Seòmar agus comataidhean

For the purposes of Cladding Remediation, an SBA is an assessment carried out by homeowners to determine the fire safety risk in buildings due to cladding. Duty of care for properties lies with the owners.

The Scottish Government has received no request for financial assistance.

The Scottish Government holds no information on the level of any financial assistance requested by any potential buyer.

The Scottish Government welcomed the commitment by the UK Government to introduce a Home Shipbuilding Credit Guarantee Scheme (HSCGS) as part of the National Shipbuilding Strategy Refresh.

Once the detail of the HSCGS is known, we will engage with the UK Government and the shipbuilding industry to establish how best to maximise the benefits for Scotland.

The Scottish Government unequivocally condemns any form of hatred or prejudice, it is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

The Cross-Party Report on Tackling Islamophobia shines a light on the impact of anti-Muslim hatred in Scotland and we are considering its findings as we develop a new hate crime strategy for Scotland.

I established the Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group to provide collective cross-sectoral strategic leadership in the development of a new strategy. It will set out our priorities for tackling hatred and prejudice in Scotland and support implementation of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021. Members of the group include justice and public sector agencies, as well as Age Scotland, Black and Ethnic Minority Infrastructure in Scotland (BEMIS), Council of Ethnic Minority Voluntary Organisations (CEMVO), Equality and Human Rights Commission (Observer), Equality Network, Glasgow Disability Alliance, Interfaith Scotland, RespectMe, Scottish Human Rights Commission (Observer) and YouthLink Scotland.

Importantly, the strategy will be informed by communities with lived experience of hate crime – including religious and racially motivated hate crime – and members of our Strategic Partnership Group are actively engaging with communities, to understand their experiences.

We are absolutely committed to tackling all forms of hate crime, including those experienced by Sikhs, Hindus and other South Asians.

We are committed to tackling hatred and prejudice in all its forms and recognise the value of having robust data and evidence on hate crime in Scotland. We want to see disaggregated data published on a regular and sustainable basis – including data about hate crimes against Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus.

The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 makes provision requiring disaggregated information about police recorded hate crime and convictions data to be published annually. We are working with justice partners to ensure these provisions can be implemented effectively.

In the meantime, a further Scottish Government study into the characteristics of hate crimes recorded by police in 2020-21 will be published later this winter. This report will include the nature of hate crimes recorded by the police, including characteristics of both victims and perpetrators.

We encourage anyone who has experienced or witnessed a hate crime to report it to Police Scotland by dialling 101 in non-emergencies, or 999 in emergencies.

During the development of the Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Act 2022 (“the Act”) the possibility of exempting “silent” or “low noise” fireworks from the provisions which aim to address the noise and disturbance associated with fireworks was considered. However engagement with a range of stakeholders, including industry experts, has confirmed that at present there is no recognised standard or specification for identifying, and therefore distinguishing, such fireworks. It is therefore not possible to exempt “low noise” fireworks from provisions within the Act at this time.

The Act does, however, include a regulation making power to enable this to be amended in future should such standards or specifications make this possible. We are continuing to engage with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy regarding the results of noise level testing undertaken on common firework products. This will improve our understanding of whether any common firework products can be considered as low noise fireworks, as well as the scope to move towards such recognised standards or specifications.

With regard to the safe collection and disposal of dead wild birds suspected of having been infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), current government disease control guidance is for carcases to be left in situ.

At present there is no scientific evidence that the removal of carcases significantly reduces the risk of onward spread of the current strain of HPAI H5N1 amongst wild birds. However, this matter continues to be under review, including currently being the topic of a veterinary risk assessment carried out by the Centre of Expertise on Animal Disease Outbreaks (EPIC), commissioned by the Scottish Government.

Without such evidence, there is no animal disease control reason for the collection and disposal of wild bird carcases and, as such, no additional funds have been, or are planned to be, allocated. Collection and disposal of such carcases are carried out at the local council’s discretion.

I am extremely disappointed that there has been a further delay to the introduction of the new booking ticketing and reservations system.

I have been assured by CalMac that the new system should now be operational in early 2023.

The Scottish Government is not aware of any investigation other than that by the Serious Fraud Office.