Chamber and committees

The Programme for Government 2020-21 commits the Scottish Government to consult on legislation to extend the new framework that came into force on 1 September for the licensing of animal welfare establishments, dog, cat and rabbit breeding and pet sales to performing animals and animal care services. This could include dog walking and grooming, as well as boarding services which are currently regulated under the Animal Boarding Establishments Act 1963.

We plan to bring forward consultations in this area in due course after allowing a period of familiarisation with the recent licensing changes, so that the practical experiences of local authorities in implementing these can be considered in any future proposals.

The Scottish Government Code of Practice for the Welfare of Cats recommends that all cat owners should consider neutering and microchipping their pets as the best way of being reunited with them should they be separated.

The Scottish Government is aware of the Defra call for evidence and recent public consultation on the microchipping of cats. We will give full consideration to the results of this consultation and the details of any proposed legislation when they are available.

We remain willing to consider areas where consistent changes to legislation in all GB administrations will improve the welfare of kept animals.

In 2021-22, South Ayrshire Council has been allocated £176,000 from the Ending Homelessness Together Fund. To date, South Ayrshire Council has been allocated an additional £30 million to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic over and above its regular grant payments. It is the responsibility of individual councils to allocate the financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities.

However, South Ayrshire Council has reported that there has not been an increase in homelessness applications and that they are continuing to support people through the system and into settled accommodation as quickly as possible.

This Government has made clear that whilst a cautious approach to removing or reducing mitigations will continue to be taken, we do not want mitigations to be in place in schools any longer than is necessary. Therefore, as confirmed on 19 October existing safety measures are to remain in schools for now, following advice from senior clinicians.

As has been the case throughout Scotland’s response to the pandemic, all decisions related to schools draw on expert advice, including that received from the Advisory sub-group on children’s issues , and consider the valuable feedback from partners and stakeholders, including the COVID-19 Education Recovery Group?(CERG) . There is no fixed threshold for decisions to either increase or decrease mitigations, but instead a range of indicators are monitored. All adjustments to mitigations in schools, and other education settings, are made after very careful consideration of all available advice and continue to be kept under regular review in light of emerging scientific evidence.

The National Transition Training Fund (NTTF) is being delivered through various sector-based projects which will have different application procedures. The data below sets out information on course participants in Year One as far as it is currently available.

In Year One of the NTTF, support for the Aviation sector was provided through Scottish Union Learning. Unite the Union developed a programme which continues this year to enable Aviation workers – many of whom were furloughed - to upskill to help support job retention. This provided a variety of training opportunities for ground and air crew.

In addition, Strand One of NTTF, which was managed by Skills Development Scotland, supported driver training, including Driver CPC, LGV with CPC and PCV with CPC.

In terms of NTTF college delivery, The college figures for 2020-21 are yet to be finalised as collection of college data only concluded on 12 October 2021 and still require to be quality assured before publication as Official Statistics in January 2022.

I have previously advised that a final report on NTTF Year One will be made available this year. As the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) will not publish data until January 2022, I intend to issue a report immediately after the SFC publication is released. I do however, intend to update Parliament in November on anticipated outturns.

The Scottish Government has no agreement in place with any preferred installers or providers of interlinked fire alarms.

Any firm wishing to advertise their products and services as being approved or endorsed by the Scottish Government is required to obtain the formal approval of Scottish Ministers. The Scottish Government has not provided any such approval and as such does not permit any firm to advertise interlinked fire alarms as approved or endorsed by the Scottish Government.

Local authorities have discretionary powers under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 to provide assistance to any home owners. Funding for this, and other housing activities, is included in the general capital and revenue grants provided to local authorities, and the allocation to assistance is at the discretion of the local authority.

We have provided £0.5 million additional funding for Care and Repair Scotland to provide help installing alarms for older and disabled homeowners on low incomes. We have also provided £1 million to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to provide alarms for owners who are considered most vulnerable to the risk of fire.

We are already delivering 11 benefits, seven of which are new. These include the first major disability benefit, Child Disability Payment, which launched as a pilot on 26 July and will roll out across Scotland on 22 November 2021. The new benefit also marks the start of our complex and large-scale programme of case transfer.

We have ambitious plans for the coming years. Next year we will deliver Adult Disability Payment and extend Scottish Child Payment to all eligible under 16s, subject to DWP cooperation. Last month, we announced further benefit dates including the planned launch of Low Income Winter Heating Assistance in winter 2022 and Pension Age Winter Heating Assistance, provisionally scheduled for winter 2024. We are working with DWP to confirm a launch date for Scottish Carer’s Assistance and will consult this winter on the new benefit.

As we emerge from the worst of the pandemic, with a new Ministerial team in post, we will take the opportunity to review our full timetable with our delivery partners in light of what we have learned during COVID-19, to see where there are options to do things differently and more efficiently.

We have heard evidence of noise and antisocial behaviour issues in rural and island areas relating to short-term lets through: correspondence, consultation responses and meetings with affected residents.

Party mansions have not been formally defined, but the term is commonly used to refer to a large house used to accommodate large numbers of guests, often for stag and hen parties.