Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government unequivocally condemns any form of racism, hatred or prejudice. We must all play our part in challenging such behaviour and attitudes.

We are currently developing detailed proposals for the Anti-Racism Observatory for Scotland (AROS). A formal remit will be drawn up (and published) in due course.

The work of the Observatory will align closely with our obligations under the Equality Act (2010) Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and will inform and support implementation of the Convention in Scotland.

The Tax Advisory Group has been set up to look across a broad spectrum of views to ensure we continue to offer a fair and progressive but sustainable system. Tax policy for 2024-25 will be set out at the Budget later this year.

The group will be a long-term feature of how we engage on tax, and I will chair a quarterly meeting of the group. The minutes of their meetings will be posted on the Scottish Government website.

Guidance relating to digital communications infrastructure is currently being developed to replace Planning Advice Note 62. We intend to publish this updated guidance before the end of 2023.

The Scottish Government meets regularly with other UK Governments to discuss health security matters, including COVID-19 variants.

The Government will continue to work closely with partners across the UK to monitor, assess and be ready to respond to any new outbreaks of COVID-19.

The Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan scheme was launched in December 2022 as an update to the Home Energy Scotland Loan and Cashback scheme.

Across these schemes, since May 2017 to August 2023, a total of 8315 applications for energy efficiency funding have been received and 5908 have been successful.

The Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan scheme was launched in December 2022 as an update to the Home Energy Scotland Loan and Cashback scheme.

Across these schemes, since May 2017 to August 2023, a total of £135,595,244.31 has been allocated in funding for renewable measures.

Prior to the launch of the Private Rented Sector (PRS) Landlord Loan in May 2021, PRS landlords could access funding through the HES Loan and Cashback scheme. This means that the total funding allocated may include funding for PRS landlords as well as owner-occupiers.

Both COSLA and the Scottish Government recognise the need for a review of councillor pay to ensure that terms and conditions truly reflect the responsibilities of a modern-day councillor and, to ensure remuneration does not act as a barrier to encouraging a diverse range of people from standing for elected office.

Councillor pay is currently being reviewed by the Scottish Local Authority Remuneration Committee (SLARC). SLARC is an independent committee appointed by Ministers to review Councillor pay. The Committee started its work in April this year and, has been gathering evidence in preparation to provide its advice to Ministers. Ministers anticipate the Committee’s final report to be submitted later this year.

The issue of passports is a matter for the UK Government. In relation to reducing activity in Scotland, Police Scotland act on intelligence to reduce the impact of the use of counterfeit and forged documents and will act wherever suspicion exists regarding whether a passport is genuine or not. Police Scotland work closely with their partners in other key border enforcement agencies and rely on Border Force for their expertise in determining whether a passport is genuine or altered and Border Force staff are used as expert witnesses in cases referred to COPFS.

The following link provides a recent successful conviction in England which does have a Scottish footprint : https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/updated-sentence-three-men-jailed-supplying-fraudulent-passports-criminals

The number of Cattle Identification Inspections undertaken by the Scottish Government Rural Payments and Inspections Division on cattle keepers in the last five years, detailed per year and regional office and further detailed into originally planned to review and actually reviewed records and into four time categories is provided in the following tables.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17940 on 30 May 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/written-questions-and-answers