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The Scottish Government does not hold this information. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities

On 23 December 2021 we published a report on implementation of the actions set out in the Tackling Prejudice and Building Connected Communities Action Plan (2017). The report shows encouraging progress made in a number of key areas including raising awareness of hate crime and encouraging reporting.

Building on this progress we will publish a new hate crime strategy later this year. Development of a strategy of this nature will engender consideration of and engagement on a number of relevant initiatives to tackle hate crime and prejudice – including Islamophobia – in Scotland. It will therefore also naturally allow for further consideration of the need for the Scottish Government to adopt a formal definition of Islamophobia, such as the definition advanced by the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims.

On 23 December 2021 we published a report on implementation of the actions set out in the Tackling Prejudice and Building Connected Communities Action Plan (2017). The report shows encouraging progress has been made towards tackling hate crime in Scotland, with successful delivery of the vast majority of actions in the 2017 Action Plan.

Publication of this report allows the Scottish Government and partners to take stock of and refresh approaches to tackling hate crime. As such, and building on progress in this area, we will work with key delivery partners to develop a new hate crime strategy, for publication later this year. The new strategy will help guide how we tackle hatred and prejudice – including Islamophobia – in Scotland and will also support implementation of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021.

We are in the process of convening a strategic partnership group to provide a robust, multi-agency approach to development of the new hate crime strategy. Consideration is also being given to other necessary engagements that will allow for a range of voices to shape the strategy as it develops. We would therefore like to reiterate our previous commitment to working collaboratively on Islamophobia, including on the range of issues highlighted within the report of the public inquiry into Islamophobia in Scotland.

Our records show that 178 properties have been purchased with golden share and 171 properties retain golden share through the Open Market Shared Equity scheme.

Information on whether an application has been subject to a staff error is not routinely reported as part of Social Security Scotland’s processes.

The Scottish Government works closely with the Scottish Fiscal Commission to provide the data and information necessary to inform their forecasts.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission outlined the uncertainties of forecasting Adult Disability Payment in their August 2021 publication, which can be found at https://www.fiscalcommission.scot/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Scotlands-Economic-and-Fiscal-Forecasts-August-2021-Full-Report-Revised-October-2021.pdf . This includes a detailed sensitivity analysis and a description of the Adult Disability Payment forecast uncertainty.

The accuracy of these forecasts are reviewed and updated throughout each forecasting process, using the latest data and developments. The Scottish Government will continue to mitigate risks through taking a responsible and capable approach to Scotland’s finances.

Social Security Scotland does not intend to routinely publish information on the reasons for Child Disability Payment applications not proceeding to part two of the application process.

Applicants have six weeks from the completion of part 1 of the Child Disability Payment form to complete part 2 of the application. There are various reasons why a part 2 application form may not be registered for Child Disability Payment applications. These can include where applicants make repeat applications whilst awaiting a decision or where applicants are already in receipt of Disability Living Allowance for Children.

I refer the member to the answer given in S6W-05977.

We know since the initial introduction of the Distance Aware initiative, uptake has been good and we have therefore ordered more badges and lanyards and considered additional ways to distribute.

As such we will offer Local Authorities badges and lanyards to distribute on a flexible basis, based on local need. It will be for Local Authorities to decide on distribution channels, but could include testing centres and council buildings, as well as any local community facilities, hubs or stores in rural communities.

In rural, remote and island locations, lateral flow device (LFD) tests can be ordered online or collected from test sites, pharmacies and dispensing GPs. Beyond this, local partners are responsible for choosing where to establish additional LFD community collect points.

In NHS Highland, NHS Orkney, NHS Shetland and NHS Western Isles examples of community collect sites have included vaccination centres, libraries and transport hubs including airports, mainland ferry terminals, bus and railway stations. Partners maintain an up-to-date list of their community collect sites on their websites, which can be found via gov.scot.

The following table shows how many school-aged children are in each local authority (as at September 2020) and how many devices have been distributed by councils using the £25m digital inclusion funding made available by Scottish Government in 2020-21.

Local authorities across Scotland have a range of approaches to provision of technology in schools, including some councils who have undertaken to provide cohorts of their school population with devices using their own budgets. We do not hold information centrally on those approaches, therefore, the table below only shows devices distributed through the funding made available by Scottish Government in 2020-21.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all school-aged children and young people in Scotland have access to a digital device by the end of this parliament.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all school-aged children and young people in Scotland have access to a digital device by the end of this parliament in 2026.