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Whilst the UK Government (UKG) are the principle contract owners and managers of the Managed Quarantine Service (MQS) and its suppliers; the Scottish Government acts as officiate of these contracts with the service providers. The close working relationship the Scottish Government fosters with hotel and security facility teams enables any matters arising to be de-escalated quickly. There is a protocol in place with Police Scotland to assist, where appropriate.

The Scottish Government is not aware of any crimes of any nature being recorded in relation to managed isolation guests in Scotland.

The contracts for the hotels, security and Corporate Travel Management are owned and managed by the UK Government. Scottish Government officials acts as officiate of these contracts with the service providers, but do not have any contractual powers.

Officials foster extremely good relationships with and maintain regular contact with the network of managed isolation facilities in Scotland, including the hotel and security teams and the service provider Corporate Travel Management (CTM). This enables issues flagged by users of these services to be resolved quickly. Issues which cannot be dealt with by Scottish Government and the network of facilities locally are escalated to the UKG.

The International Passenger Coordination Team have agreed a protocol with Police Scotland to enable the facility team to contact them, when appropriate to do so. We have not had any reports of crimes being committed against guests.

Scottish Government officials met with representatives of the independent brewing sector on 2 July 2021. We will consider their views alongside the findings of the Gateway Review into Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme.

Senior Transport Scotland Ferries Unit officials have met specifically with representatives of Pentland Ferries five times since January 2019.

Four of these were to discuss Covid financial impacts on Pentland Ferries and one was to discuss work seeking to implement Road Equivalent Tariff on ferry services to the Northern Isles. These were attended by TS Ferries Staff and representatives from Pentland Ferries.

CMAL have met with Pentland Ferries once since January 2019 while inspecting the MV Pentalina.

The Scottish Government provides funding for energy efficiency schemes that provide grant and/or loans for the installation of boilers.

Warmer Homes Scotland (WHS) operates a National Customer Price mechanism that ensures customers throughout Scotland have the same access to the same measures when they make an application to the scheme. It also means that customers pay the same rate for additional radiators or for measures that exceed the maximum customer grant irrespective of where they live.

All installations are inspected by Warmworks inspectors to ensure that the measures have been installed to both contract and industry standards. In addition, the Scottish Government appointed Pennington Choices as the independent scheme auditor for Warmer Homes Scotland. Pennington Choices carries out audits on a percentage of applications at every stage of the delivery of the contract including the quality of completed installations.

Home Energy Scotland (HES) Loans require quotes to be provided and recommendation reports. For boilers, they must be included on the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), be A-rated, and the installer must be Gas Safe registered. Gas Safe has the overall responsibility for the standard of installation and the performance of the companies, and all installations should have associated maintenance plans and warranties in place. Energy Saving Trust (EST), who manages the scheme on behalf of Scottish Government, carries out annual cost reviews of technologies.

Installers for projects delivered as part of our Area Based Schemes are commissioned by local councils in line with public procurement guidance. Local councils are required to meet all relevant quality assurance and legal requirements for installation, as well as ensuring value for money in procurement.

Throughout the pandemic, the Scottish Government has maintained close contact with Scottish Water and the Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS) around charging policy and was supportive of the WICS action introduce a package worth £60 million to provide additional liquidity to licensed providers, allowing them to assist customers through deferred payment terms. On 14 May 2020, WICS announced a further water charges relief scheme building on the initial intervention to provide at least another £50 million of liquidity to allow a further deferral of charges for businesses that had been impacted by Covid-19.

In Scotland, all non-domestic properties remain liable to be charged if they have access to services. Scottish Water is still required to provide services to properties, even if they are temporarily closed, and there are costs associated with this, in particular ensuring property drainage and ensuring water and wastewater services are available whenever a business might be able to re-open. If follows therefore that businesses are still required to pay their Licensed Provider for services but the liquidity support means this can be over an extended time period and Licensed Providers will continue to pay Scottish Water for wholesale costs.

Batteries are increasingly important for decarbonising a whole range of vehicles and potentially a major socio-economic opportunity for Scotland. The UK's Faraday Institution estimates there will be enough electric vehicle demand by 2040 for seven gigafactories across the UK.Scotland’s Inward Investment Plan indicates how Scotland’s clear policy on net zero, combined with high value manufacturing capability, battery chemical research and zero emission vehicle test centres, delivers opportunities for inward investment.

Zero Waste Scotland, together with Transport Scotland and Scottish Enterprise, commissioned a series of reports into the economic opportunities across the value chain from battery production to recycling and end of life. This research will inform the ongoing development of Scotland’s policies on batteries for electric vehicles and the domestic battery supply chain.

Changes to travel restrictions affecting Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council were notified to Parliament by answer to question S6W-00162 on 21 May 2021, and announced to businesses and the public through a media briefing by the First Minister, a news release, and updated guidance on the Scottish Government website. Enforcement of coronavirus travel regulations in Scotland is a matter for Police Scotland. 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

We are delighted that COP26 is happening in Scotland and are working closely with the UK Government, Glasgow City Council, Public Health bodies and the UN to deliver a safe, successful and in-person conference in November. We recognise the significant challenges to public health alongside the urgent need to agree action to tackle climate change and are exploring all possible COVID security measures. Vaccination and test and protect will be key and we are involved in planning for these measures and all relevant aspects of event delivery.

The Scottish Government’s COP26 programme will focus on key themes of a just transition and people, demonstrate the actions Scotland is taking to a Net Zero future and support the global outcomes of the Summit. We are partnering with a range of organisations to engage people with COP26 and climate change. This includes the recently announced youth climate programme, delivered in partnership with Young Scot, Keep Scotland Beautiful and Youth Link Scotland, which will deliver a programme of events putting the voices of young people in Scotland at the heart of the climate conversation during COP26.

Under the National Concessionary Bus Travel Scheme for Older and Disabled People, a holder of a +1 National Entitlement Card is entitled to free bus travel for themselves and a companion travelling together with them for the same journey on local registered and long distance scheduled bus journeys throughout Scotland. Booking arrangements generally only apply to longer distance scheduled bus services and are the responsibility of the bus operator.