Chamber and committees

The current legal framework for Drug Checking facilities comes under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and an amendment to the act in relation to ‘Controlled Drugs’ which provides authorisation via the use of a license. The license can be applied for through the UK Home Office.

Scottish Government Officials will continue to work with Home Office colleagues as license applications from the proposed pilot cities progress. Police Scotland have also been involved in this work, alongside Crown Office.

The Scottish Government’s Scam Prevention, Awareness and Enforcement Strategy 2021-24 states that an initial update would be published at an appropriate time within 18-24 months of its publication in March 2021. However, our response to the cost of living crisis has meant refocusing resource to ensure that the urgent help and advice required by consumers was delivered as quickly as possible.

We intend to provide a progress update to the Scottish Parliament by the end of this calendar year.

Eligibility for non-domestic rates reliefs, including the Small Business Bonus Scheme (SBBS), is set out in legislation and it is for local authorities to administer reliefs to eligible properties in accordance with that legislation.

Table 1 presents the estimated value of SBBS relief awarded to self-catering units in each year since 2011-2012, broken down by the level of SBBS awarded, for properties receiving 100% SBBS, 25% SBBS, and other proportions of SBBS (e.g. when combined with other reliefs). These tables include all self-catering properties in receipt of SBBS relief.Data for 2014-2015 and 2017-2018 is not available. Data for 2023-2024 is not yet available.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on reasons why properties may be ineligible for reliefs.

The rateable value thresholds for SBBS changed over the requested period. Details on current and historical thresholds are available in Table 14 of Non-domestic rates relief statistics 2022 .

Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand. The data is derived from the Scottish Assessors’ Valuation Roll, and local authorities’ billing data, as at: end March 2011, end April 2012, 1 October 2013, 8 October 2015, 5 October 2016, 1 June 2018, 31 May 2019, 1 July 2020, 1 June 2021, and 1 July 2022.

Table 1: Estimated value of SBBS relief awarded to self-catering premises in 2011-2012 to 2022-2023

The Scottish Government continues to make progress on drafting the refreshed Tobacco Action Plan and this is due to be published in Autumn 2023.

The Plan will renew our focus on meeting our ambitious target of a Tobacco-Free Scotland by 2034. We are considering a range of evidence, including the latest international evidence, and are working closely with stakeholders, including Smoking Cessation Co-ordinators, ASH Scotland, the Poverty Alliance, Trading Standards and PHS to deliver actions that will further reduce the smoking rates.

Enforcement of legislation around the sale and purchase of nicotine vapour products (NVPs) is carried out by Local Authorities as part of the Enhanced Tobacco Sales Enforcement Programme (ETSEP). This is overseen by the Society for Trading Standards Officers in Scotland (SCOTSS) and funded by the Scottish Government.

SCOTSS membership includes representation from every Scottish local authority trading standards service. We regularly meet with SCOTSS, our last meeting took place on 21 June 2023, and our standing agenda includes enforcement in relation to NVPs and tobacco.

Through this engagement, we continue to support strong national and local alliances to tackle the availability and sale of tobacco and NVPs to under 18s.

The Scottish Government continues to recognise the valuable contribution that organisations like Glasgow Life provide to communities across Scotland. Whilst Glasgow Life is a registered charity, the Scottish Government acknowledges that it operates as an arms-length external organisation to Glasgow City Council.

Councils are independent corporate bodies with their own powers and responsibilities separate from the Scottish Government. It is for Glasgow City Council to decide how to use their resources as efficiently as possible. This is both to best meet the needs of their local communities and deliver local and national government’s three shared priorities as set out in the Verity House Agreement: tackling poverty; transforming the economy through a just transition to net zero; and, delivering sustainable person-centred public services).

I refer the member to the answer to S6W-20201 on 14 August 2023. 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/questions-and-answers.

The infrastructure levy powers in the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 would, once in force, provide local authorities with an additional mechanism for seeking financial contributions towards the cost of infrastructure. The definition of infrastructure in the Act is intentionally broad, enabling local authorities to spend levy income on a potentially wide range of projects in accordance with local priorities. This includes green and blue infrastructure but also educational and medical facilities, recreation facilities, flood defences and transport infrastructure – among other things.

Policy development to inform implementation of the infrastructure levy powers is at an early stage and in that context, it would be premature to comment on matters of detailed policy design. Furthermore, seeking to influence how local authorities might use future income from the infrastructure levy would seem to be contrary to the recently signed Verity House Agreement.

The Scottish Government has a duty to ensure that Government policies protect the rights of disabled people and reduce inequalities. Strategies, Plans and policies related to net zero, energy and transport are thoroughly assessed to ensure they do not discriminate against disabled people through our Equalities Impact Assessment requirement.

We also engage with protected groups to develop fair policy. Examples include engagement on Scotland’s Accessible Travel Framework and co-designing Just Transition Plans for the energy and transport sectors.

We are currently working with several disability organisations to enable them to engage with their members on the development of our Just Transition Plans, to ensure the needs of disabled people are reflected both in the Plans and in wider Scottish Government policy.

The 2022-23 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) outbreak season started on 1 Oct 2022. HPAI H5N1 has since been confirmed (as 15 August) in 197 premises in the UK: 30 in Scotland, 8 in Wales, 1 in Northern Ireland and 158 in England. Of the 30 infected premises in Scotland 18 have been in commercial premises, 9 in backyard flocks and 3 captive bird premises. 16 of the cases have been in the North East of which 11 were in commercial premises, 3 in back yard flocks and 2 in captive bird premises.

One case of Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza (LPAI) H7N3 has also been confirmed in premises in Scotland this season.

APHA carries out year-round avian influenza surveillance of dead wild birds submitted via public reports and warden patrols across Great Britain on behalf of Scottish Government, Defra and Welsh Government. It is not designed to provide how wild birds are impacted by the disease but provide an indicator of the presence of disease in a specific area to help establish background risk levels to poultry and other captive birds. This information helps support how Scottish Government responds to changing disease risk. From 1 October 2022, the GB Dead Wild Bird Surveillance Scheme has identified 1,552 wild birds infected with HPAI H5N1, with 326 findings of HPAI H5N1 in Scotland. The surveillance scheme is designed to detect the presence of avian influenza.

NatureScot’s Wild Bird Mortality Surveillance Network, set up to provide early intelligence on the spread of the outbreak on wild birds and to give an indication of the impacts on different species, has received reports of a total of 10,087 dead and sick wild birds since 17 October 2022. Just under half of these (4,244) have been reported from NE Scotland (Aberdeenshire, Angus, Moray). This data is provided from key areas selected for monitoring and does not represent total wild bird deaths which will be much higher and may not all be solely attributable to HPAI H5N1. On 11 August Ministers launched the Wild Bird HPAI Response Plan that sets out how the Scottish Government and its partners will respond to any further outbreaks of HPAI in wild birds in Scotland.

However, this recent spike in wild bird occurrences has not translated into a corresponding spike in cases amongst poultry and captive birds. Although Scotland has confirmed 30 poultry and captive bird premises infected with H5N1 since October 2022, only 9 cases have occurred since 1 April 2023.

Scotland’s Chief Vet and officials continue to monitor the situation closely and remain in daily contact with other UK administrations to discuss policy options, control measures and future strategies for the control of avian influenza. The Scottish Government will continue to review the range of potential proportionate responses available. Together the three nations of Great Britain have an agreed notifiable avian disease control strategy which underpins our collective response to the disease.