to ensure that conditions are complied with.

The Scottish Government has no current plans to review the legislation relating to monitoring and enforcement of planning conditions at the present time.

The Scottish Government will consider any potential impact of the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill on the Scottish courts, and any other potential implications of the bill for the responsibilities of the government and the Scottish Parliament.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

Scottish Water’s aim is to operate at the economic level of leakage at water supply zone level, taking account of the costs of treating water and the costs of leakage detection and pipe repair. Since 2007, Scottish Water has reduced leakage by over half to under 500ML/d and, following a refresh of its assessment in 2020, Scottish Water is now progressing towards a leakage level of 408Ml/d.

Scottish Water also carries out wider assessments of long-term supply and demand positions for water resources on a water supply zone basis, looking over a 25 year period and taking into account growth, population change and predicted impacts of climate change. Where zones are identified as at risk, Scottish Water takes this into account when assessing the economic level of leakage for a zone, with demand reduction (leakage and customer water efficiency) being its first activity, before considering supply side increases.

We welcomed the Climate Change Committee’s 2023 progress report to the UK Parliament and agree that much greater urgency and focus on delivery is required from the UK Government if climate goals across the UK are to be met.

Scotland continues to decarbonise faster than the UK average. As this progress report recognised, we are leading the way in key delivery areas such as industry and electricity supply, where – unlike the rest of the UK – emissions have continued to come down. However, Scottish and UK Government targets are inter-dependent and require significant collaboration between our governments in order to maximise impact given the wide range of powers that are reserved.

The Climate Change Committee has been clear that action by the UK Government is important for delivery of climate change targets around the UK, just as action under devolved powers is crucial to UK targets. That is why we continue to call on UKG to act in reserved areas of great importance to Scotland's climate ambitions and why we work through the Net Zero Inter-Ministerial Group and other fora in this regard.

The Minister previously stated that the Retail Strategy, specifically the action on fair work, was the route by which the Scottish Government wished to promote fair work practices across the whole retail sector. An approach to fair work is a priority action for the Retail Industry Leadership Group and this will pursue better conditions for all retail workers.

Therefore, New Year's Day trading can be discussed in relation to the approach on fair work if raised by members, and we welcome the continuing, constructive collaboration of the trade unions and other stakeholders in developing a fair work strategy through the Retail Industry Leadership Group and Fair Work Working Group to best realise our mutual ambition to deliver fair and rewarding jobs for retail workers.

As outlined in the answer to S6W-23449, fuel duty and vehicle excise duty are wholly reserved to the UK Government. The UK government have acknowledged in their Net Zero Review that revenues from existing motoring taxes will decline sharply this decade as we transition away from fossil fuels and the taxes based on them. As fuel duty becomes obsolete, the UK Government needs to urgently look at a successor taxation regime for transport to reflect the changes in the sector. The Scottish Government wants a fair and progressive future transport tax system that better incentivises the transition to zero-emission vehicles, reduces emissions and raises revenues to fund policies to support a shift to more sustainable travel.

The latest Private Sector Rent Statistics for Scotland show how rents charged by private landlords in Scotland have been rising for more than a decade, and are yet more evidence of the importance of taking action to make rents more affordable. There is no one solution to addressing housing affordability and our work to introduce long term controls as part of the next Housing Bill is one measure being taken forward.

The emergency Act provides Scottish Ministers with the ability to temporarily modify how rent increases referred by a tenant are adjudicated. Any proposed modification would be subject to the approval of the Scottish Parliament. Any changes made to the adjudication process would be intended to smooth the transition out of the rent cap and protect tenants from steep rent increases which could be experienced if there is a sudden move to open market rent from rent levels that have been supressed.

We are currently consulting with stakeholders on the proposed approach to modifying the rent adjudication process and will publish further information in due course.