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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.

We are seeking further clarification from the Home Office to fully understand the operational impact of the Nationality and Borders Act.

We have no current plans to make regulations under section 9(8) and (9) of the 2015 Act.

We are aware of the global issues affecting construction which are impacting the pace of affordable housing delivery and we are working closely with the construction industry and housing partners to mitigate this where possible. Given these are global issues, largely outwith our control, it is impossible to quantify the extent of any current delays and when we may return to a more normal pace of delivery.

Despite these challenges and those caused by the global pandemic including necessary lockdowns, we are continuing to deliver affordable homes across Scotland, including accessible homes for social rent. Official statistics recently published show that we have now reached the previous 50,000 affordable homes target and have started on our ambitious plans to deliver a further 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, having already delivered 1,119 affordable homes towards this.

Scottish Government officials have spoken with people seeking asylum as part of ongoing engagement and our work to deliver the New Scots refugee integration strategy. However, this is not done on the basis of people’s nationality but their experience living in Scotland while seeking asylum, wherever they are from. We also regularly engage with partners who provide direct support to people seeking asylum. Officials have ongoing engagement with people relocating to Scotland from Hong Kong, as part of wider stakeholder engagement.

Mountain hares are now a protected species following the passage of the Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) Act in June 2020. The protection came into force on 1 March 2021, meaning that the species can no longer be taken for sporting or recreational purposes.

NatureScot is currently reviewing the guidance on the licensing process for mountain hare control and has been consulting stakeholders including Scottish Environment LINK and Rural Environment Land Management (RELM) in order to inform this review. NatureScot intend to publish revised guidance later this summer.

The Local Rail Development Fund projects are currently undergoing various stages of the appraisal process and will be considered on a case-by-case basis as per STAG guidelines. Projects will be considered subject to the Scottish Government’s investment priorities for the strategic transport network, a robust business case, affordability and other competing proposals.