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Culture is more important than ever to Scotland’s collective wellbeing and prosperity. A central aim of our Culture Strategy is that everyone should have the opportunity to participate in, develop and enjoy culture, and we know this helps individuals and communities to thrive. The National Towns of Culture scheme intends to build on this, by making culture relevant to people’s lives and building meaningful connections between people and the place that they come from.

Specific aims and objectives of the National Towns of Culture scheme remain subject to robust scoping work. As referenced in the answer to S6W-03093 on
‎ 29 September 2021, officials will provide me with delivery options and recommendations by the end of this year, and we will offer a further update at that point.

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 fire safety review panel considered a broad range of evidence on fire safety of cladding systems. Some of the evidence supported the retention of the large scale fire test, BS8414, as a means to demonstrate the safety of cladding systems with some combustible elements. Whilst other evidence supported a ban on combustible materials. A fourth option allows respondents to set out alternative views.

ScotRail is exploring potential options to provide contactless ticket infrastructure on the rail network as part of a mix of products to offer passengers.

Contactless payment is already accepted at all stations on ScotlRail’s network for tickets. Mobile ‘phone ticketing has also been introduced. To extend ticketing systems to tap in style contactless ticketing would need considerable investment in ticketing infrastructure, such as gates, as well as back office systems and potentially a fares structures review, which is why this is subject to consideration in the context of changing travel and ticket purchase patterns.

Our overriding commitment, agreed with social security clients and stakeholders, is to ensure the safe and secure transfer of clients to Adult Disability Payment. Significant changes are however being made to improve clients’ experience of accessing disability assistance, such as replacing assessments with person centred consultations. The reliability criteria, which requires a client to be able to carry out activities, safely, repeatedly, in an acceptable manner and in a reasonable time, will be more fully defined in legislation. This will ensure that decisions take full account of clients’ experiences relating to the daily living and mobility activities.

An independent review of Adult Disability Payment will commence in summer 2023. The review will enable all of the criteria to be considered and will ensure that those in receipt of Adult Disability Payment will be able to provide their valuable feedback and experiences of the process up to that point.

Councillors' pay increased by 4.2% on 1 April 2021, taking the annual salary of ordinary councillors from £17,854 to £18,604. This reflects the arrangement introduced in 2017 which now ensures councillors’ pay is increased annually in line with the percentage increase in the median annual earnings of public sector workers in Scotland.

The Scottish Government currently has no plans in the near future to carry out its own review of councillor remuneration. However, we are aware that COSLA's Barriers to Elected Office Special Interest Group is considering this issue, and we are open to discussing and exploring the findings of their work with them, once it becomes available, and how we might support them to address this issue.

Once again, I want to thank our health and care staff for their magnificent work to date. Whilst we are beginning to see a reduction in the numbers of new Covid cases, the last few weeks have been enormously difficult and our health and care services are continuing to deal with a challenging combination of issues.

With the continued increased demands on services across health and social care, we must ensure that the vital services provided by our NHS are protected as we move into a challenging winter period. This means we must continue with a measured and consistent approach to remobilising and renewing across our system, learning from the pressures we were subjected to over the last year and maintaining the ability to quickly respond and intervene, where necessary. I am also mindful of the impact of these pressures on our excellent health and care staff, many of whom have been on the frontline of the Covid response for a considerable period.

It is clear that as we move into the winter period, we need to continue to balance the capacity of the NHS to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic against increasing demands of emergency, urgent and planned care and delayed discharges.

With this in mind, I have decided that the NHS will remain on an emergency footing until at least 31 March 2022.

I thank the members of the Legal Aid Payment Advisory Panel for the careful consideration taken over the recommendations in its report.

We will carefully consider the recommendations in the Report and these will help shape future reform to the legal aid system.

In particular, I welcome the recommendation that further research is needed to ensure that fees are set at appropriate levels, therefore we will now begin the process of commissioning that research and will continue to engage with stakeholders throughout that process.

Legal Aid Payment Review Panel: report to the Minister for Community Safety

I have today launched a consultation on the next Fire and Rescue Framework for Scotland which invites comment on our future strategic priorities for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. I encourage everyone who has an interest in this important consultation to have their say. You can access and respond to this consultation online at https://consult.gov.scot/safer-communities/fire-and-rescue-framework .

The Single Building Assessment (SBA) pack contains the current criteria and guidance which will used by those undertaking the SBA in conjunction with the Scottish Advice Note. Visual and physical inspections will determine, as part of the SBA process, what needs to be removed on a building by building basis.

The Scottish Advice Note is used to help inform this process by determining the fire risk posed by external wall systems in multi-storey residential buildings. This process will determine which properties require mitigation or remediation.

As Lord Advocate, I am head of the system for the investigation of deaths in Scotland, as well as of the system of criminal prosecution. I am, accordingly, constitutionally responsible for the investigation of sudden, unexpected, and unexplained deaths in Scotland, as well as for the prosecution of crime. These are functions which I exercise independently of any other person.

Death investigations are undertaken on my behalf by Procurators Fiscal, who act under the direction as required of Crown Counsel. Procurators Fiscal are professional lawyers, who act independently in the public interest. Crown Counsel are likewise senior lawyers who act independently in the public interest and who are responsible for prosecuting the most serious criminal cases and for providing instructions to Procurators Fiscal as required.

Where an inquiry is to be held into the death of a person, the procurator fiscal must investigate the circumstances of the death and arrange for the inquiry to be held.

An inquiry is to be conducted by a sheriff. The purpose of an inquiry is to establish the circumstances of the death and consider what steps (if any) might be taken to prevent other deaths in similar circumstances.

The appointment of a sheriff to the Fatal Accident Inquiry is a matter for the Sheriff Principal and the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service.