Chamber and committees

The valuation of all non-domestic property is a matter for the independent assessors, who follow applicable statute and case law in making their decisions on non-domestic property valuations. The 2020 Supreme Court ruling for England and Wales is not binding in Scots law, although I am aware that dialogue is ongoing between assessors and agents regarding the rating of ATM sites following that decision.

The Scottish Government provides the most generous non-domestic rates regime in the UK, and in 2021-22 delivered an unprecedented reduction in the poundage mid-revaluation; returning it to pre-COVID levels, which saves Scottish Businesses over £120 million compared with a standard inflationary increase.

The Scottish Government have continued to ensure that the sites of standalone ATMs in rural areas are exempt from rating. Other ATMs may benefit from as much as a 100% rates relief through the Small Business Bonus Scheme.

Under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, each local Council has wide-raging powers to create rates reliefs to reflect local needs. This may apply to a sole business, sector or area. The relief may be an adaptation of an existing national relief scheme or a unique standalone scheme.

The winter funding will be used by Health and Social Care Partnerships to fund a range of options to support the timely discharge of patients from hospital. This includes £62 million for enhancing care at home capacity, £20 million to develop multi-disciplinary teams, £40 million for the development of alternative, interim care options and up to £48 million to increase the hourly rate of pay for social care staff.

In addition to this funding, in March 2021 we issued a £20 million Community Living Change Fund to be used during 2021–2024. Funding will be used to redesign services for people with complex needs including intellectual disabilities and autism, and for people who have enduring mental health problems, avoiding the need for out of area placements and reducing delayed discharges from hospital.

Recovering our NHS is our top priority. Addressing the backlog of care, while continuing to meet the ongoing urgent health and care needs of the country, is the central aim of our NHS Recovery Plan.

The Plan is backed by over £1 billion of additional investment to support delivery of improvements throughout the 5 years of this Parliament. Amongst other things, it will increase primary care investment by 25% and restore face to face consultations in GP surgeries. It will reduce A&E attendances by 15% to 20% and increase outpatient capacity by 10% compared to pre-Covid levels.

While it is not possible to determine when NHS performance will return to pre-pandemic levels, we will continue to work to identify ways of adding additional activity, through new facilities or through improvements to existing ways of working in order to reduce the length of time patients are waiting and bring waiting times back within standards.

We have worked closely with CoSLA and others to develop this fund. Local authorities will report progress with administering the Tenant Grant Fund to the Scottish Government, on a quarterly basis. This means the first official reports from local authorities on their use of the Tenant Grant Fund, will be available early next year. In the meantime, we will remain in close contact with CoSLA to ensure that this new grant fund reaches those in need.

The Scottish Government is required by law to regularly review all protective measures that are currently in place, such as the mandatory requirement for the wearing of face coverings in most indoor settings, including places of worship. This measure will continue to be monitored and reviewed in relation to evidence on the four harms : the direct impact of COVID-19, other health impacts, societal impacts, and economic impacts.

After a recent review, during which there was careful consideration of all of the current evidence as well as the options available, Ministers determined that the regulations on face coverings remain proportionate and should not change for the present.

At this stage of the pandemic many of the more intrusive restrictions have been lifted, but the virus and the harms that it causes have not gone away. We still continue to see hospital admissions and deaths as a result of COVID and the impacts of long COVID can be significant. That is why it remains important to maximise the use of the remaining measures such as face coverings.

While the vaccination has significantly weakened the link between new cases and serious health harms, it has not been completely broken. It is therefore important that places of worship, along with many other indoor settings, continue their good practice to reduce the spread of the virus.

We are grateful to faith and belief communities for their important role in protecting their congregations and enabling everyone, particularly those at higher risk, to access worship safely.

Our ‘A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People: Employment Action Plan’ sets out key actions we as a Government will take to meet our commitment to reduce the employment gap between disabled people and the rest of the working age population by at least half by 2038. This Action plan will be refreshed in Spring 2022; and we are working closely with our partners, including disabled people themselves and the organisations that represent them, as we develop this. The Young Person’s Guarantee will ensure that every person aged between 16 and 24 – including disabled people and those from low socio-economic groups will have the opportunity to study, take up an apprenticeship, job or work experience, or participate in formal volunteering. The transition to net zero presents opportunities to put this into practice. This year we have provided £27 million for Fair Start Scotland to provide tailored support for unemployed disabled people to move into fair and sustained work.

We are also providing over £8.65 million for the Parental Employability Support Fund in 2021-22, and will invest at least a further £15 million across 2022-24. This helps low income families identified as being most at risk of experiencing poverty, including disabled parents to increase their earnings, by gaining and progressing in fair work, providing intensive, person centred key worker employability support. In August we launched phase 1 of The Green Jobs Workforce Academy. The Academy makes it easier for individuals of all backgrounds at any stage of their career to consider how their skills and experience can be built upon to launch a green career. Finally, The Individual Training Account scheme continues to support the unemployed or those in low paid work with the opportunity to access £200 towards training.

The Programme for Government 2020-21 commits the Scottish Government to consult on legislation to extend the regulatory framework that came into force on 1 September for the licensing of animal welfare establishments, animal rehoming activities, dog, cat and rabbit breeding and pet sales to performing animals and animal care services.

Given that the new licensing regulations have only just come into force and the fact that they introduce significant changes, the Scottish Government does not have any immediate plans to consult on extending the licensing framework to encompass a registration scheme for anyone breeding, selling, or transferring the ownership of a litter of puppies.

As we set out in our recent Programme for Government, we are committed to delivering the recommendations of the independent Grouse Moor Management Group review (the ‘Werritty Review’) as a matter of urgency.

This will include tighter regulation, including licensing, and oversight of muirburn, and a ban on burning on peatland (expect in very limited cases as part of an approved habitat restoration programme).

We will also undertake a review of the current definition of peatland, taking expert advice on whether it should be revised and a stricter definition imposed.

The timing of the legislation will depend on the future legislative programme for the Parliament, which will be set out in due course.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The following table provides the total number of drug tests conducted in each financial year, along with the results.

Since the early stages of our pandemic response, the Scottish Government has been committed to a public inquiry into the handling of the pandemic in Scotland, with the purpose of scrutinising decisions taken in the course of this pandemic so far and to ensure that lessons are learned for the future. The Scottish public inquiry is expected to adopt a person-centred, human rights based approach.

Decisions about the scope of the inquiry are yet to be taken. Public engagement about a draft Scottish public inquiry aims and principles paper took place between 24 August and end of September. The Scottish Government is actively seeking the views of equality and Human Rights stakeholder groups. I also met with equality and Human Rights groups on 30 September. This feedback will help inform the terms of reference to be agreed between Ministers and the inquiry’s Chair, once they have been appointed.