Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government and VisitScotland are in close contact with Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park (LLTNPA) and other partners on a regular basis. Working with LLTNP, VisitScotland has led a responsible tourism marketing campaign and developed a national action plan for visitor management to help meet the challenges of the 2021 season while international travel has remained restricted.

The LLTNPA has worked in collaboration with other public bodies to address and manage visitor pressures through the National Park Safe Recovery Action Group. It’s Visitor Management Plans - Respect Protect Enjoy -Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park (lochlomond-trossachs.org) sets out the extensive range of measures and resources put in place for the 2021 season. The partners continue to meet every Monday to discuss emerging issues, solutions and opportunities. It is recognised that some challenges will require longer term solutions.

Localised visitor management groups have also been established this summer. Meetings have been held to ensure stakeholders (communities, land managers, businesses and recreation groups) are informed on the partnership work to manage visitor pressures. Recordings of each session have been published online on our Advice for Communities webpage. These sessions have included signposting to funding.

Funding of £475,000 has been provided by the Scottish Government over the last two years to the National Park to meet the costs associated with additional visitor management pressures following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions. In addition to this a further £425,000 has been allocated to mitigate the wider impact of the pandemic on businesses and local communities. This funding has supported increased seasonal staff (such as rangers), toilet provision and signage among other things.

The Scottish Government also increased in the Park Authority’s Capital budget by £540,000 for 2021-22 to deliver visitor infrastructure improvements and develop a capital investment plan to better support visitor management. This also enabled the organisation to establish a £250,000 Green Recovery Fund.

https://www.lochlomond-trossachs.org/park-authority/how-we-can-help/funding-grants/national-park-grant-scheme/

LLTNPA has received £100k from Transport Scotland towards a Sustainable Visitor Transport Co-ordination Project and a parallel Shuttle Bus Pilot in 2022 which focuses on visitor hot spots.

The Scottish Government believes that, where appropriate, family cases should be resolved outwith court.

The Children (Scotland) Act 2020 (the 2020 Act), which gained Royal Assent on 1 October 2020, contains the following provisions:

• Section 23, which places a duty on Scottish Ministers to set up a scheme to make assistance available so that individuals can meet the costs of alternative dispute resolution procedures; and
• Section 24, which places a duty on Scottish Ministers to arrange a pilot scheme for mandatory alternative dispute resolution meetings.

The provisions are at Children (Scotland) Act 2020 (legislation.gov.uk) .

Work has progressed in these areas, but the provisions will take time to implement. A report on the Scottish Ministers' progress between 1 October 2020 and 1 April 2021 is available: First_Report_Children_(Scotland)_Act_2020_.pdf (parliament.scot) .

We are aware of the UK Government Family Mediation Voucher Scheme and will consider if any lessons can be learnt from this scheme when implementing the 2020 Act provisions.

The Scottish Government gives funding to Relationships Scotland , who provide a number of services including family mediation.

In August 2017 Scottish Ministers issued their intention to grant permission for a tennis and golf centre, including hotel and 19 houses, subject to conditions and completion of a legal agreement. On 26th August 2021 the signed legal agreement was submitted to Ministers, meaning the appeal moves closer to a final decision.

Given the passage of time since Ministers indicated their intention to grant permission in 2017, further procedure is necessary before the appeal can be determined. This is to allow parties to submit contributions on any material changes that may have occurred. After that, a final decision will be taken on this planning application appeal.

As this is still a live planning application, it would not be appropriate to comment on the merits of the case.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02207 on 2 September 2021. 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 .

Afghan families are already being welcomed into Scottish communities under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) for Locally Employed Staff.

In her letter to the Prime Minister of 24 August, the First Minister called for a commitment to a substantial increase in numbers and for more detail about the new Afghan Citizens’ Resettlement Scheme (ACRS), including timescales for arrivals and funding to support local authority participation, as well as for wider services which are essential to support people to settle and be able to begin to rebuild their lives.

The Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government wrote to the Home Secretary on 1 September and asked the UK Government to provide more detail on eligibility for refugee resettlement under the ACRS. She highlighted that people who may be vulnerable in Afghanistan or the region due to protected characteristics should also be considered for resettlement and called on the UK Government to consider easing the eligibility criteria for family reunion.

On 6 September, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government and I met with the UK Government’s Afghan Resettlement Minister, Victoria Atkins, and Lord Greenhalgh, Minister for Building Safety and Communities, as part of a devolved administrations call to discuss Afghan relocation and resettlement. In addition to those who are vulnerable, we asked for consideration to be given to those who already have family settled in the UK and for those with connections to be matched to the same regions, in order to help support integration.

Following the commitment made by the Prime Minister on 18 August that the UK will not return Afghan nationals who have sought asylum in the UK, the First Minister wrote to the Prime Minister on 24 August to urge the Home Office to urgently review any cases which are in the asylum appeals process, or where people have previously been refused asylum.

The Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government wrote to the Home Secretary on 1 September. She asked the UK Government to consider easing the eligibility criteria for family reunion to enable more people from Afghanistan (and elsewhere around the world) to join family members in the UK. She also called for asylum applications from Afghan nationals in the UK to be considered quickly and compassionately and pressed the Home Office to urgently review any cases which are in the asylum appeals process or where people have previously been refused asylum on the basis that Kabul is safe.

On 6 September, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government and I met with the UK Government’s Afghan Resettlement Minister, Victoria Atkins, and Lord Greenhalgh, Minister for Building Safety and Communities, as part of a devolved administrations call to discuss relocation and resettlement from Afghanistan. During that call we raised our concerns about family reunion and the position of Afghan nationals in the UK asylum system, including those whose applications have been refused, as well as those awaiting an initial decision and those in the appeal process.

Families where the mother is under the age of 25 and lone parents families are two of the six priority family types identified in the Scottish Government’s Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan as those where children are at greater risk of living in poverty.

Our Delivery Plan sets out wide ranging action to support these families, this includes making £23 million available for our Parental Employability Support Fund since 2019 – with £1 million of investment specifically targeted to enhance support for young parents – helping young parents to progress into and within employment. This is further strengthened through our £70 million investment in the Young Person’s Guarantee, offering every 16-24 year old in Scotland the opportunity of a job, apprenticeship, further or higher education, training programme or volunteering.

We are also providing direct support through our Scottish Child Payment and bridging payments, which will put over £130 million in the pockets of families this year. In addition we are continuing to support organisations such as One Parent Families Scotland and Home Start, which offer support and advice to lone parents, and providing an estimated £45.3 million available this year for awards through our Scottish Welfare Fund and £82 million through Discretionary Housing Payments, which includes £71 million to mitigate the bedroom tax in full.

Through these and other measures we are tackling child poverty head on, with investment to support children in low income households reaching nearly £1 billion in 2020-21.

We call on the UK Government to work with us to tackle child poverty, including by maintaining the £20 uplift to Universal Credit and by restoring the adult rate of benefits for young mothers under 25 – helping to protect the financial wellbeing of these priority families.

As per the Scottish Government's response to S5W-35177 on 19 February 2021 and S6W-02708 on 16 September 2021, the Kickstart Scheme is a programme of work reserved to the UK Government and it is for the Department of Work and Pensions to report on it.

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

Asylum and immigration are matters reserved to the UK Parliament and handled by the Home Office. This includes the design and operation of the UK asylum system and decisions relating to asylum applications. The Scottish Government is not involved in these processes, but can provide signposting to sources of information and advice.

The Scottish Government has made clear that the UK Government must consider asylum applications from Afghan nationals quickly and compassionately.

As per the Scottish Government's response to question S5W-35177 on 19 February 2021 , the Kickstart Scheme is a programme of work reserved to the UK Government and it is for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to report on the allocation of opportunities.

Data relating to the Kickstart Scheme is collated by the UK Government and is not currently shared with the Scottish Government.

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