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We are aware that employers across many sectors across the country, including, the meat processing sector, are experiencing challenges in attracting and retaining workers. These significant workforce challenges have been exacerbated by the pandemic and the impact of Brexit. We are working with business organisations and industry representatives to better understand the challenges we face and to develop mitigating activity, with a focus on employability, skills and fair work, investing an additional £500m over the course of this Parliament to support new jobs and reskill people for the good, fair and green jobs of the future.

However, we do not have control of all the levers we require to support the food and drink sector, including migration. While the UK Government introduced temporary visa routes for pig and poultry workers in the run up to Christmas last year, only a tiny proportion of butchery visas and less than half of poultry worker visas had been issued by mid-December. We continue to call on the UK Government to revise its restrictive migration policy, and to establish a specific Labour Market Shortages Taskforce with the Devolved Governments to enable constructive discussion on the measures required to tackle labour shortages

We have supported many of our abattoirs with grants through the Food Processing, Marketing & Cooperation Scheme. The scheme provides grant funding to businesses (or groups of businesses) within the Scottish food and drink sector which includes the meat processing sector.

Throughput for abattoirs is vital to ensure that plants are fit for purpose and have a viable future, however it is a commercial decision as to what abattoir producers wish to use for processing their animals. As any commercial arrangement is between producers and processors, the Scottish Government does not decide or influence the number of animals processed in a particular plant, which may be to the detriment of others. In addition, the size of the abattoir and its layout and structure will be decisive factor in establishing the abattoir’s throughput.

Changing ownership of an abattoir is an entirely commercial decision, therefore the government has no influence on it. There could be no interested parties in the uptake of the abattoir, as was highlighted in the closure of the abattoir in Orkney, where the local council were also involved, and provided a £50k challenge fund which did not entice anyone to come forward.

In 2019 we commissioned a feasibility study which provides details of what would be required to operate mobile abattoirs in Scotland, including the regulatory framework, and offers a cost-benefit analysis of possible operational models. However, the report also highlights the difficulty in achieving a sustained economic return from a mobile abattoir in Scotland. The full report can be found at https://www.gov.scot/publications/assessing-viability-sustainability-mobile-abattoirs-scotland/

I met with Cumbrae ferry stakeholders on 1 June 2022 to discuss a range of ferry issues. It was agreed that Transport Scotland and CalMac would consider if books of tickets could be offered to islanders under the new ‘Ar Turas’ ticketing & reservation system.

The intention is to provide users of the Largs-Cumbrae service with the option to purchase a convenience 10-journey ticket product online or at the Largs ticket office. I await an update from my officials in Transport Scotland and CalMac on this matter.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10619 on‎ 26 September 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

The £300,000 allocated to the Islands Bond this financial year will now be used to shape a range of tests to help inform policy in an islands context, based on the feedback gathered through our engagement on the Islands Bond since October 2021, (including meeting over 100 island residents across 12 island communities in spring 2022).

These Practical Policy Tests (PPTs) will help to inform the development of our action plan to address depopulation as set out in our 2019 National Islands Plan, and also help to inform our future funding requirements so that we can tackle the depopulation challenges across our islands.

This work complements the £8.3 million provided to implement the National Islands Plan in the current financial year. This continues our record of delivering significant investment in key island-based projects, such as our £1.3 million contribution towards the rebuild of the Fair Isle Bird Observatory, and the £550K transformational Kerrera Road project.

Annual budgets will continue to be set through the annual parliamentary budget Bill process and the annual budget will be based on the latest fiscal information.

The Scottish wildcat and its breeding places are fully protected under the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 .

All management activity on Scotland’s National Forests and Land is independently certified to international standards of best practice and all Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) forest operations adhere to the principles of sustainable forest management outlined in the United Kingdom Forestry Standard. All FLS work is planned and delivered according to these policies with significant consideration given to all protected species including Scottish wildcats.

At a site level, all operations are carried out in accordance with existing legislation and best practice. FLS directs particular care and attention to avoid deliberate and reckless actions that could impact negatively on wildcats. All work sites are subject to pre-operational surveys by FLS Environment staff and camera traps are routinely deployed for periods of two weeks or more. Where evidence of cats is found, mitigation is enacted. This includes rescheduling of works, such as harvesting, to avoid the wildcat breeding season as specified in FCS Guidance Note 35d: Forest operations and wildcats in Scotland.

Furthermore, FLS frequently seeks advice on mitigation from wildcat experts in NatureScot and Saving Wildcats, and has recently funded research on wildcat biology to inform forest management.

Table 1 presents the gross estimated income from the higher property rate, by property class.

The figures presented are gross amounts and do not take account of reductions in liability due to reliefs awarded in 2022-23. This is due to the application of a £27,500 cap per ratepayer on retail, hospitality and leisure relief in 2022-23 which means that it is not possible for the Scottish Government to robustly estimate the breakdown of net figures by property class.

Figures in Table 1 are broken down by property class as the Scottish Government does not hold property-level data on industry sectors. Property class is a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, and may not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a property.

Table 1: Estimated gross HPR income, by property class in 2022-23

As at 1 July 2022 (latest available data), no entries of reverse vending machines had been made to the Valuation Roll, therefore no relief under the Non-Domestic Rates (Reverse Vending Machine Relief) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 has been awarded.

The Valuation Roll is maintained by the independent Scottish Assessors.

Information on applications for rates relief is not held centrally.

Table 1 shows the estimated net income from the large business supplement in 2019-20. Figures for 2019-20 and earlier are available in the answer to S5W-25592, available at: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers/question?ref=S5W-25592 . Table 1 updates the previously given figure for 2019-20 with more recent data, which was not available at the time of the original answer.

Table 2 shows the estimated gross and net income from the higher property rate since 2020-21. It is not possible for the Scottish Government to robustly estimate the net income in 2022-23, due to the application of a £27,500 cap per ratepayer on retail, hospitality and leisure relief, therefore only the gross figure is given.

Table 1: Net income from the large business supplement

The administration of the non-domestic rates system, including the award of reliefs, is a matter for local authorities. In the Non-domestic rates income - provisional contributable amount returns, provided by local authorities to the Scottish Government at the start of 2022-23, no local authority indicated that they expect to award rates reliefs under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 in 2022-23.

Scottish Ministers are still considering how the ScotWind revenues should be invested to maximise the benefits for the people of Scotland. As part of these considerations, Scottish Ministers will continue to evaluate whether these revenues should fall within the scope of the existing 9% agreement with Crown Estate Scotland.