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The independent Barclay Review of non-domestic rates reported in 2017 and made 30 recommendations, the majority of which were accepted by the Scottish Government in the implementation plan published in December 2017. All of the agreed recommendations of the Review have been implemented, including those which came into effect on 1 April 2023 such as the move to revaluations with a one-year tone date, the introduction of a new two-stage appeals process, and powers for councils to tackle rates avoidance.

Scottish Ministers have not met with the Defra Secretary of State to discuss marine protection. I have written to consecutive Defra Secretaries of State on two occasions (June 2022 and October 2022) regarding powers for Scottish Ministers to designate HPMAs in Scottish offshore waters and suggesting a meeting to discuss respective priorities regarding the delivery of HPMAs. This meeting has been postponed twice but is currently being arranged.

The shift to electric vehicles is an important part of responding to the climate emergency. To help incentivise this shift, Scottish Government and Transport Scotland have since 2011 invested over £65 million to support a range of organisations – including local authorities, other public bodies, businesses and third sector organisations – to install public charge points across Scotland. These organisations own the charge point infrastructure, and many of them use back-office services provided by ChargePlace Scotland, which is funded by Scottish Ministers.

A shift towards a public charging network largely financed and operated by the commercial sector is necessary to grow the network at pace and improve the consumer experience overall. To support that, the Scottish Government recognises that it’s vital that the public charging network has tariffs which are fair, sustainable and which enable the growth and maintenance of the network.

Responsibility for setting tariffs and overstay charges on ChargePlace Scotland lies with charge point owners. In considering whether to set a tariff, owners may consider a range of factors including local circumstances, utilisation levels and running costs. ChargePlace Scotland routinely provides charge point owners with data relating to the utilisation of their assets. ChargePlace Scotland do not advise charge point owners on tariff levels or overstay fees, however, they may signpost owners to the EV Association of Scotland (an independent group who represent the interests of EV users) website where tariff guidance can be found.

Information about Ministerial engagements is proactively released on the Scottish Government website . The spreadsheets include a wide range of information including details of the organisation/individuals Ministers met along with the subject discussed.

Officials also engage with stakeholder organisations as part of the policy development process. Officials work closely with Scottish Women’s Aid as part of the Scottish Government’s commitment to our Equally Safe Strategy, Scotland’s strategy to eradicate and prevent violence against women and girls. A representative from Scottish Women’s Aid also sits on at least one working group within the Scottish Government, the Equally Safe Joint Strategic Board (ES JSB) and further detail on this can be found on the Scottish Government’s website: Equally Safe Joint Strategic Board - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Scottish Government officials meet with local authority Directors of Finance representatives on a monthly basis and last met on 10 March 2023. The Scottish Government will continue to meet with COSLA and individual local authorities on a regular basis to cover a range of topics, including current and future budget pressures.

Public bodies, including NHS health boards, are responsible for monitoring the accuracy of interpretation services. The Scottish Government expects all healthcare services to be accessible to all people in Scotland, regardless of the circumstances of individual service users, including where an interpreter is required.

The Scottish Government works across public and third sector partners to improve the availability of translations and accessible formats. We collaborate to share best practice and signpost to translation, interpretation and transcription services that are accessible to all public bodies. Scottish Government resources to support this include the Interpreting, Translation and Transcription Services Framework .

Additionally, Public Health Scotland published the Interpreting, Communication Support and Translation National Policy in October 2020. Its aim is to ensure that NHS Scotland and its partners have a clear, consistent and fair approach to the provision of information and communication support for all. The policy outlines guidance for NHS Scotland to ensure that appropriate governance of interpreting and translation services is in place, as well as the need for systematic monitoring and review of local/contracted services and procedures.

As part of our review into the operation of the Public Sector Equality Duty in Scotland, we are proposing to create a new duty that would seek to ensure inclusive communication is embedded proportionately across the work of listed authorities when they are communicating with the public. This would include translation and interpretation into other languages.

Our Diabetes Improvement Plan, published in 2021, contains a key commitment to further increase access to existing and emerging diabetes technologies. A link to the Plan can be found at link: Diabetes Care in Scotland (www.gov.scot) .

Our national policy is to increase access to these life changing diabetes therapies to everyone who would benefit, and we expect NHS Boards to provide technology to all clinically suitable children and adults.

We are supporting the ANIA collaborative as they work through the current proposal of a national onboarding programme. We are also working with wider stakeholders, including health finance colleagues, to determine what longer term developments would be required to support ongoing roll out of technologies.

I have written to the Defra Secretary of State twice regarding the designation of HPMAs in Scottish offshore waters. A meeting between Scottish Ministers and the Defra Minister of State for Biodiversity, Marine and Rural Affairs is currently being arranged to discuss the issue.

This is a question for the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland (RoS). She advises me that Unique Property Reference Numbers (UPRNs) are used in the following land and property registers held by RoS:

• Land Register
• Scottish Landlord Register
• Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land

These registers use the same UPRN identifiers as the Scottish Energy Performance Certificate Register.

Entries held in the different registers can therefore be matched using the UPRN where it is available.

87% of titles in the Land Register have a UPRN.

95% of properties in the Scottish Landlord Register have a UPRN.

46% of land references in the Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land have a UPRN.

This is a question for the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland (RoS). She advises me that Unique Property Reference Numbers (UPRNs) are used in the following land and property registers held by RoS:

• Land Register
• Scottish Landlord Register
• Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land

The Scottish Energy Performance Certificate Register uses the same UPRN identifiers.