Chamber and committees

While employment law is reserved, our Fair Work approach seeks to improve workers’ rights and conditions and aims to address women’s workplace inequalities by encouraging employers to take action to tackle occupational segregation and reduce gender pay gaps across the labour market in Scotland.

Our updated Vessels and Ports Plan was published on 1 February 2024 as part of the Islands Connectivity Plan. It sets a target average vessel age of around 15 years by the end of this decade. The delivery of the six new major CalMac vessels currently under construction, and an accompanying programme of disposals, will support this. Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd are now procuring seven new small vessels for CalMac. The Vessels and Ports Plan proposes a programme of further investments including vessel replacements for Mallaig-Lochboisdale, Gourock-Dunoon and Kilcreggan, Craignure-Oban, and the Northern Isles freighters.

Section 57(2B) of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 provides that once a flood protection scheme is confirmed (whether by the local authority or the Scottish Ministers), the Scottish Ministers are to direct that planning permission for the development is deemed to be granted, subject to any planning conditions which Ministers may specify.

The implementation of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 is primarily a matter for local planning authorities.

It is a local authority responsibility to develop and deliver flood protection schemes. This includes the selection of an appropriate standard of protection. This is because each place is unique and bespoke solutions are required.

We would expect local authorities to engage with their local communities on relevant design considerations including the level of protection throughout the development process.

It is a local authority responsibility to develop and deliver flood protection schemes, ensuring that it complies with all relevant legislation, policy and guidance.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-28572 on 12 August 2024. 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

There are no plans for compensation to be offered to Storas Uibhist for any business lost during the ongoing development of the Gasay proposals. Any such scheme ultimately draws resources otherwise intended for the operation of ferry services and associated projects.

The importance of this project and the future of the route to the communities it serves, is well understood by both Scottish Ministers and the three organisations involved in leading the project. Developing a robust Business Case is essential in underpinning decisions against the current fiscal backdrop.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-28575 on 12 August 2024 . 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

The Scottish Parliament agreed the general principles of the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill in April. In advance of the dates for Stage 2 of the Parliamentary process being agreed, I am proposing to make some amendments to the Bill.

On 9 October the Scottish Government published its response to the independent review of the Victim Notification Scheme (VNS), which signalled our intention to use the Bill to deliver reforms to the VNS that require primary legislation, to ensure we reform the VNS as quickly as possible.

I have already made clear my willingness to amend the provisions that enable a time-limited pilot of single judge rape trials. I recognise, however, that there is not enough cross-party support at this time for such a pilot, irrespective of the model. In the interests of building as much consensus as possible, I will no longer pursue this policy and bring forward relevant amendments to remove it from the Bill. I remain committed to exploring the impact of rape myths and improving access to justice for rape victims. As part of this work, I will bring forward amendments to allow for research to be carried out into jury deliberations, which is currently heavily restricted by the Contempt of Court Act 1981.

I also intend to bring forward amendments at Stage 2 so that Scotland retains a 15 person jury in criminal trials. After reflecting carefully on the Criminal Justice Committee’s recommendations, and on the evidence, I believe that the most prudent approach to jury reform, including the abolition of the not proven verdict, is to seek support for a model with two verdicts (guilty and not guilty), 15 jurors, and a two-thirds majority requirement for conviction.

I have written to the Criminal Justice Committee to provide further detail about the planned amendments.

I am pleased to announce that the third Annual Report on our progress towards implementing Scotland’s Vision for Trade is being published today and is available at: www.gov.scot/isbn/9781836019084

The Report sets out how the Scottish Government has applied its principles to international trade policy matters, covering the period from July 2023 – October 2024.

Since our last Annual Report, published in Summer 2023, we have taken a range of actions to improve the international trading environment for businesses in Scotland, including stepping up our direct engagement with the business community, supporting the resolution of individual market access barriers and using standards and regulation to support businesses. For example, we collaborated with the British Standards Institution on the introduction of a new voluntary whisky standard which empowers distillers in Scotland to trade internationally.

We are using our principles-based approach to trade to create more opportunities for people to participate in our economy, for example by gaining a better understanding of the cause, impact and potential measures to address the a clear gender export gap, whereby businesses led by women are less likely to export than those led by men.

The tragic events unfolding globally demonstrate why taking such a principles-based approach, with concern for human rights at its core, is so important.

Many trade levers sit with the UK Government, and we are committed to working constructively with the newly-elected UK Government in furthering our shared trade interests.