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A series of meetings to explore the issues and options available were held between officials on 30 June, 13 July and 1 August.

Following these meetings, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government and myself met with a delegation of COSLA’s political leadership on 3 August and held a further meeting with their Resources Spokesperson on 8 August.

Those discussions resulted in the Scottish Government committing an extra £140m on a recurring basis to support councils and COSLA with the local government pay negotiations.

We again met with representatives of COSLA’s political leadership on 17 August.

Pay for council workers, excluding teachers, is determined through negotiations at the Scottish Joint Committee (SJC). These negotiations take place between the trade unions (UNISON, Unite and GMB) and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), who act on behalf of Scotland’s 32 councils.

The Scottish Government continues to urge both parties to continue negotiations via the SJC in order to achieve a negotiated settlement which avoids industrial action.

Asylum and immigration are matters reserved to the UK Parliament. This includes the operation of the UK asylum system and immigration detention.

An effective system to monitor the impact of the asylum system or immigration detention on people’s wellbeing would require access to personal data and information about people seeking asylum or in immigration detention. This data is held by the Home Office, and the Scottish Government does not have access to it.

Many third sector organisations have direct knowledge of the negative impact the asylum system can have on people’s welfare, through their work supporting people within communities. The complexity of the asylum system, the low level of support provided by the Home Office and the continuing uncertainty of waiting for a decision are often combined with previous trauma and vulnerabilities. Evidence from the third sector, and people with lived experience, indicates that the asylum process itself can be re-traumatising.

It is the statutory responsibility of local authorities to manage their school estate. Therefore, it is for them to determine what facilities are appropriate, while complying with the School Premises Regulations and in full consultation with the school community.

In August 2021, the Scottish Government published Supporting transgender young people in schools: guidance for Scottish schools. This guidance sets out the position on support for and provision of single-sex spaces within Scottish schools.

Our Learning Estate Strategy, which sets out the strategic approach for managing Scotland’s school estate, makes clear that good consultation about learning environments, direct engagement with learners and communities about their needs and experiences, and an involvement in decision making processes should lead to better outcomes for all.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that there is a thriving music industry in Scotland, including grassroots music venues, which are key to supporting emerging Scottish talent.

That is why the Scottish Government’s Grassroots Music Venues Stabilisation Fund (GMVSF) provided grassroots live music venues with £6.2 million of emergency funds to help address the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and prevent closures. Music venues were also able to apply to the £25m Cancellation Fund for Cultural Organisations in early 2022, which supported creative businesses which had been adversely financially impacted by cancellations or postponement of activities due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.

The Scottish Government is content to engage further with the Music Venue Trust to discuss their new initiative to build community ownership of grassroots music venues, including in Glasgow.

Our Equally Safe Strategy for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls emphasises the importance of challenging the underpinning attitudes which enable such violence to take place. Education settings have an important role in challenging these attitudes through teaching children and young adults about healthy relationships, consent and gender stereotypes which drive gender-based violence.

Our Equally Safe at School (ESAS) project, developed by Rape Crisis Scotland and Zero Tolerance, applies a whole school approach to inequality and gender-based violence in schools. Rape Crisis Scotland have reported that 3 schools in the Glasgow region are currently registered for an ESAS account. This year, Rape Crisis Scotland anticipate the number of schools registered for ESAS will grow as they continue to focus on the promotion of ESAS and work both nationally and with local authorities to develop ESAS implementation strategies.

The Scottish Government also funds and supports other education-based programmes and initiatives aimed at preventing gender-based violence such as our Mentors in Violence peer education programme, the Gender Equality Taskforce in Education and Learning, the Gender-Based Violence in Schools Working Group and Rape Crisis Scotland’s national sexual violence programme for secondary schools

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. It is the statutory responsibility of local authorities to manage their school estate.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. It is the statutory responsibility of local authorities to manage their school estate.

Decisions on the allocation of its capital budget including fleet, equipment and buildings is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) Board. SFRS has a 10 year capital programme based on risk and decisions on fire station investment forms part of a wider review that the SFRS is carrying out on the assets it needs to protect communities from risk.

The safety of Scottish Fire and Rescue Service staff is paramount and SFRS continues to monitor the remedial measures which were immediately put in place to rectify the potentially defective roofs found in 14 fire stations. All 14 stations have had an options appraisal to identify the best option to rebuild or refurbish.

The Scottish Government greatly values the hard work and dedication of the local government workforce. We also recognise the challenges across the public sector, including local government, in ensuring that pay increases are affordable to employers but are fair to employees against the backdrop of the cost of living crisis.

Local government pay negotiations are entirely the responsibility of local authorities and COSLA. However, both the Scottish Government and COSLA are working to jointly explore all of the options available to find solutions.