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The Scottish Government is actively considering its response to the Empire, Slavery and Scotland's Museums steering group recommendations. Discussions to help inform our response are continuing with, amongst others, representatives from Museums Galleries Scotland, and members of the steering group themselves, to make sure the complexities and challenges involved are fully understood. After these discussions have concluded, a formal response will be issued in due course.

The safety and wellbeing of all fire and rescue officers is of upmost importance to the Scottish Government.

As the employer of firefighters in Scotland, the FBU DECON campaign is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. SFRS has been engaged with this research for a number of years and met with Professor Anna Stec of the University of Central Lancashire on 1 November to hear directly of the important research she is doing and to offer SFRS cooperation on that work.

SFRS have a Management of Contaminants Group which has already made significant changes in procedures, equipment and facilities to reduce firefighter contact with equipment which could contain contaminants harmful to health and this important work will continue.

A potential buyer did contact Scottish Government but this did not include any request for financial assistance.

Based on NRS and ONS data, the number of international migrants who have settled in Scotland in the last 10 years, and comparative UK data, is:

This data is not held by the Scottish Government. It is the responsibility of Registered Social Landlords to ensure that their housing stock is safe. However, we are funding RSLs who are participating in the Single Building Assessment Programme and will continue to do so.

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.

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.

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.