Chamber and committees

We expect that the register of letting agents will be open for applications in early 2018, once the first-tier tribunal, the body responsible for appeals against a decision to refuse or revoke registration, is ready to hear letting agent cases. Once a decision has been made to admit an applicant to the register, they will be entered on the publically available register.

Part 4 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 requires Scottish Ministers to enter an applicant in the register of letting agents if they are satisfied that:

They are a fit and proper person to carry out letting agency work; and they meet such training requirements that may be prescribed by ministers.

Section 34 of the Act sets out that, in considering whether a person is fit and proper, Scottish Ministers must have regard to all the circumstances of the case including a range of factors such as criminal convictions, contravention of housing, landlord and tenant law and the extent to which they have complied with the letting agent code of practice or any letting agent enforcement order.

We are working with a variety of stakeholders to develop appropriate registration policies and procedures for when these provisions come into force. This includes considering how consumer complaints about an applicant should be taken into account.

Under this government the number of staff working in Scotland’s NHS has risen to a record high.

As at March 2016, 8,151.2 whole time equivalent staff were employed in NHS Highland – this is an increase of 22.9 per cent since September 2006, and a record high.*

*Source: Information Services Division Scotland (September 2006 to March 2016)

The Scottish Government cannot comment on individual cases.

However, we are working in partnership with criminal justice agencies and support organisations to make Scotland a more hostile environment for trafficking and exploitation and to ensure that victims are given the support and assistance they need.

The Scottish Government provides support and assistance to potential and confirmed adult victims of trafficking through two support organisations, Migrant Help and Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance (TARA). Grant funding of over £700,000 is being provided for this purpose during 2016-17.

The support package provided includes, as required, access to safe accommodation and material assistance, as well as help to access information and specialised care such as medical treatment, psychological assistance and counselling. Potential adult victims are also provided with access to translation, interpretation, legal services and help to access compensation.

The Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 will, once the relevant provisions are brought into force, place support for adult victims on a statutory basis.

Local authorities have responsibility for providing support to child victims of trafficking under existing child protection and children’s services legislation in Scotland. The Scottish Guardianship Service, funded by the Scottish Government, already provides guardianship services to certain unaccompanied children, and the 2015 Act will place a duty on Scottish Ministers to ensure that guardians are available for all children who reasonably appear to have been trafficked or to be vulnerable to being trafficked, where no one in the UK holds parental rights and responsibilities in relation to such a child.

The Scottish Government cannot comment on individual cases.

However, we are working in partnership with criminal justice agencies and support organisations to make Scotland a more hostile environment for trafficking and exploitation and to ensure that victims are given the support and assistance they need.

The Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act was unanimously passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2015. The first provisions came into force on 31 May 2016 and implementation of the rest of the Act is ongoing.

The Act will make it simpler to take action by introducing a single offence for all kinds of trafficking for the first time, consolidating and strengthening existing law.

The Act raises the maximum penalty for trafficking to life imprisonment and gives police and prosecutors greater powers to detect and prosecute those responsible through a new set of tools to prevent and punish trafficking. The Act requires the Lord Advocate to issue instructions to prosecutors about how trafficking victims should be treated if they are alleged to have committed an offence.

The Act also provides clear rights to adult victims to access support and assistance, and places a duty on the Scottish Ministers to ensure that guardians are available for all children who reasonably appear to have been trafficked or to be vulnerable to being trafficked, where no one in the UK holds parental rights and responsibilities in relation to such a child.

In addition to the legislative measures themselves, the Act requires Scottish Ministers to develop, for the first time, a Scottish trafficking and exploitation strategy. This strategy must be published by 31 May 2017. It will be laid before Parliament and will be reviewed after three years.

The strategy will set out the Scottish Government’s approach and commitment to tackling human trafficking in Scotland by identifying victims and giving them the support and protection they need and by disrupting the activities of traffickers. The strategy is currently being developed in partnership with stakeholders such as local authorities, Police Scotland, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and the NHS so as to ensure that awareness of human trafficking is embedded across all Scotland’s public services.

As a directorate within the Scottish Government, Marine Scotland is not a public body which could be added to schedule 2 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015. Communication and engagement with stakeholders is a fundamental principle for Marine Scotland. An important part of this is consultation and engagement with local communities to support their inclusion in marine planning and decision making in the marine environment.

The Scottish Government currently has no plans to alter the seasonal management measure for the Loch Sunart to Sound of Jura marine protected area. However, any proposals which may come for such a change would, of course, be given due consideration.

In December 2015 First Milk dairy producers in Kintyre formed a working group to explore alternate models for the operation of Campbeltown Creamery. Argyll and Bute Council, with support from Highlands and Islands Enterprise, funded a study to undertake this work. Due to commercial sensitivities and necessity of enlisting the support and cooperation of First Milk it was agreed that the study would not be published in full. However, a presentation of the study's main findings was given to the dairy farmers in late-April 2016. The study considered the company's business plan, capital investment and marketing opportunities. The government maintains close involvement with all parties concerned to see the continuation of cheese-making in Campbeltown.

All grant awards made by Scottish Ministers to First Milk to support the upgrading of Campbeltown creamery are subject to stringent conditions.

I shall write to the member setting out the conditions in full.

The Air Weapons Licensing (Scotland) Regulations 2016 (SSI 2016 No. 188) prescribe the application forms for air weapon certificates, police permits, visitor permits, event permits and air weapon club approvals. The instrument, which is subject to the negative procedure, was laid before the Scottish Parliament on 26 May 2016 and is due to come into force on 1 July 2016. The forms will be available to the public from 1 July 2016.