Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government remains committed to its aim of providing an integrated community hearing service, as highlighted in the 2021 Manifesto. As set out in the 2022-23 Emergency Budget Review, ongoing impacts of the cost crisis - as well as the need to consider outcomes from the National Audiology Review - have necessitated re-phasing of this commitment.

Since my response to S6W-16048 was issued, my officials have met with representatives from the following organisations:

The Church of Scotland

The Free Church of Scotland

Sikhs in Scotland

The United Free Church of Scotland

We have additionally received written views on the minimum age of marriage and civil partnership from the Equality Network.

Invitations to meet have been issued to representatives of all the other organisations that my response to S6W-16048 indicates we planned to meet.

I am meeting Pauline Latham MP after the summer recess. Ms Latham promoted the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Bill in the Westminster Parliament. That Bill once passed and implemented led to an increase in the minimum age of marriage in England and Wales from 16 to 18.

The member is welcome to write to me with details of any other interested groups who want to be involved.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-16433 on 25 April 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government remains committed to the provision of ear wax removal within community NHS services. The new GP contract, introduced in 2018, committed Health Boards to set up Community Treatment and Care (CTAC) services to provide ear wax removal in the community.

We are aware that gaps in delivery remain in certain areas, and are working closely with Health Boards, to collect and review the data on the workforce and financial resources required to fully deliver these services needs in order to inform consideration of the potential for additional investment in 2023-24.

As the tax authority with responsibility for the collection and management of Scotland’s devolved taxes, Revenue Scotland publishes monthly and annual data on its website regarding the number of property conveyances and non-residential leases subject to the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) and the associated tax liabilities. These are available at https://revenue.scot/news-publications/publications/statistics .

Local authority level data is published on an annual basis, as part of Revenue Scotland’s Annual Summary of Trends in the Devolved Taxes. The report for 2021-22, which provides data for the period from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022, is available at: https://revenue.scot/news-publications/publications/statistics/annual-summary-trends-devolved-taxes-2021-22 . The report for 2022-2023 is due to be published in late 2023.

In particular, the figures and tables file of this publication at 'Figure 12' includes estimates of residential LBTT payable, broken down by year and local authority area.

For non-residential LBTT, 'Figure 17' sets out revenue data by year and by Nomenclature of Territorial Units (NUTS 2) areas. Local authority level data is not used for non-residential LBTT statistics to minimise the risk of disclosing protected taxpayer information.

Secondary legislation on the establishment of The National Smart Ticketing Advisory Board (NSTAB) came into force in May 2023 and as such recruitment for board members is now underway, with a proposal to undertake the inaugural meeting by the end of the year. The board will advise on a national technological standard for smart ticketing, to be used in ticketing schemes and to help improve the interoperability of smart ticketing in Scotland, setting the foundation for better integration. It will also advise Scottish Ministers on the strategic direction for smart ticketing to improve passenger’s experience and help boost use of sustainable public transport modes.

Additionally, via our £1.1m Smart Pay Grant Fund, we have supported bus operators to accept contactless payment so this is now available on around 98% of buses. We have also made ITSO smartcards interoperable so you only need one smartcard for various operators’ commercial smart tickets, as well as our own concessionary bus travel schemes, simplifying access to smart travel. We have commenced a feasibility study to consider the different ‘smart’ platforms that could be used for the national concessionary travel scheme, including mobile, contactless, and ’blended’ smart device solutions.

We are refreshing the 2018 Smart Delivery Strategy, which will outline the programme of work and strategy for the next 5-10 years for smart and integrated ticketing in Scotland. This is being informed by a public survey, which ran between March 2023 and May 2023, plus engagement with operators and local transport authorities.

The judicial review decision about the City of Edinburgh Council's short-term lets licensing policy does not affect the timeframes for the implementation of short-term lets licensing as set out in legislation.

Since 1 October 2022, new short-term let hosts must obtain a licence, from the licensing authority where their accommodation is located, before they accept bookings and receive guests.

