Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government have fully accepted the findings of the Feeley Review and we are working in partnership with stakeholders to implement its key recommendations. The Scottish Government are not waiting for the National Care Service to be established before we take action and we have continued to progress a number of key projects to take forward and improve Fair Work principles, including providing an additional £100m to increase the minimum rate of pay for adult social care workers to £10.90 per hour. Work is already underway to develop pay and bargaining arrangements ahead of the introduction of the NCS.

Through the National Care Service (NCS), The Scottish Government is going to continue to take forward its commitments to Fair Work for the social care sector, and to improve pay and conditions for workers, including through of national sectoral bargaining.

Scotland is an open, connected and outward-looking country with a long and proud history of intellectual, cultural and economic exchange.

The Programme for Government 2021-22 set out plans to “engage with our Scottish Connections international community and expand on our work with Scottish diaspora networks across the world”. This commitment was reiterated in our Global Affairs Framework, published May 2022.

The Scottish Government’s first Scottish Connections Framework is published on 11 April 2023.

https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781805256939

This is the first time that work across the Scottish Government and partners has been brought together into a cohesive and cross-cutting approach to diaspora engagement.

Recognising and engaging our diaspora is an objective in itself – not a means to an end. Scotland’s diaspora and our Scottish Connections are an extension of Scotland itself – our living bridge with people, organisations and communities around the world.

The Framework outlines a series of commitments and ambitions to strengthen and expand our relationships with, and between, Scotland’s international communities.

Taking a broad definition of diaspora, we want to strengthen and expand Scotland’s links and networks with Scottish people living elsewhere in the world; those with Scottish heritage; people who have previously lived in Scotland, including alumni; and those with a professional, business, cultural or other links to Scotland.

The Scottish Connections Framework will add value to our diaspora engagement by bringing together the experiences, skills and connections of our existing networks, including GlobalScot and alumni.

We will build on existing work with our established networks, including our own international offices, GlobalScots, alumni groups, heritage diaspora organisations and other public sector partners.

The subsidy provided to ScotRail from 2017 to 2022 is contained within Transport Scotland’s annual report and accounts which is published on Transport Scotland’s website. The hyperlinks listed below cover the financial years from 2017 to 2022.

For financial year 2022-23 this information will be published on the website once audited. Future years will be published once budgets are agreed.

Annual Report and Accounts for the Year Ended 31 March 2022 | Transport Scotland

Annual Report and Accounts for the Year Ended 31 March 2021 | Transport Scotland

Annual Report and Accounts for the Year Ended 31 March 2020 | Transport Scotland

Transport Scotland Annual Report and Accounts 2018-19 | Transport Scotland

Annual Report and Accounts for the Year Ended 31 March 2018 | Transport Scotland

Annual Report and Accounts for the Year Ended 31 March 2017 | Transport Scotland

The Scottish Government has no contracts with SOLACE.

Once planning permission has been granted for a development, whether by the relevant planning authority or, as the case may be, on appeal to the Scottish Ministers, there is no further opportunity for third parties to challenge the decision under planning legislation.

The Scottish planning system is plan-led, with a focus on involving all interests as early and effectively as possible. There are multiple opportunities for local communities to get involved during both the plan-making and planning application stages of the planning and development process.

Furthermore, our ongoing planning reform programme has sought to further strengthen engagement and participation, including the introduction of Local Place Plans and improvements to statutory Pre-Application Consultation (PAC). These reforms have been geared towards front-loading community participation in planning rather than providing opportunity for conflict towards the end.

It is open to any person to seek judicial review of any decision through the Scottish Courts. It is also open to that person, if they are not entitled to legal aid, to seek a protected expenses order from the Courts. The purpose of such an order is to redress the potential imbalance of financial resources between parties in relation to funding litigation by limiting the liability to the applicant in paying costs if their case is unsuccessful.

The Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth met with the appointed administrators for M&Co on 19 January 2023 and offered his support, including via Government engagement with Scottish Enterprise. He also met with Katy Clark and Neil Bibby MSPs, and offered to support engagement with local authorities if it would be helpful once there was clarity about when stores will close.

The Scottish Government continues to engage with local authorities, commercial and community partners via its Town Centre Action Plan (TCAP) Forum and its Retail Industry Leadership Group (ILG). The TCAP Forum established jointly with COSLA brings together stakeholder expertise across the public, third and private sector to help to progress key actions. The sector-led Retail ILG has been established to drive, and support delivery of the actions set out in the Retail Strategy for Scotland. Both the Action Plan and Strategy aim to put town centres at the heart of decision making.

I attended the recent Inter-ministerial group on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 6 March 2023 where Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme was discussed. The next meeting of this group is scheduled for 17 April.

Officials also meet regularly with other departments in the UK, Welsh and Northern Irish administrations to discuss DRS. Recently the following meetings have taken place:

• 30 March – Senior Officials Programme Board
• 30 March – UK Common Frameworks Project Board
• 3 April – Scottish Government / Defra bilateral meeting

Officials are also in regular contact with counterparts in the UK Government outwith these engagements.

Information on recycling of metals is publicly available through the SEPA Waste Discover Data Tool: https://informatics.sepa.org.uk/WasteAllSources/ .

Please note, the impact of a cyber attack means there are data gaps covering 2019 and 2020.

Details of all Ministerial engagements are proactively published by the Scottish Government. The information can be accessed at the below link: https://www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts/.

National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) was adopted on 13 February 2023 and our focus now lies on the delivery of NPF4. We are in the early stages of planning a gathering of authorities’ planning convenors in autumn 2023, to discuss a range of issues, including the delivery of NPF4.