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While many aspects of employment law and particularly pay legislation are reserved to the UK Government, promoting fair pay is a key element of the Scottish Government’s Fair Work policy. Scottish Ministers believe that all workers should receive a fair pay for the work they do, regardless of their age and status.

The Scottish Government is committed to using all the levers it has at its disposal to promote fair work practices across Scotland including payment of the real Living Wage. We firmly oppose the inappropriate use of zero hours contracts and other non-standard types of employment that offer workers minimal job or financial security. We have set out our position in our Fair Work First approach and within our National Tourism Strategy; Outlook 2030 which states our commitment to support and enable the adoption of fair work practices in Scotland’s tourism sector.

The Scottish Government has made a clear commitment to promote collective bargaining through the inclusion of an employee voice indicator, measured by collective bargaining coverage, within the National Performance Framework. Our Fair Work Action Plan confirms our subsequent commitment to work with the STUC to achieve increased coverage focusing on four key sectors one of those being hospitality.

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting strong Trade Unions in Scotland for the benefit of workers and our economy and have provided funding of £250,000 for the last six years to STUC to help unions embed the Fair Work Framework in workplaces in Scotland.

We also support Unite’s FH Charter which helps to promote fairer working practices for its members and all workers across the wider hospitality sector as Scotland recovers from Covid and beyond.

We know minority ethnic groups have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. In June 2020, the government established an Expert Reference Group on COVID-19 and Ethnicity to provide recommendations on how we could better respond to the needs of minority ethnic people in Scotland. The implementation of these recommendations forms the core of our Immediate Priorities Plan for Race Equality in Scotland 2021-2023 with actions across health and social care, education, fair work, housing, and child poverty.

Through our Immediate Priorities Fund, we supported the development of the Ethnic Minority Resilience Network to support individuals, families, young people and organisations address immediate pandemic-related issues. We also provided emergency support funding, including over £312,000 to provide culturally appropriate food and support services.

The British Standards Institution (BSI) standards relate to the overall approach to retrofit and general processes to be followed by installers in installing energy efficiency measures. These standards are intended to be informed by agreed best practice, as they are applied to different construction types and local conditions. The Scottish Government is working with the BSI to set up a Scottish specific working group to feed into the standards to ensure the unique circumstances in Scotland are reflected in the standards e.g. building types and geography.

The Scottish Government believes that bullying and harassment of any worker, under any circumstances, is unacceptable. Everyone has the right to go to work without fear of intimidation. The Scottish Government endorses the Fair Work Convention's Fair Work Framework and agree that every worker, regardless of status or position, should be treated fairly and with respect.

Scottish Ministers believe that all workers should receive a fair pay for the work they do, regardless of their age and status. The Scottish Government is committed to using all the levers it has at its disposal to promote fair work practices across Scotland including payment of the real Living Wage. We firmly oppose the inappropriate use of zero hours contracts and other non-standard types of employment that offer workers minimal job or financial security.

Scottish Ministers have not met with Unite directly on the issues raised in the question, however the Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise meets periodically with Unite Hospitality representatives to discuss key areas of interest in relation to the hospitality sector. The most recent meeting with key trade union representatives included UNITE, PCS, Prospect, the Scottish Tourism League and the STUC and took place on 9 December.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05796 on 27 January 2022. 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 .

We require projects funded as part of our fuel poverty schemes including Local Authority Area Based Schemes, Warmer Homes Scotland and the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund to comply with all relevant building regulations, retrofit standards and guarantee requirements. The PAS 2035 standard has applied since July 2021 and retrofit installers must now work to this specification.

PAS 2035 standardises the fabric first approach to retrofit and installation of measures by installers, not the quality or effectiveness of the energy efficiency product measures themselves. As for audits and inspections then these are carried out by TrustMark which is the approval scheme for PAS 2035 and involves 10% desktop audits and 10% onsite audits. The work completed in a property is lodged into the TrustMark Data Warehouse where records of the improvement works are held identifying all aspects of the design and installation with all supporting warranties required for the work. In the event that the standards have not been met then TrustMark working with the Scheme Providers will take the necessary steps to address this through their Operating Framework and deliver remediation and redress where required.. This is also underpinned by access to the Dispute Resolution Ombudsman where disputes need to be escalated.

The disposal of litter and fishing gear at sea is covered by the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) Regulations. In UK waters these regulations are enforced by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). Scottish Government’s Marine Scotland Compliance Officers report incidents through their intelligence system to the MCA and periodically remind vessels of their obligations under MARPOL.

Whilst the question specifically references the six-mile limit, it is also highlighted for completeness that there is no access for any non-UK vessel inside 12 nautical miles anywhere around the Scottish coast.

Ventilation in schools is a regular topic of discussion at the COVID-19 Education Recovery Group and the COSLA Workforce Issues Group.

In addition, on 12 January 2022, the COSLA Spokesperson for Children and Young People Councillor Stephen McCabe and I issued a joint letter to unions, requesting specific details of any ongoing ventilation issues being experienced by teaching and other school staff.

We have committed to working with local authorities to review levels of short-term let activity in hotspot areas in summer 2023. This will assess how the actions we are taking are working and whether any further measures are required. This review will also seek to confirm that the wider sector is still healthy, and checking there are no unintended consequences.

In addition to the 2023 review, from 1 October 2022, licensing authorities must on a quarterly basis share the content of the public register of applications, in relation to short-term let licences only, with the Scottish Ministers in a format which enables analysis of the information. This will allow the Scottish Government to monitor trends at a national and local level.

Table 1 shows the number of non-sexual crimes of violence recorded by the police in Scotland from 2011-12 to 2020-21. From 2019-20 onwards this includes new crimes recorded under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018, following its enactment on 1 April 2019. In addition to this, Table 2 shows the number of common assaults recorded by the police over the same time period. Both of these tables are available from the Recorded Crime in Scotland National Statistics ( Recorded Crime in Scotland - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Table 1. Recorded crimes of non-sexual violence in Scotland, 2011-12 to 2020-21