Monday 26 August 2013 SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT Governance and Communities Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (Scottish National Party): To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of increases to VAT and national insurance since 2010 on families from low income households. (S4W-16539) Margaret Burgess: VAT and national insurance are reserved matters. As such, it is the responsibility of the UK Government to assess the impact of its decisions on VAT and national insurance. However, it is widely understood that VAT, in particular, is a regressive tax. This, coupled with significant changes to welfare from 2010, will have reduced the spending power of low income households. Learning and Justice Roderick Campbell (North East Fife) (Scottish National Party): To ask the Scottish Government what the outcome was of the meeting of the anti-trafficking progress group of 18 July 2013. (S4W-16545) Kenny MacAskill: The anti-trafficking progress group was established to take forward the eleven actions agreed at the summit held on 18 October 2012. The meeting on 18 July 2013 was to gauge progress made to date and the outcome of the group’s discussions can be viewed on the Scottish Government website via: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Justice/crimes/humantraffick/humantraffick1 Roderick Campbell (North East Fife) (Scottish National Party): To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to hold a further trafficking in human beings summit, and, if so, when. (S4W-16546) Kenny MacAskill: Following the summit on 18 October 2012 I stated my intention to hold a reconvened summit in early summer 2014. The specific date will be confirmed in due course. Roderick Campbell (North East Fife) (Scottish National Party): To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to raise public awareness of human trafficking. (S4W-16547) Kenny MacAskill: The Human Trafficking Summit hosted by Scottish Ministers on 18 October 2012, identified a range of actions, including the need to improve training and awareness of human trafficking and the signs of potential trafficking amongst public agencies, businesses and the wider public. The Anti-Trafficking Progress Group has been established involving relevant organisations and agencies to take forward the actions from the summit. As part of this work, a new information leaflet entitled Human Trafficking – Reading the Signs, was launched as an awareness-raising initiative on 29 July 2013. The leaflet, which will be distributed throughout businesses and the community, was designed by Police Scotland with input from the Scottish Government and other delivery partners. The launch of this leaflet endorsed the partnership approach we are taking to tackle human trafficking and is proof that we are making significant inroads towards helping to disrupt and stop those individuals who use human beings for profit. The leaflet can be accessed on the Scottish Government’s website via: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Justice/crimes/humantraffick/humantraffickleaf The following questions received holding answers: S4W-16530 S4W-16538 .