Chamber and committees

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 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-00061 on‎ 26 May 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

To date, we have required travellers to use the NHS tests, which can be booked through the UK Government’s booking portal for international travel.

The purpose of these tests is to identify any positive cases as quickly as possible so that contact tracing and genomic sequencing can be carried out and minimise the chances of delays and the risk of community transmission of the virus.

A robust and fast flow of data from laboratories to Public Health Scotland is therefore essential, and we have had concerns that private sector tests would not be able to meet these requirements.

However, we fully understand how difficult the restrictions on international travel are, both for the sector and for individuals who are keen to travel to see family, as well as for other important reasons. We are therefore exploring options to allow private sector testing to be used for people arriving in Scotland, provided we can ensure the swift and accurate flow of data to Public Health Scotland.

It was a manifesto commitment of the SNP to create a register of interests for members of the judiciary to improve transparency and trust in the justice system.

Now that the new government is in place, we will start looking at ways this register can be introduced and take forward the work needed to achieve this manifesto commitment.

The Scottish Ministerial Code outlines a code of conduct for members of the Scottish Government (the First Minister, Cabinet Secretaries and Law Officers) and junior Scottish Ministers, including on the use of personal social media accounts. No other Scottish Government guidance has been issued to Ministers in this regard.

Further information

The Scottish Ministerial Code outlines a code of conduct for members of the Scottish Government (the First Minister, Cabinet Secretaries and Law Officers) and junior Scottish Ministers.

Section 10 concerns Ministers And The Presentation Of Policy. There is reference here to the use of social media, which states:

10.10 Ministers may retain personal social media accounts (e.g. Facebook, Twitter), provided that any activity on their account is not at variance with their obligations to Parliament or their duty to observe the principle of collective Ministerial responsibility. It is Ministers’ personal responsibility to ensure that social media activity in their name does not breach these requirements or bring the Government into disrepute.

10.11 If Ministers wish to use social media for official policy communications, they should use an appropriate Government account.

The Scottish Ministerial Code can be found online at https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-ministerial-code-2018-edition

Hourly rates of pay for Agenda for Change Staff are published online . Bank staff participating in the programme who do not also hold contracts of employment with the host health board are paid at the grade and pay band as specified in their bank contract, relating to the role profile pursuant to which they have been deployed.

The Scottish Government has set sessional rates of £230 and £231 for independent contractors (GPs, dentists, optometrists and pharmacists) taking part in the COVID-19 vaccination programme. These rates, which cover a 3.5 hour session, reflect both the market conditions for hiring these professionals and the roles being filled in the programme.

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 Scottish Government greatly values the need for adhering to commercial sensitivity on this area of public policy.

All information on supply volumes – except data that is currently published – is commercially sensitive. There was agreement between Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy( BEIS) and the Scottish Government on specific pieces of information that could be published.

See Daily Data under Vaccinations:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-daily-data-for-scotland/

Total doses allocated and doses delivered are published once weekly. Received = administered data which is published daily.

The definitions of allocated and delivered are included under the published figures and should be included. A key reason for the difference between allocated and delivered volumes is that a proportion of stock is held centrally until it is required at Health Board level.

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