Scotland failing to comply with international environment law
The Herald reports that for the United Nationals Economic Commission for Europe reveals that the Scottish Government has been non-compliant with Article 9 of the Aarhus Convention, which guarantees the right to a healthy environment, since 2011. The Scottish Government, it is claimed, is failing to meet its legal responsibility to "remove or reduce financial barriers to access to justice", with the process of raising judicial review proceedings in the Court of Session posing a significant financial risk to charities as environment cases generally fail to qualify for legal aid. Analysis by NatureScot has also found that Scotland has failed to meet 11 of 20 agreed UN targets to protect the environment, while a fifth of species identified by ministers as being important to the nation are still under threat.
Herald Scotland  

New legislation heralds cash boost for Scotland’s unpaid carers
Tens of thousands of unpaid carers will receive a double payment of the Carer’s Allowance Supplement this winter under legislation passed unanimously by the Scottish Parliament yesterday. Recognising the additional pressures unpaid carers face as a result of the pandemic, the December payment of the Carer’s Allowance Supplement will be doubled to £462.80, benefitting more than 91,000 people. This extra investment, forecast to be £21m, will be the second time the Scottish Government has doubled a Carer’s Allowance Supplement payment. The Carer’s Allowance Supplement (Scotland) Bill will also give Ministers powers to provide eligible carers with additional financial support in future if the need arises.
The Journal of the Law Society of Scotland  

Minister announces changes to short-term let licensing
Housing Secretary Shona Robison has announced "pragmatic and significant" changes to the Scottish Government's planned licensing scheme for short-term lets. Writing to Holyrood's Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee, Ms Robison said regulations to prevent "overprovision" of short-term lets were being scrapped, as local authorities will have the power to establish control areas to prevent high concentrations of short-term lets from being set up in specific areas. Other changes include the simplification of how neighbours are notified about applications, and the removal of personal names from the public register of short-term lets. Industry body UKHospitality said the changes move "a step closer to the introduction of parity for all tourism accommodation providers in Scotland".
STV   The Courier   Herald Scotland  

Abuse inquiry: student raped in tent on school trip
A woman has told an inquiry how she was raped at the age of 13 by a teaching assistant when she had to share his tent on a school camping trip. The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry heard the man took condoms with him when he took pupils from Aberlour House in Moray on an expedition in the 1980s. The latest phase of the inquiry is focusing on alleged abuse carried out in Scottish boarding schools.
BBC News  

Warnings sounded over data protection reforms
Government plans to scrap European data protection rules could threaten the independence of the Information Commissioner’s Office, the outgoing commissioner has warned. In a foreword to the ICO’s response to the proposals in a consultation document Data: a new direction, published last month, Elizabeth Denham states that proposals for the government to approve ICO guidance and to appoint the chief executive do not sufficiently safeguard its independence. Overall, the ICO’s 89-page response cautiously approves of many of the government’s reform proposals for an independent data protection regime, while several times calling for more detail. For example it agrees that the proposed requirement for the ICO’s remit to include economic growth and competition would help to support the use of data to create economic benefits. However this would require “appropriate protections”.
Law Gazette  

Over 400k Scots unable to pay council tax last year
Polling by Citizens Advice Scotland has found that almost a third of Scots ran out of money before pay day at least once over the last year - with around 426,000 unable to pay their council tax as a result. Around a tenth of those who had run out of funds reported being unable to pay their council tax bills more than six times over the past year. Myles Fitt, CAS's financial health spokesperson, said council tax debt "is the biggest debt issue the Citizens Advice network sees, and it's concerning that so many people are missing payments because they have run out of money". He warned that the end of furlough and other pandemic support measures, and "emerging cost pressures" in areas like energy are "creating a perfect financial storm on household budgets this autumn, and there is real concern that more and more people will struggle to meet council tax payments as a result".
STV   Glasgow Evening Times   Herald Scotland  

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Police Scotland review ordered after tribunal's 'sexist culture' findings
Scotland's chief constable has vowed to order an independent review into a tribunal which found evidence of a "sexist culture" in its armed policing. Former firearms officer Rhona Malone raised the tribunal against Police Scotland alleging sex discrimination and victimisation. Her victimisation claims succeeded but the discrimination claim was dismissed. Chief Constable Iain Livingstone said an independent force would review the tribunal over "legitimate concern". The chief constable added: "We have a duty and an opportunity to lead a change which improves the experiences of all women, including our own officers and staff.
BBC News  

British bank customers most at risk of fraud
Figures from HSBC show bank customers in the UK are at higher risk of being targeted by fraudsters than people elsewhere in the world. Despite the bank doing less than 20% of its business is in this country, more than 80% of fraud losses suffered by personal customers at the international lender are in the UK. Data from the Financial Conduct Authority last week showed banks and other regulated firms were employing 17,403 staff in the UK alone to prevent financial crime, costing them £1.1bn every year.
Daily Mail  

Job vacancies rise as candidate numbers 'plummet'
Job vacancies are approaching an all-time high and Scotland has seen a surge in employment, despite concerns that the number of candidates has "plummeted". The Royal Bank of Scotland's report on jobs recorded the third-sharpest growth of new appointments on record. But the survey of businesses in September found the second-fastest decline of applicants for permanent jobs since records began in 2008. Firms cited Brexit and pandemic uncertainty as the key factors. Candidates for temporary jobs decreased for the seventh consecutive month, although the decline slowed from the substantial drop in August, according to the bank's report.
BBC News  

EU and UK edge closer to trade war over London’s NI protocol demands
Brussels has rejected Lord David Frost’s call to remove oversight of the Northern Ireland Protocol by the European Court of Justice. The move has led to concerns that the UK and the EU could be heading for a trade war, with the Brexit Minister warning that concessions from Brussels over trade do not go far enough. The EU’s Brexit commissioner, Maroš Šefčovič, will table four papers on Wednesday on the subject of how the Northern Ireland protocol can be improved – which he has described as “very far-reaching”. However, experts say the UK Government is edging towards triggering Article 16 which suspends the arrangements altogether, a move that could trigger penalties from the EU, perhaps in the form of tariffs on certain British products.
Financial Times   The Guardian   The Herald  

Campaigners seek restoration of Women's Aid funding
Campaigners have protested against North Lanarkshire Council's headquarters, calling on the council to restore £350,000 in funding to the Monklands, Motherwell & District and North Lanarkshire branches of the charity Women's Aid. New provider Sacro won the council's tender process to provide domestic abuse services, and the council has said the £1.4m contract with Sacro will provide better value for money, will better support male victims of domestic violence, and will close "gaps in service provision" identified by an independent review of support in the area. Margaret Ann Jones from Motherwell & District Women's Aid says women "choose to come to us as they trust our proven grassroots service, and we’d like to see the funding reinstated under a different mechanism".
The Daily Record  

Police alerted to 'suspicious activity' on Taliban supporter's farm
Police in Scotland have received alerts over suspicious activity on land near a navy submarine base rented by a Taliban supporter. Waheed Totakhyl once publicly called for the death of US soldiers in Afghanistan, and has a brother currently serving as a military commander with the Taliban in Kabul. He leases Aldonaig Farm, situated four miles from HMNB Clyde. Also known as Faslane, the base on Gare Loch in Argyll and Bute is where the Royal Navy house the UK fleet of nuclear submarines. Ministry of Defence police were contacted by local residents in August, who witnessed behaviour on Aldonaig farm which they regarded as suspicious. They reported that on 10 August, eight men turned up in two cars and left after around 20 minutes. Residents who were present say the men claimed to be Afghan nationals who had travelled from London.
Sky News