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Fire prevention and awareness raising are an operational matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. The Service has been assured that manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (EVs) have taken steps to ensure that their products are safe. Provided that the Lithium Battery power source has not been damaged, available statistics show that fires started by EVs remain very rare. SFRS has therefore no specific contact with ferry operators on the transportation of EVs.

It is a matter for vessel operators to ensure any cargo carried is safe. There is currently no difference in the advice provided to ferry customers with EVs over that of customers with internal combustion engines.

The Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) carried out a consultation in relation to EV’s travelling on ferries that included firefighting best practice. The MCA published the outcome of this consultation in March 2022 and details can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-safety-of-electric-vehicles-on-passenger-ro-ro-ferries .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-08883 on‎ 20 June 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government has no plans to introduce legislation to restrict a property factor business’ ability to own 50% or more of residential buildings.

Legislation to restrict ownership of property to particular categories of business or individual would raise fundamental property right issues.

There are also no plans for the Scottish Government to introduce legislation to ensure that homeowners retain decision-making rights rather than property factor companies.

In tenements, owners have the right to vote to make decisions on the commonly owned areas of their property regardless of whether they own one property or numerous properties. Procedures on voting are laid down in title deeds or, where these are unclear, unworkable or non-existent, then the default provisions of the Tenement Management Scheme (TMS) under schedule 1 of the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004 will be followed. Under the TMS a majority is required for undertaking repairs and maintenance. A unanimous decision from owners is required for undertaking improvements unless reasonably incidental to the maintenance.

We have already committed in Housing to 2040 to review and consider potential reforms to the current eviction grounds under the Private Residential Tenancy (PRT) after 5 years of operation, which will be at the end of this year.

We have already started to seek views on the effectiveness and operation of the existing eviction grounds for the Private Rented Sector as part of the New Deal For Tenants consultation to help inform the review when it begins and we will continue to work with stakeholders during it.

As highlighted in Generation Rent’s research, measures are in place under the PRT where a tenancy has been ended due to misleading information, the First-tier Tribunal have the power to make a wrongful termination order against the landlord and award compensation to the tenant. The use and effectiveness of wrongful termination orders will form part of the review.

Asylum and immigration are matters reserved to the UK Parliament and handled by the Home Office. This includes decisions relating to refugee resettlement programmes, UK visa routes and the operation of the UK asylum system. The Scottish Government has no control over these processes.

There is no provision in UK Immigration Rules for someone abroad to be given permission to travel to the UK to seek asylum. There is therefore no resettlement route for people seeking asylum from Hong Kong. The UK Government has established refugee resettlement routes and visa routes, including the Hong Kong BN(O) visa route. Decisions about eligibility criteria for refugee resettlement and visa routes are made by the UK Government.

Scotland’s approach to supporting refugees and people seeking asylum is set out in the New Scots refugee integration strategy. Developed and led in partnership by the Scottish Government, COSLA and the Scottish Refugee Council, New Scots provides a clear framework for all those working to support integration and assists the work of partners across local authorities, public services, the private sector, third sector and community organisations. The key principle of New Scots is that refugees and asylum seekers should be supported to integrate into communities from day one of arrival.

The Scottish Government has no part to play in the recruitment of officers for British Transport Police.

The Scottish Government is seeking to commission independent research in relation to protests and vigils that take place outside of abortion clinics to collect evidence of both the scale and impact of protest and vigils. The research will provide meaningful insight into the effects of protests and vigils on those who choose to protest, and those who are affected. Whilst the research will not be completed in time for the launch of Gillian Mackay MSP’s Member’s Bill, it will help provide a robust evidence base going forward.

The Scottish Government will engage with all bidders for Green Freeport status, to examine relevant opportunities and build on the strategies they have set out.

As Co-Chair of the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC), I am leading on work to implement the five key recommendations in the Strategic Infrastructure Assessment (SIA) published in 2021, starting with the creation of a Scottish Offshore Wind Port Cluster.

On 11 May, we published the Offshore Wind Collaborative Framework Charter. 24 developers signed up to the Charter, which includes all active developers in Scotland and encompasses all 17 ScotWind projects.

The Charter builds on the 2021 SIA recommendations adopted by the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC), and is a clear way to support and enable developers’ collective supply chain commitments. The Charter will help forge effective partnerships to deliver on the potential that offshore wind presents in the coming years particularly those that present via our ports and harbours.

Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA) will continue to be delivered by the Department for Work and Pensions on behalf of the Scottish Government, which Parliament were informed of in February 2019. Consultation and survey responses indicated that replacing Severe Disablement Allowance, which has been closed to new applicants since 2001, would cause unnecessary disruption to the approximately 1300 clients in Scotland who continue to receive it.

Safety and security on our railways is reserved to UK Government and as such it would be inappropriate for me to comment on resourcing or operational plans for British Transport Police. However I have asked my officials to request BTP (D-Division Scotland) contact you directly to advise of its current and future plans to tackle anti-social behaviour on our rail network.