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Whilst the UK Government (UKG) are the principle contract owners and managers of the Managed Quarantine Service (MQS) and its suppliers; the Scottish Government acts as officiate of these contracts with the service providers. The close working relationship the Scottish Government fosters with hotel and security facility teams enables any matters arising to be de-escalated quickly. There is a protocol in place with Police Scotland to assist, where appropriate.

The Scottish Government is not aware of any crimes of any nature being recorded in relation to managed isolation guests in Scotland.

Throughout the pandemic, the Scottish Government has maintained close contact with Scottish Water and the Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS) around charging policy and was supportive of the WICS action introduce a package worth £60 million to provide additional liquidity to licensed providers, allowing them to assist customers through deferred payment terms. On 14 May 2020, WICS announced a further water charges relief scheme building on the initial intervention to provide at least another £50 million of liquidity to allow a further deferral of charges for businesses that had been impacted by Covid-19.

In Scotland, all non-domestic properties remain liable to be charged if they have access to services. Scottish Water is still required to provide services to properties, even if they are temporarily closed, and there are costs associated with this, in particular ensuring property drainage and ensuring water and wastewater services are available whenever a business might be able to re-open. If follows therefore that businesses are still required to pay their Licensed Provider for services but the liquidity support means this can be over an extended time period and Licensed Providers will continue to pay Scottish Water for wholesale costs.

The contracts for the hotels, security and Corporate Travel Management are owned and managed by the UK Government. Scottish Government officials acts as officiate of these contracts with the service providers, but do not have any contractual powers.

Officials foster extremely good relationships with and maintain regular contact with the network of managed isolation facilities in Scotland, including the hotel and security teams and the service provider Corporate Travel Management (CTM). This enables issues flagged by users of these services to be resolved quickly. Issues which cannot be dealt with by Scottish Government and the network of facilities locally are escalated to the UKG.

The International Passenger Coordination Team have agreed a protocol with Police Scotland to enable the facility team to contact them, when appropriate to do so. We have not had any reports of crimes being committed against guests.

During 2020 the Scottish Government, in partnership with local authorities, MOD and veterans organisations, promoted and distributed Armed Forces and veterans awareness training to all local authorities in Scotland via the network of Armed Forces Champions. The e-learning is a simple, user-friendly resource which aims to raise awareness and understanding of the Armed Forces Covenant, how it is implemented in the community and how the principles should be applied at a local level. The training package also provides sources of further information and support for the Armed Forces and veterans community. Consideration is being given to expanding this across other front-line service providers including the NHS. We continue to engage with Champions and Local Authorities to determine the effectiveness of this training and ensure that it has been made available to frontline staff.

In addition, Veterans Scotland has received funding from the Forces in Mind Trust to enable engagement with decision makers in statutory and third sector organisations across Scotland. Through this engagement, supported by the Scottish Government, Veterans Scotland seeks both to inform partners about the needs of those preparing to leave the Armed Forces and of the veterans community and also to encourage those partners to ensure that they are equipped to meet their obligations under the Covenant. As part of this work, Veterans Scotland promotes and distributes e-copies of the Forces in Mind Trust’s ‘Our Community – Our Covenant’, an accessible tool that provides practical guidance.

Senior Transport Scotland Ferries Unit officials have met specifically with representatives of Pentland Ferries five times since January 2019.

Four of these were to discuss Covid financial impacts on Pentland Ferries and one was to discuss work seeking to implement Road Equivalent Tariff on ferry services to the Northern Isles. These were attended by TS Ferries Staff and representatives from Pentland Ferries.

CMAL have met with Pentland Ferries once since January 2019 while inspecting the MV Pentalina.

The primary responsibility for the prevention and investigation of theft lies with Police Scotland. The Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 stipulates that the Chief Constable of Police Scotland is responsible for the policing of Scotland, and is accountable to the Scottish Police Authority for this, rather than to Scottish Ministers directly.

The Scottish Government supports Police Scotland by assisting in any legislative requirements they identify as necessary in their efforts to prevent and detect theft. The Microchipping of Dogs (Scotland) Regulations 2016 came into force on 29 January 2016, making it a statutory requirement for all dogs over the age of 8 weeks to be identifiable with an implanted microchip which is registered on a database from which Police and local authority officers can request information on owners.

From Monday 19 July, all parts of Scotland moved to level 0. Domestic cruises are able to operate from this date. We have worked closely with the industry to keep them informed of the agreed conditions that would allow operations once again. Our guidance on domestic cruising can be found here: Coronavirus (COVID-19): travel and transport - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The amount spent by the Scottish Government on woodland creation in the years 2016-2021 is set out in the following table:

Since 2016, the Scottish Government has invested around
£39 million in peatland restoration through the Peatland Action programme (delivered by NatureScot) and the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme under the Scottish Rural Development Programme. The annual figures are shown in the following table:

Consideration of potential improvements to strategic transport infrastructure across the whole of Scotland continues to be undertaken through the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2). This work addresses the Scottish Government’s commitment within the Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal, for Transport Scotland to progress the evidence base for extending the Borders Railway, as well as considering the case for all other potential strategic transport improvements for the area.

STPR2 will create the evidence basis for future transport investment decisions by the Scottish Government for the next 20 years. It will conclude later this year, with publication of recommendations for investment and an appropriate statutory consultation period.