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Any form of human trafficking or exploitation is completely unacceptable.

The Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015, which was passed unanimously by the Scottish Parliament, gives police and prosecutors greater powers to detect and bring to justice those responsible for trafficking as well as strengthening protections for survivors.

In the current financial year, Migrant Help and the Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance will share over £2.1m to support adult victims of human trafficking and exploitation. We are also providing funding to Justice and Care to support two Victim Navigators who work alongside Police Scotland's National Human Trafficking Unit; funding to JustRight Scotland to support the work of their Scottish Anti-Trafficking Centre, including the provision of early legal advice to potential victims. Furthermore, we are funding Survivors of Human Trafficking in Scotland to deliver a long-term support pilot to those recovering and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to provide a national psychological trauma support service to adult trafficking victims.

We will continue to work with partners across Scotland and beyond to provide support to victims and combat those who seek to profit from the exploitation of others.

The Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament on the 20 April 2023.

The overarching policy objective of the Bill, which builds on the existing regulatory framework, will, if passed, provide a modern, forward-looking regulatory framework for Scotland that will best promote competition, innovation, and the public and consumer interest in an efficient, effective, and efficient legal sector.

The Scottish Police Authority has launched a recruitment campaign on Friday 31 March 2023, looking for a new Chief Constable to lead the second largest police service in the UK, after Sir Iain Livingstone QPM announced his intention to retire in the summer of 2023 at a meeting of the Authority on 23 February.

The deadline for applications is Friday 28 April. The Authority expects to announce a successful candidate in June 2023. This will be a fixed term appointment for a minimum of two years and a maximum of five years.

The appointment process has been reviewed and approved by the Scottish Police Authority’s People Committee. A Selection Panel has been convened which will be chaired by Martyn Evans, Chair of the Authority and will include Fiona McQueen CBE - Member, SPA, Joe Griffin - Director-General, Scottish Government, Angela Scott - Chief Executive, Aberdeen City Council, Independent Member, and Martin Hewitt QPM, Former Chair, National Police Chiefs Council – UK Policing Professional. Craig Naylor, HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland and Lynn Brown OBE, Chief Executive of the Scottish Police Authority will be advisors to the panel and observe its discussions with candidates.

The appointment is subject to the approval of the Scottish Ministers.

The former Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans met with the Chair of the SPA and the Chief Constable on 22 March and they discussed the arrangements for the recruitment campaign, transition plans and timing.

The Scottish Government has no plans to reduce the period that a person must wait before reapplying for a Minimal Asset Process (MAP) bankruptcy. We have made significant changes to MAP eligibility criteria recently, removing the application fee, removing the minimum debt threshold, and increasing the maximum debt level to £25,000. It is important to assess the impact of these changes before considering further reform.

Previously the public were able to report flytipping via two parallel mechanisms: the Dumb Dumpers system (whereby reports could either be made online to Zero Waste Scotland, or via a telephone hotline hosted by SEPA) and to local authorities directly. From 1 April 2023, the public can continue to report incidents to the relevant local authority through local authorities’ existing mechanisms.

The change has been made in order to streamline and reduce confusion about public reporting of flytipping incidents; and to aid more accurate analysis of the scale of flytipping.

A range of evidence gathered by Zero Waste Scotland and SEPA highlighted that the previous approach was no longer fit for purpose and should be reviewed. Analysis by ZWS and SEPA has suggested that reports submitted through the Dump Dumpers system accounted for a small percentage of the total number of flytipping incidents in Scotland and the majority of incidents are reported directly to local authorities. A survey of local authorities, undertaken as part of a review of the previous litter strategy, Towards A Litter-free Scotland, highlighted a range of concerns including duplicated reports, delays and inaccurate location information.

Scottish Government’s 2022 consultation on the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy included the proposal to review the Dumb Dumpers system to ensure a fit-for-purpose mechanism for citizens to report flytipping incidents. Only 30% of respondents, and 18% of local authority respondents, supported the system’s continued use.

The recent streamlining of reporting mechanisms will not change how incidents of flytipping are investigated, which will continue to be the joint responsibility of local authorities and SEPA with local authorities handling the majority of cases.

Council Tax is a local tax, and each council is financially and administratively accountable to their electorate.

However, we recognise the desirability of the best practice in council tax collection being adopted by all local authorities. I therefore raised the issue of Council Tax Debt and Recovery, including highlighting the recommendations of the Improvement Service and Stepchange Scotland’s May 2022 report on Collaborative Council Tax Collection, with the COSLA President, Vice President and Resources Spokesperson at a meeting of the ‘Joint Working Group on Sourcing of Local Government Funding and Council Tax Reform’, on 22 March 2023.

The Scottish Government are working with COSLA through the ‘Joint Working Group on Sources of Local Government Funding and Council Tax Reform’ to encourage the adoption of best practice on debt collection and advice.

Additionally, the Scottish Government promotes the take-up of the Council Tax Reduction (CTR) scheme, as part of Citizens Advice Scotland's Money Talk Team service, which offers free, confidential and holistic advice – from debt advice, benefit take up and council tax reduction, to switching utility providers and reducing household energy costs.

The Recover, Renew, Transform (RRT) Programme launched in 2021 (although Scottish Government funding for remote jury centres – which went on to become part of the RRT programme – had begun in 2020/21). The tables below set out how RRT funding was allocated and spent in 2021-22 and 2022-23. The expenditure figures for 2022-23 are provisional, and correct as at March 2023.

It should be noted that allocations made at the beginning of each financial year are indicative, and in each year a proportion of RRT funding has been unallocated, allowing for a degree of flexibility. Organisations’ requirements are kept under review over the year, and their final spend from RRT funding will depend on factors like whether the costs they anticipated arose, and considerations across other funding streams.

This information is publicly available through the SEPA Waste Discover Data Tool: https://informatics.sepa.org.uk/WasteAllSources/ .

Please note, the impact of a cyber attack means there are data gaps covering 2019 and 2020.

At 35.5% of all Higher entries, 2022 Higher entries for STEM subjects have remained similar to previous years, despite fluctuating numbers of entries for individual subjects. Looking beyond National Qualifications in 2022, at SCQF levels 4-6, the proportion of skills-based qualifications, awards and certificates awarded to Education Authority candidates in STEM related subjects was up on 2019 levels, having increased from 12.6% to 35.5%.

Nevertheless we acknowledge the need to continue to support STEM learning. This academic year we offered 150 STEM bursaries of £20,000 to ease the financial transition for career changers wishing to undertake a one year Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) that leads to the award of qualified teacher status in the STEM subjects with the greatest demand for teachers.

More broadly since 2017, we have been implementing our STEM strategy which includes work to ensure ongoing take up of STEM subjects with funding being provided to programmes such as ‘Raising Aspirations in Science Education’ a partnership with the Wood Foundation and the Young STEM leader programme which inspires and rewards young people to take up STEM subjects and encourages their peers to do so.