Seòmar agus comataidhean

We are greatly concerned by reports of children and under-age young people obtaining vaping products.

There is an increase in reports from schools, stakeholders and the media of young people vaping. Initial findings from the Growing Up in Scotland study for 2019-20 when participants were 14 years old suggest that 21.5% had vaped, which is of concern.

The Scottish Government has a precautionary approach to vapes. Vapes and other nicotine products are part of a range of cessation tools available to existing smokers to help stop tobacco use. They should not be used by non-smokers, in particular by children and young people. They should not been used or promoted as a lifestyle accessory.

Our recent Vaping consultation, which closed at the end of April, sought views on tightening rules on advertising and promoting vaping products. The results of this consultation will be published soon and will inform our Tobacco Action Plan refresh.

We are working with a range of stakeholders to ensure that our Tobacco Action Plan discourages and reduces the use and visibility of vaping products by all non-smokers, including children and young people.

Officials from all four UK administrations are engaging on the issue of sustainable long-term alternatives to the control of bracken. At this time, plans for stakeholder engagement have not been finalised. Initial talks with the Bracken Control Group have taken place and their advice on other interested parties will be considered. Those involved will include representatives from farming, environment and wildlife.

The feedback gathered through our engagement on the Islands Bond since October 2021, (including meeting over 100 island residents across 12 island communities in spring 2022), is now being used to shape a range of Practical Policy Tests (PPTs). These in turn will help to inform the development of a new action plan to address depopulation as set out in our 2019 National Islands Plan.

We are carefully considering all options presented to us through the online consultation, meetings with communities and stakeholders, and through the in-person workshops we held in spring 2022. More information will be made available in due course as the PPTs develop.

We welcome the industry-led, UK-wide Hospitality Rising recruitment campaign as an important initiative to help attract more people into the sector.

The Scottish Government recognises the acute challenges for the sector posed by the current labour shortages which have been exacerbated by a combination of Brexit and the pandemic.

Hospitality is vital to Scotland's economy and people are key to its success. While there is no action planned to support this specific campaign, we are committed to working with the sector to find solutions.

To date this has included funding for a campaign to encourage more people to consider a career in tourism and hospitality branded ‘do what you love’, in partnership with industry in 2021. We are considering how to build on this initiative, alongside the continuation of longer-term work to improve conditions and promote fair work to make it more attractive to potential employees. We continue to work with the sector cooperatively, to address these challenges.

In planning proceedings the parties are normally expected to meet their own expenses and expenses are only awarded on grounds of unreasonable behaviour.

Unreasonable behaviour would be deemed if another party to the appeal has acted unreasonably and this caused the party making the claim to incur unnecessary expense, either because it should not have been necessary for the case to come before Scottish Ministers or because of the manner in which the party against whom the claim is made, has conducted their part of the proceedings.

NatureScot are considering a range of studies regarding the muirburn season when reviewing the evidence for a muirburn licensing system.  

Research on this topic is continuing and NatureScot will take account of the evidence as it becomes available.  

I am aware of reports about a bus operator deploying drivers to the Commonwealth Games, and my officials have raised this directly with the relevant operator, reminding them of the expectations in our Network Support Grant Plus funding about the service levels they will provide. The operator confirmed that a small number of drivers from Scotland were involved in delivering the services needed for the Commonwealth Games, and mitigations were put in place to ensure the impact on local services was minimised. I can confirm that no buses funded through the Scottish Ultra Low Emission Bus grant were deployed to support the Commonwealth Games. In addition Network Support Grant Plus funding is only provided for services actually run, and payment recovery will take place when the scheme ends for any service kilometres that did not operate.

The Scottish Government has supported the development of the Scotland Loves Local (SLL) gift card scheme as part of the SLL programme aimed primarily at economic stimulus and building community wealth. The card can be pre-loaded with funds for rewards and gifts, including for use for retail, hospitality, transport, culture and leisure.

In February, we launched the £80 million Local Authority Covid Economic Recovery (LACER) fund which empowers councils to consider the needs of local businesses, communities and households and to target support to maximise economic recovery in their areas. The dual purpose approach of economic stimulus and support for low income households was first pioneered in late 2021 by East Ayrshire Council who chose to use their own funding to provide £20 and then £50 SLL Gift cards to low income households.

Some local authorities chose to use the existing SLL gift card scheme as a mechanism to deliver the dual purpose of support to low income households and local business. To date, over £12m of funding has been committed for the SLL cards targeted at low income households via the LACER. This includes Glasgow £8.9m, Aberdeen £1.1m, Argyll & Bute £800,000 South Ayrshire £500,000 East Renfrewshire £450,000 with other local authorities’ still to be confirmed.

Oversight and regulation of mortgage lenders is a reserved matter, as a result the Scottish Government has no powers or authority to intervene in the operation of the mortgage market, nor control mortgage or general borrowing rates.

However, the Scottish Government is committed to using levers it has available to support households through the Cost Crisis. Scottish Ministers and officials regularly meet with representatives of the financial services sector, including lenders, to discuss a range of matters including measures to support households and businesses in Scotland and have committed to continued collaboration throughout the cost crisis to tackle the immediate challenges and address key underlying structural issues.

The Deputy First Minister met with the financial services sector at the quarterly Financial Services Growth and Development Board (FISGAD) on 30 August 2022 and discussed measures industry and government can partner on to support households and businesses in Scotland.

Officials also regularly engage with UK Finance (representative body for the banking and Finance Industry) to discuss a range of issues affecting the mortgage sector including at their quarterly Board meetings in Scotland, last held on 10 June 2022, and on 1 September 2022 where discussions included the cost crisis, and the support lenders can offer customers in difficulty.

The Scottish Government remain in contact with the financial services sector on a regular basis in the current period and expect to engage regularly in the future.