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Decisions on non-domestic rates including the Basic Property Rate (poundage) are taken in the round of the Scottish Budget, in the context of other budgetary priorities.

With a poundage of 49.8p, the Scottish Budget 2022-23 delivered a below-inflation increase, ensuring the lowest poundage in the UK for the fourth year in a row and saving ratepayers £40 million compared to an inflationary increase. This ensures that over 95% of non-domestic properties continue to be liable for a lower property tax rate than anywhere else in the UK.

The Scottish Government engages with local authority non-domestic rates practitioners regularly including through monthly forums organised by the Institute for Revenues, Rating and Valuation.

Revaluation is a matter for Scottish assessors who are independent of central and local government.

The Scottish Government does not collect the information requested .

Scottish Ministers cannot commission the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to consider changes to the Shortage Occupation List (SOL).

The Scottish Government responded to recent reviews of the SOL with detailed evidence on labour market shortages and how the SOL could more suitably meet Scotland’s distinct needs. We also provided evidence calling for the permanent addition of social care roles to the SOL with key roles subsequently added to the List as per the MAC’s recommendation.

Scotland has distinct population challenges, the January NRS population projections reinforce the need for a migration policy tailored to our needs. We remain dependant on a UK Government immigration system that fails to address Scotland’s distinct demographic, labour market and economic challenges. We need a responsive system that allows us to decide how to accommodate our distinct labour market needs.

Given the changes to the UK immigration system, the role of the SOL must be reviewed so that there is clarity as to its purpose and benefits. The Scottish Government must also be given a formal role in determining occupational shortages in Scotland.

It is the statutory responsibility of local authorities to manage their school estate. Therefore, it is for them to determine what facilities are appropriate, while complying with the School Premises Regulations and in full consultation with the school community.

In August 2021, the Scottish Government published Supporting transgender young people in schools: guidance for Scottish schools. This guidance sets out the position on support for and provision of single-sex spaces within Scottish schools.

Our Learning Estate Strategy, which sets out the strategic approach for managing Scotland’s school estate, makes clear that good consultation about learning environments, direct engagement with learners and communities about their needs and experiences, and an involvement in decision making processes should lead to better outcomes for all.

Recent modelling work predicts that the climate envelope of suitability for giant hogweed in north-west Europe will shift north in the next three decades (Anibaba et al., 2022). The model suggests that Scotland will remain climatically suitable for giant hogweed until at least 2050. Parts of the west coast may become less suitable due to milder winters by 2100.

In 2012, a team based at Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland (BIOSS) modelled the potential for further invasion by giant hogweed in Great Britain (Catterall et al. in 2012). The model predicts that between 2020 and 2030 giant hogweed will be found in a further twenty-seven 10km squares where it has not been recorded previously. The paper does not include predictions for 2040 but the results of the modelling suggests that giant hogweed will continue to colonise further areas beyond 2030.

However, a significant amount of work is being carried out across Scotland to control invasive non-native plants including giant hogweed. The Scottish Invasive Species Initiative is a 5-year partnership project tackling invasive non-native species including giant hogweed alongside rivers and water courses in an area of 29,500 square kilometres within northern Scotland - over a third of Scotland. The project is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, NatureScot and through in-kind support from project partners and volunteers. The total project value is approximately £3.24M.

The Tweed Invasives project was set up by the Tweed Forum to tackle invasive plants, including giant hogweed, along 300 miles of the River Tweed and its tributaries. The project is funded jointly through the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Scottish Government’s Biodiversity Challenge Fund. Between 2019 and 2021, the Biodiversity Challenge Fund has provided around £300,000 to support catchment-based control of invasive plants on the rivers Tweed and Endrick.

In September 2021, at CoP26, Scottish Ministers announced that the Nature Restoration Fund would provide £65 million for projects that benefit nature to be funded through this Parliamentary session. Habitat and species restoration, and eradication of invasive non-native species are among the types of projects that can apply for grants funding, including for projects lasting up to three years.

Asylum, refugee and immigration policy is reserved to the UK Parliament and handled by the Home Office. This includes provision of support and accommodation to people seeking asylum if they would otherwise be destitute while awaiting a decision on their asylum application and No Recourse to Public Funds restrictions on people who are subject to immigration control, including people seeking asylum, which means they may not be permitted to access social security benefits.

The Scottish Government has raised digital access concerns with the UK Government relating to people seeking asylum who are accommodated and supported by the Home Office. We have called for the Home Office to reflect the cost of digital connectivity in the support they provide, as it is increasingly important in ensuring people can access support services, legal advice and information, as well as report asylum accommodation or support issues.

