Chamber and committees

Whilst organisations are encouraged to apply in advance, registered charities and community amateur sports clubs (CASCs) have until 31 March 2023 to apply for the water and sewerage charges exemption scheme for the 2022-23 financial year. If exemption is granted, it will be backdated to 1 April 2022 - provided the criteria of the scheme were met at that time - and any charges will be refunded. The organisation’s income must be below £300,000 to qualify. Exemption will not be granted if:

• The organisation holds a permanent alcohol licence to sell alcohol at the premises
• the premises is a charity shop or other premises used for the purposes of retailing new or second hand merchandise
• the premises operates as a café which is open to the public and operated on a regular basis to generate income
• the organisation is a local council or an Arms-Length External Organisation (ALEO) which can be used by councils to deliver services

During this period Scottish ministers received 27 formal invitations to visit independent schools and at least two visits have taken place. Government officials have ongoing engagement with the Scottish Council of Independent Schools to discuss a range of issues that affect the sector.

In addition, Scottish ministers have made 48 visits to local authority schools to date this parliamentary session.

Bullying or racism of any kind is unacceptable and must be addressed quickly and effectively whenever it arises. Schools need to be clear on the distinctions between bullying and other forms of prejudice such as racism.

It is for schools and local authorities to decide what action should be taken depending on the individual circumstances of challenging behaviour. We expect schools and authorities to record and monitor all incidents of bullying and racism in schools.

On 23 February 2023, HM Inspectors of Education published their report of the thematic inspection we commissioned on the national approach to recording and monitoring bullying incidents in schools.

There are positive findings in the report that we should build on. However, we acknowledge that there is also room for improvement and we are taking immediate action to ensure schools and school staff have the right support in place to prevent and respond to bullying.

We are also working with a wide range of anti-racism organisations to further strengthen resources and approaches to prevent and respond to racist incidents through the Anti-Racism in Education Programme Board.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information at this level of detail. Latest published Scottish Government annual estimates on demolitions from 1999-00 up to the year 2020-21 are available on the Housing statistics: Conversions and demolitions webpage. This information is provided by local authorities but does not include a breakdown by houses or flats.

Note that these estimates are not considered comprehensive. Estimates of demolitions of local authority housing are thought to be generally accurate, however local authorities differ in their ability to provide comprehensive estimates of demolitions of private sector and housing association homes. As such, these estimates should be considered as the minimum level of demolition activity in Scotland.

The co-chairs of the Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group wrote to the co-chairs of the Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group (HPSG), the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government and COSLA’s Community Wellbeing Spokesperson, on 15 September 2022 to share three initial recommendations. As members of the Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group, a draft of this letter was shared with Scottish Government officials on 9 September.

The final recommendations will be published following a presentation by the Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group co-chairs at the HPSG meeting scheduled for 30 March 2023.

Time booking practices are not widely used in the Scottish Government and were not used in the preparation of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy.

Costs associated with the development of the strategy mainly relate to staffing. Given the wide range of policy areas which have an impact on biodiversity, a large number of staff will have contributed sometimes quite small amounts of time to developing the strategy, in addition to the small core team for whom the development of the strategy was a primary objective. There were also some direct costs associated with the development of the strategy, including consultation analysis, strategic impact assessment and the design/publication of the draft strategy, all of which have been subject to standard government procurement procedures.

Yes, the Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group (HPSG) met on 21 September 2022 and 18 January 2023.

Agendas for HPSG meetings are not published. Following a delay in publishing the minutes of the September meeting online, these can now be found here . The minutes from the January meeting are in the process of being finalised and will be published in due course.

The Priority Action in the draft Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, ‘Continue effective species recovery, reintroduction and reinforcement programmes’, is one of several actions that supports the recovery and protection of vulnerable species in Scotland, and will help us to meet Goal A and Target 4 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

We are committed to continue protecting vulnerable species, and are determined to step up our ambition in taking action to support nature-friendly farming, fishing and forestry, and to expand, restore and connect existing protected areas, to ensure high quality landscapes for all species across Scotland to thrive, and adapt to our changing climate.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Licensing schemes are administered by licensing authorities. The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022 came into force on 1 March 2022, and required licensing authorities to establish schemes in their areas by 1 October 2022.

The consultation on the draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan is currently open, and available for Aberdeen City Council and others to respond to. We will publish a list of organisations that responded in due course.