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As is standard practice, any planned changes to Scottish Income Tax will be announced during the regular annual Budget process. Our approach to taxation will continue to be guided by the strategic objectives and principles set out in our Framework for Tax, which underpins our fair and progressive approach.

We are committed to engaging with the public to explore how best we can use our existing powers to continue to deliver the most progressive taxation system in the UK, and achieve the Government’s three key missions of equality, opportunity and community.

Consultation with statutory stakeholders was completed in January 2023. It was agreed through this process that given the May 2023 timetable was an interim step due to resource constraints, it could not be viewed in isolation and it was appropriate to hold a public consultation on the longer term proposals. ScotRail advises that this public consultation will be held in the coming months.

To enable Ministers to reach a decision on the next steps for the Deposit Return Scheme, a number of discussions were held with those involved in the scheme in the weeks prior to the announcement including Circularity Scotland and business groups. The First Minister then met with Circularity Scotland on 20 April 2023.

The Scottish Government will consult on the next Climate Change Plan, a draft of which will be published in November 2023. Plans for consultation are still in development.

Social Security Scotland’s most recent statistics show that the majority of people who have applied for Child Disability Payment received a decision within four months, although processing times vary from a few weeks to over six months or more. A key part of the application process, and a key difference from the Department for Work and Pensions’ service, is that Social Security Scotland can gather supporting information on behalf of clients. Whilst this process takes time, it allows Social Security Scotland to make robust decisions.

Work is underway to speed up processing times. This includes liaising with organisations who most often provide supporting information. For example, an option for GPs to upload supporting information online was recently introduced. In addition, work continues with clients and stakeholders to ensure they understand the kind of information needed to make decisions and how to provide this at the earliest opportunity.

The Scottish Government is working with local government partners on the Additional Support for Learning Project Board to deliver the recommendations of the 2020 additional support for learning review by March 2026. All local authorities are considering the actions of the ASL Review, and will continue to consider the incorporation of actions within local improvement plans.

As our joint Scottish Government and COSLA Additional Support for Learning action plan notes, local commissioning has developed considerably since the Doran Review was published in 2012. This reflects the increased flexibility within schools and local authorities to develop tailored interventions through local delivery of our £750 million investment in the last parliamentary term and £1 billion in this parliamentary term to close the poverty related attainment gap. Local delivery of the Strategic Equity Fund and Pupil Equity Fund and greater alliance with the Third Sector are key features of local commissioning.

Progress in closing the poverty related attainment gap was reported in our five year impact report , published in 2021 and future progress will be reported in line with our Evaluation Strategy for the Attainment Scotland Fund 2022 – 2026 and the National Improvement Framework measures .

In addition, the Scottish Government is working with partners in ADES, COSLA and Education Scotland, to develop a national measurement framework which aims to support improved outcomes for children and young people with additional support needs.

Improved experiences of children and young people with additional support needs will continue to be considered as part of the action plan and progress can be followed through the published minutes of the Project Board.

Tackling poverty and protecting people from harm is one of three critical and interdependent missions for the government – alongside our focus on the economy and strengthening public services.

As set out within ‘ Best Start, Bright Futures’ , the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan: 2022-26, the Scottish Government is taking a wide range of action across the three drivers of poverty reduction – income from work and earnings, costs of living and income from social security and benefits in kind – as well as taking action to improve the wellbeing and outcomes of people across Scotland.

In delivering action, we are focused on ensuring that interventions deliver for those at greatest risk of poverty, including people from a minority ethnic background. In doing so we will help to reduce poverty for these groups whilst delivering significant progress on our wider equality and human rights ambitions – particularly in relation to advancing equality and human rights for women, disabled people and minority ethnic people.

The Scottish Government meet regularly with representatives of local government in order to progress shared priorities which tackle poverty. This includes in relation to delivery of employment support through our No One Left Behind approach, which is tailored to the needs of people from a minority ethnic background, delivery of more affordable homes, tackling child poverty and delivery of the wide ranging action set out in our refreshed Fair Work Action Plan.

The Scottish Government also meet regularly with the UK Government on areas of shared interest, which are key to tackling poverty, including in relation to social security and employment.

Engagement between the Scottish Government and Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in relation to the timing of Winter Heating Payment next winter is already underway. That includes discussion on the transfer of client data to Social Security Scotland.

As set out in S6W-15012 on 6 March 2023, DWP were unable to provide the data prior to 31 January 2023 that would have allowed earlier payments in the first year of delivery.

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

Tackling poverty and protecting people from harm is one of three critical and interdependent missions for the government – alongside our focus on the economy and strengthening public services.

The Scottish Government is taking a wide range of action to tackle and reduce poverty, with almost £3 billion allocated both last year and this to support policies which tackle poverty and protect people as far as possible during the ongoing cost of living crisis.

Key actions, which will benefit people from a minority ethnic background, include continued investment in the delivery of more affordable homes, providing free transport for over two million people in Scotland and delivering five family payments including the Scottish Child Payment, which was increased in value to £25 per child per week as of November 2022.

In addition to these key anti-poverty actions, we are also taking action targeted to supporting people from a minority ethnic background. This includes f unding local community organisations such as BEMIS, CEMVO and SAREC, who work predominantly with minority ethnic householders, and have been able to offer targeted support to vulnerable households. This includes issuing direct hardship payments and ensuring they are supported to access welfare support they are entitled to.

The Scottish Government also published ‘A Fairer Scotland for All: An anti-racist strategy’, in December 2022, which includes guidance, advice, and examples of good practice for employers in order to address the issues and disadvantages experienced by people from racialised minorities. The strategy is a key component to reaching the ambition of a becoming a leading Fair Work Nation by 2025.

The Scottish Government now mandates the real Living Wage in its contracts and those contractors will now pay the real Living Wage either through a change of supplier during a re-let or via contract management processes. As such, we are not aware of any suppliers who do not pay the real Living Wage to employees directly involved in services to the Scottish Government.