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On 8 January 2020, Mr Stewart, the then Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning, emphasised the importance of the safety of visitors, hosts, neighbours and local residents in his statement to the Scottish Parliament. This was the rationale for introducing the policy and that remains the case. It has also always been the intention to give local authorities further powers under the licensing scheme to tackle other issues arising from short-term lets.

Our licensing scheme proposals deliver national consistency on safety standards, and autonomy for local authorities to add further conditions in response to local needs and concerns.

The 2015 Act requires Scottish Ministers to prepare a Trafficking and Exploitation Strategy and this was published in May 2017. The Scottish Government has established governance structures to take forward implementation of this Strategy and discussions include feedback on the operation and application of the 2015 Act.

Annual reports against the Strategy have been published and a review of the Strategy was published in May 2020. The next annual report will be published later this year.

We will explore the possibility of levying a higher poundage on properties where the owner is registered in a tax haven, as well as tackling other known tax avoidance tactics using anti-avoidance powers provided by the Non-Domestic Rates (Scotland) Act 2020.

The Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 sets out six outcomes to which a future National Planning Framework (NPF) should work towards, including securing positive effects for biodiversity, and we are developing new proposals which deliver positive outcomes for biodiversity from development without the need for overly complex metrics.

We will lay a draft NPF4 in the Scottish Parliament this autumn and will carry out extensive public consultation at the same time. We anticipate producing a final version of NPF4 for approval and adoption around spring 2022.

Our initial estimates are that the increase in employer National Insurance contributions will result in the following costs:

(a) NHS - £67 million

(b) Local Government - £31 million

(c) Other parts of public sector - £53 million

Combined these come to an initial cost estimate of £151 million across the public sector in Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to S6W-02645 on 14 September 2021 which set out that the resourcing and performance of the planning system remain key priorities, and we recently recommenced work looking at increasing the financial resources available to planning authorities through changes to the planning fees regime. An updated work plan for the implementation of the Scottish Government’s planning reform programme, including work on planning fees and performance, will be published shortly.

The performance of the system is not the sole responsibility of planning authorities and everyone involved in planning must play their part in ensuring that the system functions effectively and efficiently. Increased fee income is not the sole solution to the resourcing issues faced by authorities. As a result, we are working with the RTPI, Heads of Planning Scotland and others to explore additional measures, including skills and capacity building.

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

Draft guidance for local authorities on overprovision is set out in chapter 3 of the Licensing guidance part 2: supplementary guidance for licensing authorities, letting agencies and platforms . Paragraphs 3.37 to 3.41 explain how overprovision policies interact with control areas.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-03027 on  1 October 2021. 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

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-03027 on 1 October 2021. 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 Scottish Government has undertaken work to assess the impact of provisions in the Nationality and Borders Bill on communities in Scotland. Issues highlighted through this work are set out in my letter of 1 September to the Home Secretary, which is on the Scottish Government website at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/letter-from-the-cabinet-secretary-for-social-justice-housing-and-local-government-to-rt-hon-priti-patel-mp/