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The National Public Bodies Directory provides information on all Scottish Government public bodies, including those bodies constituted as limited companies. The directory was last updated on 26 January 2021.

The Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts also include a complete list of all nationalised companies where Scottish Ministers are the sole shareholder as well as providing information on other organisations and companies where the Scottish Ministers have an interest. The accounts are published on an annual basis with the most recent accounts published on 17 December 2020.

We are focused on supporting town centre businesses affected by change of working patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic, both in the shorter term and for longer term adaption.

We have extended 100% non-domestic rates relief for all retail, leisure, aviation and hospitality premises for all of 2021-22. Additional funding announced by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy on 2 June will support businesses remaining in level 2 and we are launching a £10 million Scotland Loves Local programme. This follows support of £3.6 billion since the start of the pandemic directly benefitting businesses including town centre businesses.

We will deliver a response to the Town Centre Review which will help us work collaboratively to revitalise our town centres, aiming to increase footfall which will benefit town centre businesses. The Review recognises that there is an opportunity to lock in renewed interest in independent and local businesses, often in local towns and neighbourhoods, encouraged in part by home working and reduced commuting.

We are working with the retail sector to develop a strategy to support recovery from a year of limited trading through to the next five years and beyond, including considerations of how the sector may have to change and adapt to meet the challenges of the impact of Covid-19.

To support longer-term place based renewal and community-led regeneration, including for town centres, and 20 minute neighbourhoods, we have established a Place Based Investment Programme, backed with £325 million capital investment over five years.

The release of red-legged partridges and pheasants is a legal activity and is expressly permitted under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981.

At present there is no evidence that gamebirds are having an impact on the features of protected areas as shown by NatureScot’s Site Condition Monitoring work and little information to suggest that they are having an impact on Scotland’s wider natural heritage. The Scottish Government therefore has no current plans to legislate in this area.

Tables 1a, 1b, and 1c, have been placed in the Scottish Parliament information Centre under Bib No. 62441. These show the number of properties as at 1 April 2021 subject to the Basic (BPR), Intermediate (IPR), and Higher Property Rates (HPR) respectively, broken down by local authority and property class (data on industry sectors is not available). Property class is a classification used by the Scottish Assessors to describe the type of a property, and may not accurately reflect its use. For example, a property classified as a ‘shop’ may in fact be used to offer financial services. Properties across all bands may be eligible for rates reliefs which may reduce or eliminate their rates liability.

The BPR (49p) is charged on properties with a rateable value up to and including £51,000, the IPR (50.3p) on properties with a rateable value over £51,000 and up to £95,000, and the HPR (51.6p) is charged on properties with a rateable value over £95,000.

Table 2 presents the net amounts (after anticipated reliefs) expected to be raised in 2021-22 through the BPR, levied on all properties, and the additional amounts expected to be raised from the IPR and HPR. Ratepayers who have repaid or have publicly committed to repaying the equivalent of the Retail, Hospitality, Leisure and Aviation (RHLA) relief awarded in 2020-21 are assumed not to apply in 2021-22.

Table 2: Net amounts expected to be raised in 2021-22 through the BPR, IPR and HPR, by property class

Social Security is integral to my Social Justice, Housing and Local Government portfolio . It’s importance is reflected in the fact there is both a Cabinet Secretary and a Minister with responsibilities for it.

Physical distancing has been an important element in controlling the spread of COVID-19 and we recognise that physical distancing has an impact on how businesses are able to operate and has an impact on the profitability of all businesses. The Scottish Government is reviewing physical distancing and an announcement on the outcome of this review will be made in June. We cannot pre-empt the outcome of the review to say what the future of physical distancing will be in coming months, however as with all restrictions we do not intend to have physical distancing for any longer than is necessary to control the virus effectively.

