Chamber and committees

Urmas Paet MEP and I held a positive meeting in June last year, in which we spoke about Scotland maintaining close relationships with Northern European neighbours on a range of issues such as energy, innovation and cohesion.

The subject of Scottish independence was not an agenda item in discussions, however Scottish ministers will always be polite enough during international meetings to answer any questions put to them about the Scottish Government's stated policies, including a legal, constitutionally sound referendum, as set out in our Programme for Government.

The Scottish Government remains committed to providing a resilient infrastructure solution to address the landslip risk at the Rest and Be Thankful. The preferred option for a medium-term solution was announced on 23 December 2022. A detailed programme for the proposed improvements is now being developed and it is expected that these works will be carried out on a phased basis starting later this year.

At the same time, Transport Scotland continues to take forward the necessary design and assessment work at pace with a view to announcing a preferred route option for the long-term solution this Spring.

I absolutely share the urgency communities and businesses place in maintaining and improving connectivity of this vital route, and remain absolutely committed to ensuring continuity of access to Argyll and Bute so that the region remains open for business.

A Short Life Working Group made up of stakeholders including Police Scotland, COPFS, Royal Mail, the Communication Workers Union, Scottish Community Safety Network and the Scottish SPCA was established last year to assist with taking forward the Scottish Government’s commitment to review the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 (“the 1991 Act”).

The Scottish Government led working group has undertaken its review of the 1991 Act. The Scottish Government is now considering the wide range of views offered to determine what may be appropriate as next steps.

The Bank is guided by the missions set for it by Scottish Ministers and makes independent decisions in line with their Investment Strategy. The Scottish Government is not currently considering mandating the creation of any refund guarantee products by the Scottish National Investment Bank at this time.

We meet regularly with the Welsh Government to discuss Building and Fire Safety issues and the delivery of the Cladding Remediation Programme. The safety of residents and homeowners in buildings with potentially unsafe cladding is our absolute priority. On that basis Scottish Government is identifying and assessing buildings through our Single Building Assessment Programme; focusing public funding on remediating so called ‘orphan’ buildings and pressing developers to do the right thing and take responsibility for funding the remediation of their buildings. We will assess the effectiveness and impact of the Building Safety Developer Loan Scheme to consider its applicability in Scotland.

Subject to the tests in Circular 3/2012 being met, planning obligations entered into under Section 75 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 can be used to secure contributions from those carrying out development. Planning obligations are enforceable, including against successors in title where an obligation is registered in the Land Register of Scotland or the General Register of Sasines.

The R100 contracts, which are delivering full fibre, gigabit capable connections across the length and breadth of Scotland, are currently expected to conclude during 2027-28.

For those properties beyond the reach of the R100 contract build or commercial coverage plans, the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme – offering vouchers worth up to £5,000 – remains available to help secure a superfast broadband connection.

The Scottish Government will provide an update on this scoping work, as outlined in its response to the National Partnership for Culture recommendations, via the Culture Strategy Action Plan refresh (CSAPR).

The CSAPR will outline our ambitions around culture and creativity in learning, including our plans around collaborating with Creative Scotland on the scoping of a youth arts strategy, following Time To Shine , Scotland’s first national youth arts strategy, which covers the period up to 2023.

The Scottish Government currently has no plans to make changes to rights of appeal in the planning system.

A number of amendments that sought to introduce a third party right of appeal were considered, and rejected, by the Scottish Parliament during consideration of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019.

Following the devolution of the Debt Advice Levy to Scottish Ministers in 2019, the Scottish Government commissioned the Improvement Service to undertake research into different potential funding models for debt advice. This work has only recently been completed and we will now carefully consider these findings alongside wider evidence, to determine whether any changes are required to future funding arrangements.