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The Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) is a partner in a build-to-rent joint venture with Edinburgh City Council called “Edinburgh Living” which is providing mid-market rent properties and market rent homes across the city. To date, more than 250 families have moved into quality affordable homes with the long-term aim to provide 1,500 new mid-market rent and market rent homes over the next few years.

In 2017, the Scottish Government put in place a package of measures to support the growth of the Build to Rent Sector in Scotland. That package included a Rental Income Guarantee Scheme and SFT was appointed by Scottish Government to manage applications to the Scheme. However, no formal application was made to the Scheme in three and a half years and the Scheme was closed. The BtR sector is now growing without further Scottish Government intervention.

The Scottish Government is progressing wide reform of the planning system, including implementation of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019; preparation of Scotland’s fourth National Planning Framework; a review of permitted development rights and a programme of digital transformation of planning services, with a focus on efficient processes, delivering good quality development and positive outcomes.

Since the outset of the pandemic, the Scottish Government has taken an evidence-based approach to our measures on overseas travel, informed by the latest data and evidence provided on a UK-wide basis by the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC), as well as Scotland-specific data from Scotland’s Test and Protect system, and clinical advice from Scotland's Chief Medical Officer. 

The greatest risk of COVID-19 infection are passengers arriving from red list countries, who are required to enter managed isolation in a quarantine hotel. There is no exemption anywhere in the UK for oil and gas workers arriving from red list countries. 

There is an exemption for oil and gas workers arriving from amber list countries to undertake work on critical infrastructure in Scotland. They are still required to take a pre-departure test before travel, complete a passenger locator form before travelling to Scotland, book and take a testing package for days 2 and 8, self-isolate at home for 10 days when not at or travelling to and from a place where they are required to undertake the activities this exemption applies to and show a letter to Border Force from their employer outlining the work they will be doing.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of occasions police have responded to a call regarding a person experiencing a mental health crisis.

We are committed to community wealth building in Scotland that will help deliver a stronger, more resilient and sustainable wellbeing economy.

One of the five pillars of community wealth building is the socially productive use of land and property which considers land not solely for its economic use, but also its social and ecological potential. More progressive use of land and property assets can have a significant impact on the fortunes of local people and enterprise, empowering communities to develop the land or asset as they see fit for the benefit of their local area. This requires us to think not just in terms of ownership and use, but also about stewardship for future generations.

The Scottish Government are committed to community wealth building and for the first time have appointed a Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth. The Minister for Environment, Biodiversity and Land Reform and Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth, who will lead on community wealth, will work together throughout this Parliamentary session. The Programme for Government commits us to grow community wealth building (CWB) in Scotland as part of our commitment to building a stronger, more resilient and sustainable economy.

We plan to double the Scottish Land Fund to £20 million per year by the end of this Parliament. This can facilitate more opportunities for communities seeking to explore the acquisition of land/assets and also the actual acquisition of land/assets.

As set out in our manifesto, we will introduce a new Land Reform bill in the current session.

The Scottish Government places great importance on the range of services Arms Length External Organisations (ALEOS) provide and believes everyone should have access to these services as we move towards recovery. However, as independent corporate bodies it is for local authorities to decide when and what services will be offered, and it is for the locally elected representatives to make these decisions. It is also the responsibility of individual local authorities to assess the financial viability of their own ALEOS.

The Scottish Government for our part have allocated Scotland's local authorities an additional £1.5 billion in direct support through the local government finance settlement and councils have also been granted additional financial flexibilities to address the financial pressures caused by COVID-19.

Furthermore, the 2021-22 Local Government Settlement of almost £11.7 billion provides a cash increase in local government day to day spending for local revenue services of £375.6 million or 3.5 per cent.

The Scottish Government meets with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) routinely on a range of matters.

The last time Scottish Government Ministers met with DWP Ministers was at the last Joint Ministerial Working Group on Welfare on 16 December 2020, where the agenda covered a range of matters relating to the devolution of social security.

Dates the Scottish Government has met with and currently plans to meet with airports are included in the following table.

We are committed to establishing a National Care Service and will launch a full and comprehensive public consultation within the first 100 days of this Parliament. The consultation will allow stakeholders and members of the public from all parts of Scotland an opportunity to give their views in advance of legislation being written. The National Care Service will oversee the delivery of care, improve standards, ensure enhanced pay and conditions for workers and provide better support for unpaid carers.

We issued an open call for nominations during our Call for Ideas early engagement programme in early 2020, and we are considering all those received. Our Position Statement published in November 2020 highlighted the importance of National Developments in delivering the strategy and invited further comments on the direction of travel. In autumn 2021, we will publicly consult on a draft National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) allowing a further opportunity to input before NPF4 is resubmitted for approval by Parliament in 2022.