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The Small Business Bonus Scheme (SBBS) was reformed and eligibility extended in the Scottish Budget 2023-24. In the December 2022 Economic and Fiscal Forecast report, the Scottish Fiscal Commission forecast that this would reduce the cost of SBBS relief by £53 million in 2023-24, with similar annual savings of between £55 million and £60 million in subsequent years over the 5-year forecast period. This policy costing included the impact of a lower rateable value threshold for 100% relief as well other changes such as the introduction of a taper, and the extension of eligibility for properties with a rateable value up to £20,000.

Acknowledging the impact of the revaluation and of changes to SBBS, the Scottish Budget 2023-24 also included a Small Business Transitional Relief which will limit bill increases for properties that received SBBS relief on the 31st of March 2023 for the next three years. This policy is forecast to save ratepayers £40 million in 2023-24, £39 million in 2024-25 and £33 million in 2025-26.

The net savings to the Scottish Government of these measures combined is £13 million in 2023-24, £18m in 2024-25 and £24m in 2025-26.

The Contracts for Difference scheme is a UK Government mechanism.

Information about all Contracts for Difference strike prices is available in the public domain here: Contracts for Difference - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) .

We are clear that any level of violence is unacceptable but believe that we already have legislation in place to tackle violent crime. By any measure, the overall trend has improved but there are still areas of concern. In 2023-24, in addition to the police budget, we will also be providing our partners with over £2m to support ongoing and innovative violence prevention activity across Scotland. To strengthen our approach, we will publish the first ever national Violence Prevention Framework for Scotland, which will set out our vision, aims and actions to prevent violence and reduce its harms.

In line with the ‘polluter pays’ principle, and just like similar schemes around the world, Scotland’s deposit return scheme is being delivered and funded by industry, led by the scheme administrator, Circularity Scotland. This was the approach agreed and voted for by the Scottish Parliament when it approved the appropriate regulations.

Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme is not a government scheme, in that it is run by and for industry, and therefore cannot be compared with companies and bodies that do administer government schemes.

Circularity Scotland is a privately owned company and is not under contract to the Scottish Government. It is therefore not a Scottish public authority for the purposes of the of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, and we do not consider there to be any implications for FOI legislation given this legislation applies to public bodies rather than private companies.

No further update to question S6W-15648. The next quarterly workforce statistics will be published on 6 June with data as at March 2023.

Transport Scotland is undertaking a National Speed Management Review to support a range of policies that help our Government’s national outcomes and indicators. These include related policy drivers such as better road safety and health outcomes, promotion of active travel, climate change mitigation, place making and economic growth.

The review covers comprehensive analysis of all types of speed management policies and initiatives in Scotland as well as a review of what has been introduced in other countries throughout the world.

The process will also include a stakeholder and public consultation later this year to consider their views of whether any changes to speed limit policies, including HGV speed limits and speed management measures should be introduced as part of our speed management plan.

Although the European Charter of Local Self-Government (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill is a member’s bill, led by Mark Ruskell MSP, the Scottish Government remains committed to its reconsideration and incorporating the European Charter into domestic legislation as soon as practicable to further strengthen the status and standing of local government in Scotland.

On 12 April 2021 the UK Government referred four provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill to the Supreme Court. The referral also covered two provisions from the Local Self-Government Bill: section 4, which creates an obligation to interpret legislation compatibly with the requirements of the Charter in so far as it is possible to do so, and section 5, which gives courts the power to declare legislation to be incompatible with the Charter. In October 2021 the Supreme Court found the provisions referred within each Bill to be outside the competence of the Scottish Parliament.

Preparation for Reconsideration Stage is well underway and Scottish Government lawyers have been working carefully with the UK Government lawyers on amendments to the UNCRC Bill to address the Supreme Court’s judgment.

The Scottish Government has engaged with Mark Ruskell MSP, during this process to support him in taking his bill forward. Mr Ruskell is in agreement that reconsideration of the Local Self-Government Bill should take place after the UNCRC Bill accordingly.

Avian influenza in mammals is a notifiable disease and Scottish Ministers have powers to investigate and control the potential spread of influenza of avian origin in non-avian species.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) routinely undertakes diagnostic testing of wild animals found dead under the GB wildlife surveillance scheme. Retrospective and active testing of samples has enabled us to identify and observe clinical signs of influenza of avian origin in mammals and to share this information with official veterinarians to increase their awareness. Samples taken as part of this scheme, since October 2021, have detected the presence of H5N1 influenza in a total of 23 mammals in the UK, of which 5 were detected in Scotland. The detection of the virus does not mean that it was the cause of death of these animals.

The Scottish Government regularly exercises our response to disease outbreaks in collaboration with operational partners and public health colleagues across Great Britain. This includes our response to avian influenza in both birds and mammals.

The infection of mammals with influenza of avian origin remains uncommon, including in humans. Avian influenza viruses remain predominantly a pathogen that affects birds, and globally, given the huge number of kept and wild birds that have been infected, only a small number of findings of naturally acquired Influenza A(H5N1) infections in mammals have been reported.

A prisoner serving a determinate sentence cannot be held beyond the end of that sentence.

If a person is given an indeterminate sentence the judge must, by law, set a punishment part of the sentence. This is the minimum time the person must spend in prison before they can be considered for release into the community by the relevant Parole Board.

As of the morning of the 3rd of April 2023:

• 233 (31%) of the 756 serving a life sentence, and
• 168 (75%) of the 224 serving other indeterminate sentences (i.e. Order of Lifelong Restriction or Imprisonment for Public Protection)

remained in custody beyond the period of the punishment part of their sentence.

SPS do not hold information centrally on the reasons why Parole Boards have not recommended release for these individuals.

Due to the small number of prisoners serving sentences of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP), these have been combined with Orders of Lifelong Restriction (OLR) to prevent the identification of individuals.

There is not a fixed completion date for the Borders Forest Trust pilot project. The project will continue for as long as financing is available from the investment partners and land managers choose to receive it.