Chamber and committees

Ministers regularly raise concerns about human rights abuses with the Chinese government. The First Minister reiterated these concerns in his meeting with Ambassador Zheng Zeguang.

The Scottish Government take seriously reports of pressure being put on universities in relation to a proposed arrangement between the City of Edinburgh Council and Kaohsiung. The decision as to whether to enter a friendship arrangement with Kaohsiung is for the elected councillors from the City of Edinburgh Council. The Scottish Government continues to engage with the FCDO, who lead the relationship with the Embassy, on this issue to ensure appropriate action is taken.

A local authority can introduce a visitor levy scheme where the statutory guidance produced under section 23 of the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act 2024 has not been published.

The duty to prepare and publish guidance under section 23 of the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act 2024 falls on VisitScotland. We anticipate they will send a draft of the guidance to Scottish Ministers in the next few weeks.

The relationships, sexual health and parenthood education consultation report will be published in the coming weeks. I will ensure the member is sent a link to the report when it is published.

Between 1999 and 2023, 28 of the 32 Local Authorities transferred funds into their Housing Revenue Account. It is important to note that Ministerial consent is not necessarily required for such transactions and would depend on the fund from which the transfer was made. Ministerial consent has been requested and granted by the following local authorities:

• Midlothian Council – 2022-23 – use of capital grant to meet HRA loans fund repayments (as part of the Local Government pay deal)
• West Dunbartonshire Council – 2022-23 – use of capital grant to meet HRA loans fund repayments (as part of the Local Government pay deal)
• Falkirk 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 - hostel grant transfer
• East Ayrshire Council – 2012-13 - transfer from the repairs and renewal fund to the HRA for 5 years
• Stirling Council – 2009-10 - use of Capital Grant for Homelessness Hostel
• Comhairle nan Eilean Siar – 2006-07 - closure of HRA & transfer of reserves
• Edinburgh Council – 2006-07 - transfer from Repairs and Renewals Fund
• West Dunbartonshire council – 2005-06 – transfer from Housing Trading Account to HRA

Consent was also provided on an all-Scotland basis in 2023-24 to allow local authorities a specific flexibility to replace revenue reserves earmarked for capital purposes with capital grant, thereby allowing the release of those revenue reserves to meet the costs of the 2023-24 Local Government pay award.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-28357 on 23 July 2024. 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 plans to launch a public consultation on a cruise ship levy before the end of the year, to formally hear the views of those potentially affected by such a levy.

The Scottish Government continue to work at pace with COSLA to develop a Fiscal Framework underpinned by an Accountability and Assurance Framework. The concept of a power of general competence for local government is a consideration in those discussions.

This work is being supported by working groups consisting of Scottish Government officials, COSLA officers and representatives of CIPFA Directors of Finance and SOLACE.

The Government is open to giving local authorities the power to introduce a cruise ship levy. We will therefore be engaging with local authorities, the cruise ship industry, and others over the coming months to explore this issue further and develop more detailed proposals. We plan to launch a public consultation on a potential cruise ship levy before the end of the year.