- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Claire Baker MSP (on behalf of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Bo on 1 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what discussions it had with (a) campaign groups, (b) trade unions and (c) other relevant organisations regarding its plans to apply to the Home Office for the Scottish Parliament to become a protected site on national security grounds.
Answer
It is a matter for SPCB under its legal responsibilities to provide a safe and secure estate. As the decision on applying to become a designated site was based on confidential security advice from Police Scotland, it would not have been appropriate to have held discussions with external organisations. The decision will have no bearing on campaign groups, trade unions and other organisations or individuals who protest in a robust but peaceful way at Holyrood.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 1 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish its response to the consultation on its draft Licensing Order and Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) for short-term lets.
Answer
The Scottish Government will publish its response to the consultation on the draft Licensing Order and Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) for short-term lets ahead of laying the draft Licensing Order in November.
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Claire Baker MSP (on behalf of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Bo on 1 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what assessment it has made of the impact of the Scottish Parliament being designated a protected site by the Home Office on the number of protests that will be able to take place at the Scottish Parliament.
Answer
The Parliament welcomes and facilitates protests all year round and will continue to do so; it is an important part of the expression of democracy in Scotland. In taking the decision to apply for designated status, SPCB has carefully considered Police Scotland advice and security assessment, and the experiences of other Parliaments. The UK Parliament has been designated for many years and the Welsh Senedd since 2018. SOCPA is an existing mechanism for bodies such as Parliament which have a critical role to play in terms of national security. It would only be used in exceptional cases where very disruptive and/or dangerous activities may impede the parliament’s democratic role, the safety of those working or visiting the Parliament and the rights of others to engage with the Parliament in a wide variety of ways. In giving effect to the designation, the SPCB and Police Scotland must still ensure on each occasion that they are used that the powers of enforcement under SOCPA are necessary, have a sound legal basis and are proportionate to the circumstances. This process provides assurance that the designation will have no bearing on the tens of thousands of people who protest in a robust but peaceful way at Holyrood each year.
- Asked by: Gillian Mackay, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 1 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to implement each of the eight recommendations that are directed to it in the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland report, Racial Inequality and Mental Health in Scotland: A call to action.
Answer
The Scottish Government is already working with key partners to address existing data and evidence deficits which will allow us to fully understand the complex picture that exists in health inequalities for people from ethnic minority groups. The Scottish Government welcomes this report and will provide an official response once we have carefully considered its recommendations.
- Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 September 2021
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Current Status:
Initiated by the Scottish Government.
Answered by Ash Denham on 1 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government when it will consult on the recommendations in the report of the Independent Review of Legal Services Regulation in Scotland.
Answer
A consultation based on Esther Roberton’s recommendations, from her independent review of legal services regulation, will be available to the public via Citizen Space from 1 October until 24 December 2021. In parallel we will be undertaking a series of consultation focus groups to increase the opportunity for stakeholders and the public to respond to the consultation in part or in whole.
As was stated in my response, the Scottish Government is open to further views on how the report recommendations should be taken forward and this consultation is intentionally broadly set to capture the fullest range of views on the recommendations and what level of reform is supported. As such the consultation has been developed collaboratively with those representing consumer interests and the legal profession.
The findings from the consultation exercise will inform the design of reform, and confirms our commitment to a modern and effective framework of legal services regulation.
The consultation will be available at: https://consult.gov.scot/justice/legal-services-regulation-reform-in-scotland .
- Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 20 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Ash Denham on 1 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to review or evaluate the operation and impact of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015.
Answer
The 2015 Act requires Scottish Ministers to prepare a Trafficking and Exploitation Strategy and this was published in May 2017. The Scottish Government has established governance structures to take forward implementation of this Strategy and discussions include feedback on the operation and application of the 2015 Act.
Annual reports against the Strategy have been published and a review of the Strategy was published in May 2020. The next annual report will be published later this year.
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 20 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 1 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it is giving to reducing business rates for ATM providers, and, in light of reports that ATMs require more than 3,500 withdrawals per month to be financially sustainable, what action it (a) can take and (b) is taking to encourage ATM providers to continue a service in rural communities.
Answer
The Scottish Government have continued to ensure that the sites of standalone ATMs in rural areas are exempt from rating. Other ATMs may benefit from as much as a 100% rates relief through the Small Business Bonus Scheme.
Under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, each local Council has wide-raging powers to create rates reliefs to reflect local needs. This may apply to a sole business, sector or area. The relief may be an adaptation of an existing national relief scheme or a unique standalone scheme.
Although the UK Government retains legislative and regulatory responsibility for banking and financial services, the Scottish Government stands ready to work constructively with banks, regulators and the UK Government to ensure that the ability to freely and easily access cash is maintained. The Scottish Government has repeatedly requested that the UK Government appoint a regulator with sole responsibility for cash infrastructure.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 20 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 1 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government when the Victims Taskforce will next meet.
Answer
We remain committed to delivering the work of the Victims Taskforce, which is anticipated to reconvene before the end of 2021.
- Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 20 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 1 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how much each local authority will receive of the £42 million of funding between 4 October 2021 and 31 March 2022 to enable bus operators to maintain services while patronage recovers from the effects of COVID-19.
Answer
Covid Support Grant Restart (CSG-R) funding for bus is available to support eligible organisations, such as bus operators and local transport authorities, which are running local registered bus services, and are able to increase service mileage up to 95% of pre COVID levels. Where a local transport authority (LTA) runs local bus services directly it is eligible for CSG-R funding for those services. To date, the only local authority in receipt of CSG-R funding is Scottish Borders Council.
The amount of funding each operator – including eligible local authorities – will receive depends on the actual gap between the costs of running the services and revenue received over the funding period and so is not known at this point. A condition of the funding is that participating operators are required to cooperate with LTAs in planning services and to take steps to respond positively and quickly to reasonable requests from LTAs to amend service patterns, hours or levels of provision.
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 20 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 1 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how many mobile phones have been confiscated from prisoners in HMP and YOI Grampian in each month since they were issued in 2020.
Answer
I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:
The following table provides the number of SPS issued mobile phone handsets that have been confiscated at HMP & YOI Grampian, each month, since implementation in July 2020:
Month | July 20 | Aug 20 | Sep 20 | Oct 20 | Nov 20 | Dec 20 | Jan 21 | Feb 21 | Mar 21 | Apr 21 | May 21 | Jun 21 | Jul 21 | Aug 21 |
Number confiscated | 4 | 27 | 30 | 33 | 38 | 21 | 5 | 14 | 10 | 14 | 23 | 16 | 18 | 27 |