Transitional arrangements are in place for existing hosts, those operating their accommodation as short-term lets prior to 1 October 2022, enabling them to continue operating provided that they apply for a licence by 1 October 2023. Existing hosts will then be able to continue operating while their licence application is being processed and until it is determined.

Under the legislation, licensing authorities have up to 12 months to process applications from existing hosts and this can be extended by the courts for individual cases where there are good reasons to do so. If a licensing authority does not determine a licensing application within 12 months or apply to a court for an extension to continue its consideration, the application will be deemed to be granted for the period of one year. These provisions should provide assurance to the sector that they can continue to accept bookings and receive guests during this transitional period for existing hosts.

The Scottish Government understands the importance of ferry connections to our island economies, communities.

We work closely with our local authority partners, transport providers and island communities and businesses to understand the impacts of service disruption through a variety of fora such as Ferry Committees, the Islands Strategic Group and Transport Forums.

We also fully understand the importance of ferry services to the transportation of goods and services. Our ferry operators prioritise food supplies and essential services during disruption. They are part of local resilience partnerships, and remain in contact with local communities and hauliers.

Scottish Ministers’ primary focus is to improve resilience in the ferry network to minimise the risk of service disruption. We continue to task CMAL and operators to identify and present suitable second hand tonnage options for charter or purchase to support the existing fleets. This has helped to provide additional resilience and capacity in the short-term through, for example, our purchase and deployment of the MV Loch Frisa, chartering the MV Arrow, and currently chartering the MV Alfred.

We continue to invest in our ferry network, including commissioning the two new vessels for Islay and two more for the Little Minch routes. These four ships are being built now and are currently expected to be in service over the period between early 2025 and 2026. These four new vessels are in addition to the vessels being completed at Ferguson’s.

While we continue to invest in the network to minimise the risk of cancellations, weather conditions will always result in some unavoidable disruption. For example, statistics show that in 2022 of the 171,403 scheduled sailings across the CHFS network 11,301 (6.6%) were cancelled, with only 1,830 (1.1%) of these being cancelled due to technical issues.

The Building (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2023 , which will give effect to the New Build Heat Standard, if passed, were laid in parliament on 8 June 2023.

An accompanying policy note was published alongside these.

Commissioned research into ‘Zero Emissions Heating in New Buildings across Scottish Islands’ and a suite of impact assessments were published alongside the independent analysis of the New Build Heat Standard Consultation: Part II, also on 9 June 2023.

Work is now ongoing to update the building standards technical handbooks which will provide the relevant guidance for industry, and this is due to be published in Autumn 2023.

Since October 2022 local licensing schemes have been operational in Scotland, and licensing authorities continue to accept and process applications, and issue licences.

In terms of the judicial review (JR), this was a challenge specific to aspects of the City of Edinburgh Council’s short-term let licensing policy and not the overall licensing scheme. While the Judge found in favour of some of the petitioners’ grounds for challenge, these relate to the Council’s application of the legislation and not the legislation itself. It remains our view that licensing of short-term lets can be operated effectively by councils so as to respect the rights of hosts and guests in short-term let accommodation. There is therefore no need to repeal the legislation for Short Terms Lets Licensing or for licensing authorities to reimburse application fees.

I understand the City of Edinburgh Council is considering the JR decision and its legal options. As I mentioned above, the JR challenge was specific to certain aspects of the Council’s policy, however, the JR decision does not stop the Council from operating its wider licensing scheme; the Council continues to operate this and applications are still being received and processed. The Council has advised us that it will update its website and information for applicants, regarding the JR decision, to ensure there is clarity for hosts who have applied, or need to apply, for a short-term let licence. Additionally, our Scottish Government short-term let licensing guidance documents are being updated and will be published shortly.

In early 2024 we will provide a more formal, detailed but still relatively preliminary update on licensing implementation. We are currently engaging with stakeholders to gain their views on how we do this to inform the scope and handling. I will keep Parliament informed and provide further detail once we’ve concluded discussions and made a decision about the format of next year’s update, as well as the frequency and format of future implementation updates. In the meantime, we remain committed to engaging with stakeholders about the implementation of licensing and continue to be responsive about concerns.