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The Scottish Government does not collect information on the number of foster carers registered with each local authority or voluntary provider.

I have frequent discussions with Ministerial colleagues on a range of matters. We are committed to reforming council tax to make it fairer, working with the Scottish Green Party and COSLA to oversee the development of effective deliberative engagement on sources of local government funding. including Council Tax, that will culminate in a Citizens' Assembly.

The Scottish Government has no plans to review the legislation governing the election of civic heads.

Care and Repair services operate throughout Scotland to offer independent advice and assistance to help homeowners repair, improve or adapt their homes so that they can live in comfort and safety in their own community. As of 1 March there were 27 care and repair offices in Scotland covering all local authority areas except West Lothian, with all providing help to vulnerable older and disabled people to install fire alarms under the government financed scheme.

In 2002, the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) adopted a new system for the management of Children’s Hearings data. Prior to 2002, information on Children’s Hearings was not recorded in the same way – only substantive decisions were recorded, and the data would therefore not be comparable. SCRA can be contacted for further detail on this if required. The number of children’s hearings held in each year since 2002-2003 are:

The Scottish Government does not hold information on kinship care payments as local authorities are responsible for deciding levels of care allowance based on local decision making practices and specific needs of individual children or young people.

The Scottish Government is committed to keeping The Promise. As outlined in the 2021-22 Programme for Government, we are working with The Promise and other partners to redesign the Children’s Hearings System. Sheriff David Mackie has been appointed as Chair of the Hearings System Working Group which has been established to develop more detailed recommendations in the coming year. There will also be reforms to the Children’s Hearings System through children’s care and justice legislation to be introduced in this Parliament.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that police and local authorities, who lead on tackling antisocial behaviour, continue to have the powers and resources they require. We understand there have been problems in the Tron area and that Police Scotland is working with partners to minimise antisocial behaviour and crime.

The Scottish Parliament passed the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-Restricted Products) (Scotland) Act 2021. This came into force on 24 August 2021 and created a new specific statutory offence of threatening, abusing or assaulting a retail worker, adding to the offences that can already be used to prosecute those who abuse retail workers. Everyone should be able to work without fear of abuse and the criminal law should be used to deal with attacks.

Local authorities have the financial freedom to operate independently, with the vast majority of their funding provided by means of a block grant. It is the responsibility of local authorities to manage their budgets and to allocate resources on the basis of local needs and priorities, including responding to antisocial behaviour.

Support has been provided to businesses through a £6 million City Centre Recovery Fund, to boost footfall and visitors to our city centres, the Scotland Loves Local fund and support for Business Improvement Districts. Since the start of the pandemic, businesses have benefitted from £4.5bn in support from the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government has provided £1.23 million to Care and Repair Scotland during 2021-22. This includes £1.1 million to support compliance with the new fire alarms legislation and £130,000 for its role as national coordinating body for Care and Repair services in Scotland .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05425 on 31 January 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .