Chamber and committees

As is standard practice, any planned changes to Scottish Income Tax will be announced during the regular annual Budget process. Our approach to taxation will continue to be guided by the strategic objectives and principles set out in our Framework for Tax, which underpins our fair and progressive approach.

We are committed to engaging with the public to explore how best we can use our existing powers to continue to deliver the most progressive taxation system in the UK, and achieve the Government’s three key missions of equality, opportunity and community.

As part of our New Deal for Local Government, we are working with COSLA to agree a Fiscal Framework for Local Government, with the aim of delivering greater flexibility over financial arrangements, improving accountability for the delivery of national priorities, including net zero objectives, whilst ensuring maximum value for money. We anticipate the new Fiscal Framework will facilitate opportunities for greater local fiscal empowerment in the future, and aim to give councils more flexibility with greater scope for discretionary local revenue-raising. This will include exploring new ways to raise revenue and reviewing existing local taxes and powers, to make best use of all available and potential sources of local funding.

The Scottish Government cannot comment on live legal proceedings. As usual in relation to legal action, the Scottish Government has taken legal advice and considered the position in connection with the Section 35 Order. It is too early generally to determine any impact of possible changes the UK Government might be considering to the Equality Act.

Last year the Scottish Government announced the £60 million Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund that aims to draw commercial investment in the public charging network across all parts of Scotland. Transport Scotland has already provided funding to Scotland’s local authorities to help them to work together to establish electric vehicle charging strategies and infrastructure expansion plans. These plans are identifying local and regional charge point needs and locations, the investment requirements, as well as the best approaches to delivering collaborative investments with commercial charge point operators. Opportunities to consider the installation of lamppost charge points, or other appropriate solutions, as part of their approach, will fall to local authorities.

Tackling poverty and protecting people from harm is one of three critical and interdependent missions for the government – alongside our focus on the economy and strengthening public services.

The Scottish Government is taking a wide range of action to tackle and reduce poverty, with almost £3 billion allocated both last year and this to support policies which tackle poverty and protect people as far as possible during the ongoing cost of living crisis.

Key actions, which will benefit people from a minority ethnic background, include continued investment in the delivery of more affordable homes, providing free transport for over two million people in Scotland and delivering five family payments including the Scottish Child Payment, which was increased in value to £25 per child per week as of November 2022.

In addition to these key anti-poverty actions, we are also taking action targeted to supporting people from a minority ethnic background. This includes f unding local community organisations such as BEMIS, CEMVO and SAREC, who work predominantly with minority ethnic householders, and have been able to offer targeted support to vulnerable households. This includes issuing direct hardship payments and ensuring they are supported to access welfare support they are entitled to.

The Scottish Government also published ‘A Fairer Scotland for All: An anti-racist strategy’, in December 2022, which includes guidance, advice, and examples of good practice for employers in order to address the issues and disadvantages experienced by people from racialised minorities. The strategy is a key component to reaching the ambition of a becoming a leading Fair Work Nation by 2025.

Tackling poverty and protecting people from harm is one of three critical and interdependent missions for the government – alongside our focus on the economy and strengthening public services.

As set out within ‘ Best Start, Bright Futures’ , the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan: 2022-26, the Scottish Government is taking a wide range of action across the three drivers of poverty reduction – income from work and earnings, costs of living and income from social security and benefits in kind – as well as taking action to improve the wellbeing and outcomes of people across Scotland.

In delivering action, we are focused on ensuring that interventions deliver for those at greatest risk of poverty, including people from a minority ethnic background. In doing so we will help to reduce poverty for these groups whilst delivering significant progress on our wider equality and human rights ambitions – particularly in relation to advancing equality and human rights for women, disabled people and minority ethnic people.

The Scottish Government meet regularly with representatives of local government in order to progress shared priorities which tackle poverty. This includes in relation to delivery of employment support through our No One Left Behind approach, which is tailored to the needs of people from a minority ethnic background, delivery of more affordable homes, tackling child poverty and delivery of the wide ranging action set out in our refreshed Fair Work Action Plan.

The Scottish Government also meet regularly with the UK Government on areas of shared interest, which are key to tackling poverty, including in relation to social security and employment.

Local Authorities have a duty to investigate light pollution complaints under the provisions of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA). The Scottish Government engages with local authorities through the Environmental Health Officers network and relevant working groups, where any emerging issues on light pollution could be raised.

The Scottish Government recognise the valuable role that sport and physical activity can play to the overall health of the nation.

Encouraging people to take part in sport at all levels, including in newer sports such as pickleball, is key to getting more people more active more often, and can create wider benefits in areas such as health, education, communities and the economy.

In the last 20 years, sportscotland has invested over £235 million of Scottish Government and National Lottery funding in clubs, communities, and leisure trusts across Scotland to improve the places where people take part in sport and physical activity. As a sport that’s primarily played on a badminton court, we already have fantastic facilities across the country where pickleball can be played.

Through sportscotland’s Community Sport Hubs’ programmes, local community organisations are beginning to explore opportunities to develop links with pickleball clubs and to promote the sport. There are now five pickleball clubs across three local authorities that are part of the Community Sport Hub programme and these numbers are expected to grow as the sport continues to develop.

The Scottish Government now mandates the real Living Wage in its contracts and those contractors will now pay the real Living Wage either through a change of supplier during a re-let or via contract management processes. As such, we are not aware of any suppliers who do not pay the real Living Wage to employees directly involved in services to the Scottish Government.

On 18 April 2023, the First Minister announced that Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme will now launch on 1 March 2024.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that businesses of all sizes can participate in our DRS. As a part of this the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy, and Biodiversity announced on Thursday 20 April 2023 in Parliament that changes are to be made to the DRS Regulations so that any product which sells less than 5,000 articles a year in Scotland will no longer have to place a deposit on the product and that drinks containers which are smaller than 100ml will be removed from the scheme.

These changes were asked for by business and will apply to producers of all sizes. However, they will particularly help small producers and hospitality businesses.