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Work is ongoing to finalise the guidance to promote the use of automatic fire suppression systems for historic building conversions to hotels in the non-domestic technical handbook and is expected to be published in November 2023.

The Section 34 letter to Local Authority Chief Executives under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 (Section 34 - Reports and Information - Notification of Application for Building Warrant - Section 2 - Fire) to require that a verifier must notify the Scottish Government where future conversions of historic buildings are to be used as hotel accommodation has been sent to all Local Authority Chief Executives and copied to Building Standards Managers on 31 October 2023.

The Right to Breaks Regulations and Guidance Working Group is made up of representatives from:

• unpaid carers
• Shared Care Scotland
• Coalition of Carers in Scotland
• MECOPP
• Carers Trust Scotland (representing young carers)
• Carer Centre Managers Network
• Health and Social Care Partnerships – Borders, Edinburgh, Falkirk, North Ayrshire
• COSLA
• Social Work Scotland
• Scottish Government

As the names of group members is personal data of a third party, disclosing that would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018.

The process of recruiting a Chair for the independent review is underway and an advert is currently live.

The following matters are within the scope of the review:

• the activities and descriptors that determine entitlement to Adult Disability Payment, including how these apply to disabled people with fluctuating conditions
• people’s experiences of applying for, receiving or challenging a decision about Adult Disability Payment or undergoing a review (including unsuccessful applicants)
• consultations process and Adult Disability Payment-specific guidance for practitioners and decision-making guidance to ensure a rights-based model of social security is being applied
• considering initial priorities capable of early action that do not require changes to the application, decision-making or service delivery, where those changes offer value, are deliverable and useful regardless of any longer-term changes.

The Scottish Government’s Fair Work Action Plan sets out actions to promote fair and inclusive workplaces across Scotland. We are committed to using all levers at our disposal to extend Fair Work conditionality with clear standards and minimum requirements to cover all forms of Scottish Government support within the limits of devolved competence.

The Scottish Government expects the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) to continue promoting the Fair Work principles and to monitor adherence across the college sector, as outlined in the Ministerial letter of guidance issued to the SFC on 1 June 2023.

The first workshop will be set up by the end of 2023 as outlined in the Short Life Working Group report, published on 2 October 2023.

The Right to Breaks Regulations and Guidance Working Group’s role is advisory, to help with the development of the statutory guidance and regulations that will be required to deliver the right to breaks for carers proposed by the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill. This work cannot be finalised until after parliamentary scrutiny of the Bill has concluded and is likely to feed into wider consultation on the approaches proposed.

We do not hold information on the revised projected passenger journey times between Glasgow Central Station and London Euston Station following the UK Government’s recent decisions on High Speed Two.

The UK Government has yet to advise us what its plans for Glasgow to London rail services will be in the light of this recent cancellation.

The Scottish Government is of the view that this decision will not assist modal shift from air travel.

Following the necessary consultation , the Scottish Government confirmed in June 2023 that it intends to update the Mobile Homes Act 1983 to change the presumed basis of pitch fee uprating from the Retail Prices Index to the Consumer Prices Index, for both existing and future contracts. We also propose to make a further change so that the statistical basis for uprating pitch fees can be amended by secondary rather than primary legislation in the future.

Given the importance of cross border rail connectivity for passengers and freight we meet routinely with the UK Government, Network Rail and industry partners to discuss the current operation and future plans for the West Coast Main Line (WCML) including passenger connectivity between Glasgow and London Euston station.

To deliver aspirations enabling modal shift to rail, all parties recognise the importance of improving the attractiveness of rail, particularly as an alternative to less sustainable travel modes.

HS2 would have supported the delivery of these aspirations, however In light of the UK Governments decision to cancel the Manchester route of HS2, I have specifically raised the West Coast main line, and freight issues in recent discussions with Network Rail UK and UK Department of Transport. The UK Government has yet to advise us what its plans for Glasgow to London rail services will be in light of this recent cancellation.