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The Scottish Government has committed to developing a new hate crime strategy, for publication later this year, to help guide how we successfully tackle hatred and prejudice in Scotland.

On 28 April 2022, I chaired the inaugural meeting of the Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group (SPG), comprising a range of third sector organisations and public bodies. The representatives on the SPG each possess specific expertise in tackling hate crime and building community cohesion, and will provide a multi-agency approach to development of a new hate crime strategy for Scotland.

At the meeting, the SPG discussed draft Terms of Reference and I invited members to share their key priorities for tackling hate crime, to help shape development of the new strategy.

In the coming period we will publish relevant information relating to the SPG, including membership and an agreed Terms of Reference.

We have repeatedly called for the UK Government to waive all visa requirements but, in the absence of this, what we now need is for the Home Office to grant people visas quickly and efficiently.

I have held several meetings with Lord Harrington, Minister for Refugees, on the UK response and how our governments work collaboratively. I recently met with Kevin Foster, Minister for Safe and Legal Migration, and raised my many concerns about the significant administrative issues, complex application processes, and unacceptable delays for individuals who have been forced to flee their homeland.

Many of these challenges are a direct consequence of the decision to use the immigration and visa system rather than properly fund a humanitarian resettlement scheme. The UK Government must put people, not processes, first.

We have repeatedly called for the UK Government to waive all visa requirements but, in the absence of this, what we now need is for the Home Office to give people visas quickly and efficiently.

I have held several meetings with Lord Harrington, Minister for Refugees, on the UK response and how our governments work collaboratively. I recently met with Kevin Foster, Minister for Safe and Legal Migration, and raised my many concerns about the significant administrative issues, complex application processes, and unacceptable delays for individuals who have been forced to flee their homeland.

To alleviate confusion with the process, the UK Government should immediately implement automatic status updating for applications (on all routes) that have been outstanding for more than 5 days and an escalation process for applications that have been outstanding for more than one week.

Using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) to monitor and fine moving traffic would require local authorities to have the powers to enforce moving traffic violation. Local authorities currently do not have the powers for such enforcement. This would require a change to primary legislation and to date there has been no significant call for these powers from local authorities in Scotland.

In Scotland, moving traffic violations remain a matter for the Police.

Through our £290 million Cost of Living support package, we will give 1.85 million (73%) of Scottish households £150 of extra support via the Council Tax. We have also allocated a further £10 million to continue our Fuel Insecurity Fund, which is aimed at those in greatest need.

The Fuel Insecurity Fund is delivered through trusted third sector partner organisations, providing direct support to people at risk of severely self-rationing their energy use, or self-disconnecting entirely, due to the cost of their fuel bills. Assistance can be accessed by households on any tariff type and using any fuel source.

Richard Lochhead: The Scottish Government is determined everyone with long COVID gets the care and support that is most appropriate for them - regardless of their gender. NHS Scotland is already providing support and care across the full range of NHS services, including primary care teams and community-based rehabilitation services with referrals to secondary care where necessary.

We understand many unpaid carers have required extra support balancing work and care during the pandemic and we have made it very clear that employers should use carer’s leave flexibly in these circumstances. We are promoting awareness and flexibility for unpaid carers in the workplace through the Carer Positive initiative.

Flexible working practices are another way to support women in the workplace and is especially important for those with health concerns and those with caring responsibilities– particularly women, to whom the balance of caring still too often falls.

The Scottish Government funded Flexibility Works in 2021-22 with £94,850 to support and promote the development of flexible and family friendly workplaces. We are developing a programme of further support this year which will include offering vital advice and support to business and organisations on the benefits of flexible working practices such as working from home, hybrid and remote working.

In September 2021, the Scottish Government also introduced new criteria in its Fair Work First approach, asking employers who are receiving public sector grants and delivering public contracts to commit to offering flexible and family friendly working practices – helping people to balance work and family life.

We have worked in partnership with NHS 24 to develop a long COVID information resource on NHS Inform, in order to provide people living with long COVID with clear and accessible guidance about self-management. This resource includes specific advice on navigating a return to work.

As National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and most taxation levers are reserved to Westminster, the Scottish Government does not have the range of options to provide support that are available to the UK Government. This is why I wrote to the Chancellor prior to the Spring Statement, urging him to consider all options to help those hardest pressed – from cutting existing VAT on energy bills, to a new windfall tax on those who have enjoyed excess profits from the Covid pandemic, cost of living crisis and now the situation in Ukraine. The Chancellor’s decision to ignore our calls and press ahead with the NICs rise was extremely disappointing. The increase in the payment threshold does nothing to help the lowest earners who need support now. That is why the Scottish Government is taking all measures we feasibly can under the current devolution settlement, such as the £290 million cost of living support package, uprating eight Scottish benefits by 6% from 1 April 2022, providing more than £4.5 billion to support businesses and keep people in employment, and doubling the Scottish Child Payment to £20 – with this increasing further to £25 by the end of 2022.

In Scotland, all adults who have been assessed as requiring personal care do not pay for this service, regardless of their condition or means. Nursing care is also free at the point of delivery.

For individuals self-funding their own care, the local authority will pay for these elements of residential care for all those assessed as needing them. The Scottish Government recently announced a 10% increase in the rates of these payments, taking rates to £212.85 for personal care and £95.80 for nursing care, from 1 April 2022. This will be the second consecutive year that these rates have increased above the rate of inflation in recognition of the increasing costs of providing these services.

The National Care Service consultation which ran between August and November 2021 contained questions relating to the future of charging for residential care, including for self-funders. We will consider the responses to these questions, alongside the impact of the recent above inflationary rises to payments for Free Personal and Nursing Care, prior to making decisions on future reforms.