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The summary reform pilots are judicially-led and an operational matter for the independent Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) in collaboration with other criminal justice partners. SCTS advises that while the pilots will be monitored and evaluated throughout, plans to report on their outcomes have yet to be fixed. However the Quarterly Criminal Court Statistics published by SCTS provides quarterly figures on criminal court activity in all High, Sheriff and Justice of the Peace courts, giving national trends as well as detailed figures for local courts in solemn and summary criminal business. The figures for the Pilot courts at Dundee, Hamilton and Paisley Sheriff Courts are and will continue to be, readily accessible via that publication .

The Scottish Government is committed to reviewing non-domestic rates policies on a regular basis, in order to ensure that the rates system effectively supports our businesses and communities, and regularly attends the Scottish Rating Surveyor Forum and the Scottish Ratepayer Forum to discuss the operation of the non-domestic rates system with sectoral experts and their professional representatives.

In August 2017, the final report of the independent Barclay Review of non-domestic rates was published. This review made 30 recommendations to support economic growth, improve ratepayer experience and administration of the system, and to increase fairness and ensure a level playing field.

The Scottish Government accepted the majority of these recommendations in the Implementation Plan published in December 2017, and the final reforms are scheduled to come into force in 2023 alongside the revaluation. To ensure the recommendations were delivered effectively, the Scottish Government established an independent advisory group to provide advice to Ministers on the details of implementation.

The passage of the Non-Domestic Rates (Scotland) Act 2020 provided an opportunity for parliamentary scrutiny of the recommendations, and a number of the key recommendations of the Barclay Review have since been replicated by the UK Government following their Business Rates Review which was published in October 2021.

More recently, we commissioned an independent evaluation of the Small Business Bonus Scheme relief, and an independent review of small-scale hydro plant and machinery . The findings of these reviews, which have been published, provide an independent assessment of key elements of the non-domestic rates system.

The Scottish Government does not hold a discrete budget line for raising awareness of Non-Domestic Rates reliefs. Information on all non-domestic rates reliefs, including the Business Growth Accelerator, is available on the mygov.scotwebsite , and other websites including those of individual local authorities who similarly promote information on reliefs and how to apply for them. Since 2020-21, following recommendation 14 of the Barclay Review of Non-Domestic rates, all councils have adopted a standardised bill template which includes, amongst other things, direction to ratepayers on how to find information on the range of reliefs available.

Officials also regularly share information, including on any new or expanded reliefs, with a range of stakeholders, including business representative groups at the Scottish Ratepayers Forum and with NDR practitioners at Institute of Revenues, Rating and Valuation forums.

This is a matter for NatureScot. This information is not held centrally.

The recruitment and deployment of Police Officers is a matter for the Chief Constable, who along with the Scottish Police Authority, will continue to ensure the capability and capacity of Police Scotland to improve the safety and wellbeing of people, places and communities in Scotland.

We currently have 31 officers per 10,000 population in Scotland compared to around 24 in England and Wales and despite constraints on Scotland’s public services through a decade of UK austerity, policing services have been maintained and improved.

On 2 August the HMICS published its Assurance Review of Police Scotland’s Strategic Workforce Plan and I look forward to discussing the recommendations with both Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority.

The Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 places statutory responsibility for local roads, including structures, improvements, maintenance and repair with local roads authorities. As such it is the responsibility of the local authority to determine how best to meet its duties on local roads in their respective areas including the format of public reporting and no formal guidance is issued on this matter.

We are taking action to change the way that imprisonment is used in Scotland. The Vision for Justice in Scotland (published 8 February 2022) sets out the ambition that people in Scotland live in a just, safe and resilient society, where they will be supported in rehabilitation by the most effective means. As part of this vision, the Scottish Government recognises that there must be appropriate and consistent alternatives to custody, accessible across Scotland.

The Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill (introduced 8 June 2022) supports the aims of the strategy by introducing a number of reforms designed to refocus how imprisonment is used. They are intended to ensure that, as much as possible, the use of remand is a last resort for the court, and to give a greater focus to the rehabilitation and reintegration of individuals leaving custody.

This is supported by investment to strengthen and reform vital services across the justice sector, including an expansion of community justice services supporting diversion from prosecution, alternatives to remand and community sentencing. We have increased investment in community justice services since the new model for community justice was introduced in April 2017 – reaching more than £119m of funding for this year (2022-23).

Decisions on non-domestic rates including the Basic Property Rate (poundage) are taken in the round of the Scottish Budget, in the context of other budgetary priorities.

With a poundage of 49.8p, the Scottish Budget 2022-23 delivered a below-inflation increase, ensuring the lowest poundage in the UK for the fourth year in a row and saving ratepayers £40 million compared to an inflationary increase. This ensures that over 95% of non-domestic properties continue to be liable for a lower property tax rate than anywhere else in the UK.

The Scottish Government engages with local authority non-domestic rates practitioners regularly including through monthly forums organised by the Institute for Revenues, Rating and Valuation.

Revaluation is a matter for Scottish assessors who are independent of central and local government.

The Scottish Government does not collect the information requested .