Chamber and committees

The extension of the 100% Retail, Hospitality, Leisure, and Aviation (RHLA) relief for the whole of 2021-22 is expected to save ratepayers an estimated £719 million. The following table shows the value of the estimated relief award broken down by property class, as industry sector classifications are not available.

Table 1: Value of RHLA relief in 2021-22, by property class

Physical distancing has been an important element in controlling the spread of COVID-19 and we recognise that physical distancing has an impact on how businesses are able to operate and has an impact on the profitability of all businesses. The Scottish Government is reviewing physical distancing and an announcement on the outcome of this review will be made in June. We cannot pre-empt the outcome of the review to say what the future of physical distancing will be in coming months, however as with all restrictions we do not intend to have physical distancing for any longer than is necessary to control the virus effectively.

We have provided more than £140 million of additional funding for culture and heritage since the start of the pandemic. The £185 million business support package announced in December 2020 has allowed us to offer more support to the sector in the shape of new funds and further tranches of previous funds, including additional support for grassroots music venues, museums and galleries, and the events sector. Our support includes the £12.5 million Performing Arts Venue Relief Fund (PAVRF), £15 million for a Culture Organisations and Venues Recovery Fund (COVRF) and £6.2 million support for Grassroots Music Venues. We have provided £17 million for creative freelancers, £5.67 million for independent cinemas and £ 4.25 million for youth arts and youth music, as well as £31.5 million for the Events sector. We have also given additional support to some of Scotland’s key theatres. In addition to this specific funding for culture and heritage, businesses in the sector have also received support from the Third Sector Resilience Fund, Pivotal Enterprises Resilience Fund and the Heritage Emergency Fund.

On 11 May the First Minister announced that we will provide additional support for the performing arts sector. This recognises the impact of physical distancing on current activity and the sector’s ability to plan for future activity. The intention is to provide top-ups to previous funds (PAVRF and COVRF) which will be administered by Creative Scotland. Creative Scotland are currently developing these schemes. It is likely that the schemes will open for applications in early June

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo announced its cancellation in 2021 on 18 May as a result of the financial risks involved in delivering an event of such scale without the backing of UK-wide commercial COVID-related insurance for events, which remains a reserved matter. The Scottish Government continues to press the UK Government for an events insurance scheme to allow for the confident recovery of the events sector.

Social Security is integral to my Social Justice, Housing and Local Government portfolio . It’s importance is reflected in the fact there is both a Cabinet Secretary and a Minister with responsibilities for it.

We do not currently publish this information. The vaccination data published is subject to continual review, development and quality assurance. PHS are exploring the feasibility of publishing data on the number of people who have not attended their vaccine appointment in a future PHS COVID-19 weekly report.

Our desire to protect as much of Scotland’s population as quickly as possible has necessitated the deployment of all available resources, and the rate of progress we have seen would not have been possible without the mobilisation at pace of a large, capable and diverse workforce. We have worked to ensure nobody is placed at detriment as a result of their participation in the programme as a vaccinator.

It is our expectation that reliance on the temporary measures currently in place will reduce as Health Boards continue with efforts to recruit a sustainable vaccinator workforce.

The number of people who have been rejected for Home Energy Scotland loans as a result of poor credit scores is 886 out of a total of 9335 applications since 2017.

The Scottish Government commissioned an independent review of the non-domestic rates system in 2017 chaired by Ken Barclay, which provided recommendations aimed at improvements to better support business growth, long term investment and reflect changing market places. We accepted the majority of these recommendations and have already implemented a number of key reforms such as three-yearly revaluations from 2023 with a one-year tone date, the introduction of the unique Business Growth Accelerator and Fresh start relief, and the introduction of the UK’s first Day Nursery relief.

It is important that the Barclay reforms are fully implemented and evaluated before a further review is undertaken.

The Scottish Government remains committed to a competitive and sustainable rates regime, and has delivered the lowest poundage in the UK for the third year in a row by taking the unprecedented step of reducing the poundage mid-revaluation in 2021-22. We also introduced the Intermediate Property Rate for properties with a rateable value between £51,001 and £95,000, ensuring that 95% of properties pay a lower rate than anywhere else in the UK, alongside the most generous package of reliefs.

Transport Scotland continues to work collaboratively with ScotRail to increase the number of cycle spaces on board passenger services on Scotland’s Railway.

Details of when the planned increase in cycle capacity on ScotRail trains will take place, broken down by route and train class is available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 62443).

The release of red-legged partridges and pheasants is a legal activity and is expressly permitted under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981.

At present there is no evidence that gamebirds are having an impact on the features of protected areas as shown by NatureScot’s Site Condition Monitoring work and little information to suggest that they are having an impact on Scotland’s wider natural heritage. The Scottish Government therefore has no current plans to legislate in this area.

It is vital for the current Covid-19 vaccination programme to reach everyone and that no one is left behind, both for individual health and our collective community wellbeing.

In order to achieve this, we have embedded inclusion as a key aspect of our national COVID-19 vaccination programme, working alongside Health Boards and other partners to respond to evidence of low uptake in certain communities.

To help support this work we set up a National Inclusive Steering Group with representatives from Health Boards, faith groups, third and community sector. The group advises on issues and identifies solutions and actions for all partners. Organisations represented on the group include BEMIS, the African Council, Scottish Refugee Council and the Ethnic Minority Resilience Network.

We have provided over £100,000 to a range of organisations working with minority ethnic communities to help inform and promote the programme. Activities undertaken include the facilitation of focus groups, provision of translations, hosting awareness-raising events and the development of tailored resources for certain communities.

In April 2021 the national programme team produced inclusive planning and delivery criteria to help address barriers for specific groups within health board populations. This is based on the Health Inequality Impact Assessment, research by Voluntary Health Scotland and health board plans. Scottish Government officials meet regularly with Health Boards to discuss inclusion, local challenges and actions that are being undertaken to reach communities with low uptake of the vaccine.

Work has also been undertaken to respond to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in certain areas by accelerating the vaccination rollout and through assertive outreach in communities with large ethnic minority populations. For example, in the south of Glasgow, an additional Vaccination Centre was set up rapidly at the Glasgow Central Mosque on 18 May 2021. Mobile clinics continue to be deployed into communities offering drop-in opportunities at venues such as the Glasgow Gurdwara. Discussions are also underway with community leaders of African descent to ensure we are reaching these groups with appropriately tailored communications and delivery.

The national Roll Up Your Sleeves campaign phase 2 launched on 20 April 2021 and the TV advert cast and creative reflects Scotland’s diverse society. Our national communications plan includes the production of translated assets in a range of community languages. The QR code on vaccination appointment letters and COVID-19 vaccination leaflets support people to access the information in a format or language of their choice.

Scotland’s COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment Plan 2021 provides further details about our approach to the national COVID-19 programme to date and includes examples of partnership work, local outreach and communications undertaken.