The Scottish Government is designing our social security service so that as many people as possible, including people seeking asylum, refugees and other minority communities, understand what Social Security Scotland do, can communicate with Social Security Scotland and can access services in the way they want to. Our social security service is inclusive by design, with specialist support such as interpretation available where necessary for those who need it.

To help provide support to people who may be eligible for benefits, Social Security Scotland offers a range of channels for people to make an application for any of the benefits they provide. These are online, by phone, by post or face to face. Where interpreters are required, these will be provided for every channel of application and at every stage.

Work to embed an inclusive communication approach across everything that Social Security Scotland does continues.

Social Security Scotland currently has the following capability in place to support inclusive communications:

• Language Translation and Interpretation: services cover the production of translations into over 100 languages, Braille, Audio, Large Print and Easy Read formats. Interpreter-assisted calls are available to people who call the helpline, enabling people to apply over the phone in any of over 100 languages. The services also cover face to face language interpretation. Information on benefits is proactively translated into 11 languages used in communities across Scotland, including Urdu, Polish and Gaelic. Key materials have also been translated into Ukrainian and Russian to help refugees and displaced people access benefits. Translated information on all of Social Security Scotland's benefits can be accessed via the stakeholder resources section of the website.
• All letters, information and guidance are available in Braille, large print, Easy Read and various audio formats.
• Online content follows the Scottish Government's accessibility design standards. It is compatible with screen reader software on Jaws, Voiceover and Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) platforms.
• Deafened and Hearing Impaired Community: As part of support of the Scottish Government National BSL Action Plan, current provision has been reviewed and, with stakeholder input, a new specification of requirements for providing services for this community has been drafted. A British Sign Language (BSL) video relay service will soon be available through Contact Scotland.

Further actions are also being taken to improve service capability in support of inclusive communication. These include work to ensure that Social Security Scotland has the appropriate support and services in place to support clients with Cognitive and Learning impairments.

This uplift in the minimum hourly rate of pay for adult social care workers, delivering direct care, is being delivered through Local Government contracts and funding to deliver this took effect from 1 April 2022; with the Scottish Government transferring £200 million to Local Government to support investment in social care, including to deliver the £10.50 minimum hourly rate for these workers.

The Scottish Government and COSLA have set up mechanisms, through discussions with the Fair Work in Social Care Group, to establish and address any issues or exceptional delays in relation to delivering the funding for the uplift to providers and subsequently eligible workers.

We have regular communications with Scottish Care, the Coalition of Care and Support Providers Scotland (CCPS) and Trade Union representatives to discuss any concerns or questions around implementation of the uplift and have worked together to resolve these quickly. Through this process to date, we have not had any examples brought to our attention of private care providers not paying the £10.50 minimum hourly rate.

However, despite the apparently good levels of compliance, we are currently working with key stakeholders to establish a webpage with details for members of the adult social care workforce to make contact with local commissioning teams directly if they are not receiving the £10.50 per hour rate so this can be investigated.

The Scottish Government also encourages and receives communications from members of the workforce directly. To date, we have received one case where members of the workforce are not receiving £10.50 and this is currently being looked into.

The law on employment rights and duties is reserved to the UK Parliament and so the Scottish Government do not currently have the legal powers to set mandatory minimum rates of pay or a stand-alone right to take legal action to ensure this minimum hourly rate for workers providing direct adult social care, in commissioned services, is delivered.

This uplift is instead being delivered through Local Government contracts, and local commissioners have delivered funding for this uplift through a contract variation process with adult social care providers. This process is a means to ensure that providers who accepted the funding for the pay uplift contractually agreed to pass on that funding to eligible workers. In the event that funding is not passed onto the workforce to uplift pay, it will be for local areas commissioning teams to engage with providers to resolve any disputes where contractual obligations are not being met.

To support this, the Scottish Government and COSLA have set up mechanisms, through discussions with the Fair Work in Social Care Group, to establish and address any issues or exceptional delays in relation to delivering the funding for the uplift to providers and subsequently eligible workers.

We have regular communications with Scottish Care, the Coalition of Care and Support Providers Scotland (CCPS) and Trade Union representatives to discuss any concerns or questions around implementation of the uplift and have worked together to resolve these quickly.

We are currently working with key stakeholders to establish a webpage with details for members of the adult social care workforce to make contact with local commissioning teams directly if they are not receiving the £10.50 per hour rate so this can be investigated.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09757 on 2 August 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