Seòmar agus comataidhean

A consultation based on Esther Roberton’s recommendations, from her independent review of legal services regulation, will be available to the public via Citizen Space from 1 October until 24 December 2021. In parallel we will be undertaking a series of consultation focus groups to increase the opportunity for stakeholders and the public to respond to the consultation in part or in whole.

As was stated in my response, the Scottish Government is open to further views on how the report recommendations should be taken forward and this consultation is intentionally broadly set to capture the fullest range of views on the recommendations and what level of reform is supported. As such the consultation has been developed collaboratively with those representing consumer interests and the legal profession.

The findings from the consultation exercise will inform the design of reform, and confirms our commitment to a modern and effective framework of legal services regulation.

The consultation will be available at: https://consult.gov.scot/justice/legal-services-regulation-reform-in-scotland .

The Scottish Government recognises that long waits are unacceptable, and remains committed to meeting the standard that 90% of patients begin treatment within 18 weeks of referral.

We have asked all Boards, including NHS Grampian, to set out their plans and trajectories for meeting the waiting times standards and clearing backlogs by the end of March 2023. To support this, we have already allocated £5m from the Mental Health Recovery and Renewal Fund, for the first year of clearing waiting list backlogs in Psychological Therapies. NHS Grampian has received £490,666 from this fund.

Nationally, we are starting to see this investment reflected in improved Psychological Therapies waiting times performance, and a decrease in the number of people waiting longest. We will continue to work closely with individual Health Boards to monitor and drive performance in mental health waiting times across 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

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 fully supports the police, local authorities and the court services to take appropriate and proportionate action to tackle antisocial behaviour. We expect all relevant authorities to use the powers available to them to deal with antisocial behaviour.

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.

Our proposed licensing scheme will assist in ensuring that short-term lets are safe and used for lawful purposes. Police Scotland is represented on the Short Term Lets Stakeholder Working Group and has expressed concern about some short-term lets being used for criminal purposes. Residents and community groups have also raised concerns with the Scottish Government.