Chamber and committees

The average repairs and maintenance expenditure per council house by local authority from 1998-99 to 2021-22 is set out in a document that has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, Bib number 64022.

It should be noted that the vast majority of funding available to councils is provided by means of a block grant from the Scottish Government. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including on maintenance of council housing, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

Information relating to EU legislation, regulations, tertiary legislation and decisions that have come into effect since the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity)(Scotland) Act 2021 was passed by the Scottish Parliament and the present is in the public domain and can be found at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/homepage.html

For the period between the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity)(Scotland) Act 2021 coming into effect and 31 August 2021, information relating to the Scottish Government's use or considered use of the section 1(1) power of the Act is in the public domain and can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/-/media/files/committees/constitution-europe-external-affairs-and-culture-committee/correspondence/2022/eu-alignment--continuity-act--6-may.pdf

For the period 1 September 2021 - 31 August 2022 information is also in the public domain and can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/-/media/files/committees/constitution-europe-external-affairs-and-culture-committee/eu-continuity-act--draft-annual-report-for-laying--final--27-oct-2022.pdf

Since 1 September 2022 the Scottish Government has used the section 1(1) power in respect of The Public Water Supplies (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022. These amended the Public Water Supplies (Scotland) Regulations 2014 to implement partially Directive (EU) 2020/2184 on the quality of water intended for human consumption. Since 1 September 2022 the Scottish Government has not considered further use of the section 1(1) power.

The Scottish Government remains committed to the removal of non-residential social care support charges within the lifetime of the current Parliament, so that services are based on a person’s need and not their ability to pay.

Scotland’s Redress Scheme provides freedom of choice for applicants throughout the process. The scheme is designed to ensure that applicants do not have to fund legal costs from any redress payment they may receive. While applications can be made without the need for a solicitor, applicants are strongly encouraged to take up the offer of funded legal advice, particularly before signing a waiver and accepting a redress payment.

Costs and expenses reasonably incurred in the making of an application are reimbursed and, recognising the importance of legal advice, the scheme ensures that where an applicant chooses to take legal representation there is a clear route for this to be funded directly from the Scottish Government to the solicitor. The maximum levels of legal fees which can be reasonably paid directly to a solicitor by the scheme are prescribed in legislation, though there is scope under the scheme to pay additional fees in exceptional circumstances. The prescribed sums are set at £450 + VAT for a fixed rate and next of kin payment and £2,000 + VAT for an individually assessed payment. However, as per the legislation, applicants are free to appoint their own solicitor and come to their own arrangements on the payment of fees if they choose to do so, and the terms of the engagement should be agreed at the outset.

Information is provided to applicants to ensure that they can make informed choices about the funding of legal advice. Practical, emotional, legal and general support is available to all applicants to Scotland’s Redress Scheme at all stages of their application.

As of 28th February 2023, £100,244 has been paid directly to solicitors. Redress payments of just over £17,500,000 have been paid directly to applicants.

An update on the progress of Scotland’s Redress Scheme was provided to the Education, Children and Young People Committee on 12 January 2023. The official report of the meeting can be found on the Scottish Parliament website .

The Scottish Government has supported payment of the real Living Wage in our Public Sector Pay Policy since 2011. Data from the 2022 Annual Survey of Hourly Earnings (ASHE) shows that 97.6% employees in the whole Scottish public sector (devolved and reserved) earn at least Real Living Wage or more. The recent increase to the real Living Wage to £10.90 per hour should be applied as part of public sector pay settlements from April 2023. The 2023 ASHE data (expected to be released in October / November) will show the proportion of employees who are paid the £10.90 Real Living Wage in the Scottish Public Sector.

The Scottish Government published the following datasets within the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture portfolio in the last 12 months:

As set out in my response to S6W-14760 on 24 February 2023, the Scottish Government is examining the risk assessment conclusion in detail, given the serious impact of HPAI (High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza) on wild and kept birds. We will monitor risk levels and carefully consider our response over coming months.

When gamebirds are kept in captivity, they are subject to the same legislation as any other bird species in that there is a legal requirement to report suspicion of notifiable avian disease. The release of game birds is also prohibited within an avian influenza protection zone and surveillance zone.

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 analysis was published on 3 March and can be found here - https://www.gov.scot/publications/energy-system-transition-independent-analysis/ .

This publication is an independent report, reviewed by an independent panel, which provides a significant volume of evidence and analysis and will contribute to our understanding of the opportunities and challenges in energy transition. To allow stakeholders to fully consider this material before responding, the consultation period for the draft ESJTP has been extended by 5 weeks, and will now close on 9 May.

The primary responsibility for controlling feral pig populations in the wild lies with land managers who should work in partnership with local communities.

It is an offence under Section 14 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to release any type of pig, including wild boar. It is also an offence to allow them to escape from captivity.

Further information can be found on the NatureScot website at Managing feral pigs in Scotland | NatureScot

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring everyone lives free from violence, in communities that are inclusive, empowered, resilient and safe.

For Police Scotland to take any action, the uploading images of violence would be deemed criminal if they breached the evidential threshold of Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 in terms of sharing grossly indecent, obscene, menacing character or offensive messages etc.

The removal of offensive content is the responsibility of the social media platforms themselves and can be done by users flagging the content as breaching the community guidelines/terms and conditions. There are report/removal tools operated by Police Scotland’s partner organisations to remove content from the internet, however these are generally aimed at indecent images.

We are providing nearly £13.5 billion in the 2023-24 Local Government Settlement, an increase of over £793 million compared with the 2022-23 budget. The Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate financial resources available to them, including on youth services, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.