Chamber and committees

It has always been our intention to develop these ambitious proposals in close collaboration with those impacted by them – in particular, people living and working in our island and coastal communities.

Prior to the consultation, we met with over 20 stakeholder groups representing a wide range of marine industries and users. We also ran ten online information sessions from February - April to help anyone wishing to provide a response to our consultation. These meetings included fisheries organisations such as the Communities Inshore Fisheries Alliance.

We continue to engage with communities and industry as we consider the many thousands of responses to our initial, broad consultation.

Local representatives of Scotland’s fishing industry are an important part of that.

I refer the member to the answer to S6W-15158 on 13 March 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

Scotland is not alone in regulating short-term lets globally. We are doing this in two ways. The first, licensing, has been introduced to ensure short-term lets are safe and the people providing them are suitable. Guests can have confidence that licensed hosts and accommodation have reached a recognised standard of assurance complying with mandatory conditions for fire, gas, water and electrical safety. Many hosts are already complying with these through existing law or best practice, and we do not consider them onerous. Licensing authorities may also apply additional conditions to address local issues such as noise, antisocial behaviour and littering. Licence applications must be granted unless there are grounds to refuse them, for example, if anybody named on an application is not a fit and proper person. We are unable to comment on the specific short term let licensing policy in Edinburgh, due to ongoing legal proceedings.

The second, control areas, can be designated by councils where short-term lets are causing problems for neighbours and making it harder for people to find homes to live in. From the point of designation, the change of use to provide short-term lets in accommodation that is not a host’s only or principal home will always require planning permission. It is for councils to decide whether a control area is needed to help them manage high concentrations of short-term lets.

The Scottish Government supports the position set out in S6W-16710, which outlined the Scottish Government’s commitment to being guided by the democratically expressed wishes of the people of Scotland on these matters.

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

As stated in my response to S6W-17912 on 25 May 20223 “Work commenced in December 2022 to develop alternative metrics for Scotland’s offshore wind potential and the outcome of this work will be published in due course.”

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 Government has listened to young people and their families about the application process and worked closely with delivery partners and local authorities to make improvements.

In light of feedback received, the Improvement Service, which runs the online portal https://getyournec.scot/nec/ made changes to the website to improve the application process and relaxed conditions on some of the proofs required.

In addition, local authorities have been working hard to support applications made offline and many have dedicated staff on hand to help those who may need additional support through the application process.

Further, towards the end of last year, the Scottish Government delivered a national marketing campaign to increase awareness and understanding of the scheme, and encourage more young people to apply.

Work is now underway on the one year evaluation study which will include questions looking at barriers to bus travel and to accessing, or using, the Young Person’s Free Bus Travel Scheme. The evaluation will collect information from children, young people and parents (both users and non-users of the scheme) about their experiences. The evaluation study will also draw on scheme cardholder data.

Menopause care and support is a top priority in our Women’s Health Plan, which was published on 20 August 2021, and runs until 2024. There are no plans to review the Women’s Health Plan or the menopause ambitions within it before this time.

The 10 menopause actions set out in the Plan aim to ensure that women have timely access to menopause support and services; healthcare professionals are aware of the impact of medical or surgical treatments to induce menopause and all women have access to a healthcare professional with an interest in menopause through primary care.

An update on the progress made since the publication of Plan on the menopause actions is outlined in the Women’s Health Plan: A Report on Progress , published on 26 January 2023.

Counter-terrorism policy is Reserved. As such, the monitored recommendations within the Manchester Arena Inquiry fall to the UK Government for consideration.

In response to the recommendations outlined in Volume 1 of the Manchester Arena Inquiry the UK Government has published a draft Bill – The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) (previously referred to as Martyn’s law) for pre-legislative scrutiny on 2 nd May, ahead of a full Bill being introduced to UK Parliament in the next UK parliamentary session.

Scottish Government is working closely with the UK Government in the development and progression of this Bill, which aims to enhance public safety at Publicly Accessible Locations and Events across the UK including Scotland.

The UK Government in partnership with the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) developed a website “Protect UK” which is available to members of the public and organisations. This website includes guidance on First Aid preparedness for organisations. This was in response to the recommendation to create a central library for guidance and advice that organisations and members of the public could access.

Scottish Government has promoted the use of the guidance and advice available through this platform to all relevant Scottish stakeholders.

The Scottish Government is working with all relevant partners to ensure that relevant recommendations from Volume 2 (Emergency Response) of the Manchester Arena Inquiry are appropriately implemented in Scotland.

The Scottish Government will also be taking account of the findings of Volume 3 and the Independent Review of Prevent in their ongoing work to refresh the Prevent Duty Guidance for Scotland, with the aim of ensuring delivery of Prevent in Scotland remains as effective as possible.

The independent review of the role of incineration published a study, alongside its second and final report, that explored the impact of diverting plastics away from incineration.

The report is available here: Supporting documents - Decarbonisation of residual waste infrastructure: report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

This information is set out in our response to the second report from the review of the role of incineration in the waste hierarchy in Scotland: Decarbonisation of Residual Waste infrastructure in Scotland, published on 5 May 2023.

Our response is available here: Decarbonisation of residual waste infrastructure: Scottish Government response - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)