We have provided more than £140 million of additional funding for culture and heritage since the start of the pandemic. The £185 million business support package announced in December 2020 has allowed us to offer more support to the sector in the shape of new funds and further tranches of previous funds, including additional support for grassroots music venues, museums and galleries, and the events sector. Our support includes the £12.5 million Performing Arts Venue Relief Fund (PAVRF), £15 million for a Culture Organisations and Venues Recovery Fund (COVRF) and £6.2 million support for Grassroots Music Venues. We have provided £17 million for creative freelancers, £5.67 million for independent cinemas and £ 4.25 million for youth arts and youth music, as well as £31.5 million for the Events sector. We have also given additional support to some of Scotland’s key theatres. In addition to this specific funding for culture and heritage, businesses in the sector have also received support from the Third Sector Resilience Fund, Pivotal Enterprises Resilience Fund and the Heritage Emergency Fund.

On 11 May the First Minister announced that we will provide additional support for the performing arts sector. This recognises the impact of physical distancing on current activity and the sector’s ability to plan for future activity. The intention is to provide top-ups to previous funds (PAVRF and COVRF) which will be administered by Creative Scotland. Creative Scotland are currently developing these schemes. It is likely that the schemes will open for applications in early June

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo announced its cancellation in 2021 on 18 May as a result of the financial risks involved in delivering an event of such scale without the backing of UK-wide commercial COVID-related insurance for events, which remains a reserved matter. The Scottish Government continues to press the UK Government for an events insurance scheme to allow for the confident recovery of the events sector.

The extension of the 100% Retail, Hospitality, Leisure, and Aviation (RHLA) relief for the whole of 2021-22 is expected to save ratepayers an estimated £719 million. The following table shows the value of the estimated relief award broken down by property class, as industry sector classifications are not available.

Table 1: Value of RHLA relief in 2021-22, by property class

Throughout the pandemic NHS patients, including new mothers, have been able to receive care and treatment, including aerosol generating procedures (AGPs), through one of 75 urgent dental care centres in Scotland. We have taken a precautionary approach to the remobilisation of NHS dental services but work has been carried out at pace to improve our understanding and risk management of COVID-19 transmission in dental settings, and since 1 November 2020 dentists have been able to provide the full range of NHS care and treatment to patients.

We are doing everything we can with the limited powers available to us to support the tourism sector.

We have extended 100% NDR relief, which is more generous than the equivalent rates reliefs available in other UK nations, for all retail, leisure and hospitality premises for all of 2021-22. In addition, Tourism businesses on Non Domestic Rates have been supported by the Strategic Framework Business Fund.

We also launched a £129 million package of business support measures over December and January as part of our short term response to the Scottish Tourism Recovery Taskforce recommendations and followed engagement with industry to target support where it was needed the most.

We also invested £14 million in the Hotel Support Programme to secure up to 3,000 jobs in the hotel sector, and through the Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund we awarded over £8.9 million to hotels and other accommodation last year – there was no equivalent fund in England.

Over the past year we have worked closely with sectoral organisations like the Scottish Tourism Alliance on support for the tourism and hospitality sectors and we will continue to do so. This includes £25 million, which we announced in March, to implement the Phase 1 recommendations of the Scottish Tourism Recovery Taskforce.

This fund will support domestic and international marketing to rebuild visitor demand, leadership and skills training, development of a net zero pathway for tourism, and social tourism and days out vouchers.

Development of phase 2 recommendations (years 2 through 5) is underway by the Scottish Tourism Emergency Response Group and proposals will be considered by the Scottish Government very shortly.

Early medical abortion at home and the changes adopted in March 2020 to enable women to take the first abortion drug, mifepristone, at home where this was felt to be clinically appropriate for them and where the patient wished to do so has been an important measure to ensure abortion services continued to be delivered throughout the pandemic, without delays. The ‘Pills by Post’ service is an English service, which is not provided in Scotland. While many NHS Boards in Scotland are following similar arrangements, medication is in most cases delivered or collected from a clinic, rather than being sent by post.

The Scottish Government launched a public consultation on the future arrangements for early medical abortion at home on 30 September 2020, which closed on 5 January 2021. Responses to the consultation have been published on the Scottish Government’s Citizen Space website. The future arrangements for early medical abortion at home are being considered in light of the findings from the consultation and other available evidence and the Scottish Government plans to confirm our approach this summer.