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I announced on 12th August that I have accepted the DDRB recommendation of a 3% pay uplift for 2021-22. This award recognises the unprecedented year that NHS Scotland has faced, and ensures that Doctors in Scotland continue to be the best paid in the United Kingdom.

Short-term lets can offer people a flexible and cheaper travel option, and have contributed positively to Scotland’s tourism industry and local economies across the country. However, we know that in certain areas, particularly tourist hot spots, high numbers of lets can cause problems for neighbours and make it harder for people to find homes to live in. The Scottish Government considers regulation of short term lets to be vital in balancing the needs and concerns of residents and communities, alongside wider economic and tourism interests.

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 .

In considering whether there is or would be overprovision in any locality, licensing authorities must have regard to:

1. the number and capacity of licensed short-term lets in the locality,

2. the need for housing accommodation in the locality and the extent to which short-term let accommodation is impacting the availability of housing, and

3. such other matters as they consider relevant.

We have set out in guidance for local authorities that the data which licensing authorities use to evidence overprovision should be drawn from reliable sources, for example using data from their licence schemes.

(a) Stakeholder concerns in respect of the guidance are included in the minute of the third meeting of the Working group in May 2021: Short Term Lets Working Group papers and minutes: May 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . The draft guidance published on 25 June 2021 reflects many of the suggestions made at the Working Group meeting and in correspondence. The draft guidance will be considered further by the Working Group.

(b) The revised draft Licensing Order was published for consultation on 25 June 2021. Table 1 in the consultation paper sets out details of the changes that have been made to the Licensing Order.

Oil and gas workers returning from work overseas are not eligible for the exemption for offshore work on the UK continental shelf, and must comply with rules for international travel depending on the risk assessment of the country they have travelled from and their own residence and vaccination status. Travellers from green list countries and eligible fully vaccinated travellers from amber list countries are not required to isolate on arrival in Scotland. Other travellers from amber list countries must isolate at home or in their own accommodation. As the answer to question S6W-00963 set out, there is no exemption for offshore workers travelling from red list countries who must isolate in a designated managed isolation hotel. Therefore, offshore workers returning from work overseas will either not be required to isolate or will isolate at home unless they have travelled from a red list country.

Exemptions from managed isolation for essential activity related to supply chains, UK critical infrastructure and international obligations were considered prior to introduction of the policy on 15 February 2021 and have been reviewed regularly throughout. Quarantine arrangements for offshore workers are the same across the UK.

Prior to the national change in policy on international travel restrictions on 17 May, discussions on the scope of the exemption for offshore workers took place with sector bodies and delivery partners including Oil and Gas UK and the UK Border Force. This resulted in an amendment to regulations effective from 25 February 2021 to permit isolation at home for workers returning from offshore activity in the Exclusive Economic Zone of other countries in the North Sea. This provision was superseded by the introduction of the red, amber and green lists for risk assessment, as all arrivals from amber list countries were required to isolate at home.

No change to policy is being considered in relation to managed quarantine for oil and gas workers returning from work overseas, which applies only to arrivals from red list countries, and therefore no further engagement is planned on that question. Maintaining the highest level of protection for red list countries where variants of concern are known or assessed to be in community transmission is essential to guard against importation of variants of the virus with antibody resistance characteristics that could undermine progress made through vaccination programmes in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK.

The assumptions behind, and calculations of, the average indicative fees for a short-term lets licence are set out in section F and Annex A of the draft Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment published for consultation on 25 June 2021. These fees are Scotland-wide average fees for application for a three year licence; the actual fees charged for any given application may be higher or lower, depending on the way each local authority implements its licensing scheme and the circumstances of the application. The total revenue from fees must not exceed the costs of the scheme in each local authority. Chapter 4 of our draft guidance for licensing authorities, letting agencies and platforms provides further detail on setting licence fees:

Short term lets - licensing scheme part 2: supplementary guidance for licensing authorities, letting agencies and platforms - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Short-term lets can offer people a flexible and cheaper travel option, and have contributed positively to Scotland’s tourism industry and local economies across the country. However, we know that in certain areas, particularly tourist hot spots, high numbers of lets can cause problems for neighbours and make it harder for people to find homes to live in. The Scottish Government considers regulation of short term lets to be vital in balancing the needs and concerns of residents and communities, alongside wider economic and tourism interests.

The draft Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment published for consultation on 25 June 2021 estimates average, indicative fees in the range £223 and £377 for a three year licence. These estimates are based on full cost recovery.

The actual levels of fee are up to local authorities and are likely to include higher and lower tiers. The total revenue from fees must not exceed the costs of the scheme in each local authority.

Tackling empty homes remains a priority for the Scottish Government, even more so when people have been unable to take action to bring homes back into use due to the pandemic. We want to see all homes occupied and none left empty without good reason. Housing to 2040 makes a commitment to take forward a range of actions to make best use of our existing supply, including tackling the blight of empty homes.

Proposed key actions include:

• working with local authorities to audit empty homes and determine those that should be brought back into use;
• supporting the work of the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership and continuing to roll out the approach across Scotland;
• giving councils the powers they need to regulate and charge owners appropriately for homes lying empty and ensuring they have the mechanisms to bring them back into productive use;
• creating a support package for homeowners in trouble to help them stay in their home, if that is right for them, and to prevent homes falling into disrepair or becoming empty in the first place; and
• establishing a new fund for local authorities to apply to use in order to bring empty homes and potential empty homes back into residential use and convert suitable empty commercial properties in town centres.

Local authorities are responsible for assessing the housing needs in their areas and setting out how this will be met in their Local Housing Strategies (LHS). LHS guidance published in September 2019 requires local authorities to include evidence of engagement with a wide range of people and communities of interest to inform the development of LHS priorities and outcomes. The guidance recognises the importance for housing services to be coordinated with health and social care in order to achieve joined-up, person-centred approaches.

The LHS guidance also requires each local authority to include a summary of its approach to tackling homelessness, including how its Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan (RRTP) links with LHS priorities and outcomes. The delivery of an RRTP is an important part of the implementation of the joint Scottish Government/COSLA Ending Homelessness Together Action Plan. This Plan also includes the upscaling of Housing First, a person-centred approach to providing settled accommodation to those with more complex needs.

The Scottish Government expects a local authority to reflect the identified need and priorities it has identified in its LHS through its Strategic Housing Investment Plan. In doing so, local authorities are required to work closely with communities to inform priorities.

The Scottish Government currently only allows travellers returning from green and amber list countries to use NHS tests, reserved through the CTM booking portal. These PCR tests are the highest quality with established data flows into NHS boards and samples are sequenced to ensure early detection of variants of concern.

The Scottish Government is exploring ways to allow private testing for travellers coming to Scotland provided we are confident in the flow of data into contact tracing services and that all positive test results are analysed to identify any variants of concern.

The current published set of annual statistics on the number of Long Term Empty Properties and Second Homes, based on Council Tax Base data as at September 2020, were published in the Housing Statistics Quarterly Update in December 2020, and are available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-scotland-quarterly-update/ , with detailed local authority level Excel tables covering the period from 1996 to 2020 available at Housing statistics: Empty properties and second homes - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The next set of annual statistics as at September 2021 are due to be published as part of the Housing Statistics Quarterly Update in December 2021. An exact publication date will be pre-announced no later than 4 weeks in advance, in line with the Statistics Code of Practice, on the Scottish Government website: Official statistics: Official statistics: forthcoming publications - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .