Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-21544

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 4 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what further consideration is being given to the SW1 option, as part of its Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy.

SW1 was a draft plan option that was considered in the draft Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy (SMP-OWE) and formed part of the consultation in 2019 and 2020. The option was removed before adoption of the final SMP-OWE.

The INTOG planning process, which considered the output of the adopted SMP-OWE, excluded the Solway Firth for the purpose of this plan. As the SMP-OWE review and INTOG planning processes have been combined to provide a full assessment of offshore wind across Scotland and consideration of cumulative and in-combination impact, that exclusion is still relevant.

The SMP-OWE sets out the work that would need to be carried out that would allow Scottish Ministers to reconsider the option.

Question reference: S6W-21662

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 22 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it still anticipates that the work of the Orkney Ferries Replacement Taskforce will conclude by September 2023.

The Task Force has been meeting during 2023, most recently in August, to progress this work. Minutes of the Ministerial meetings are published on the Transport Scotland website.

Scottish Government and Orkney Islands Council (OIC) officials have also met regularly to support OIC’s consideration of options for the long term renewal of the Orkney internal ferry fleet. OIC is currently preparing an updated business case to inform future budget discussions.

It is envisaged that the Task Force will continue to meet beyond September 2023 to support of OIC’s work on this important matter.

Question reference: S6W-21640

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 4 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many submissions to Scotland Innovates have started the development process, but were not taken forward, in each year since the scheme was introduced.

In total 63 submissions have been closed – 36 were closed during the 2022-23 FY and 27 have been closed during the 2023-24 FY so far. Of those, 45 have been deemed “unsuccessful”; 27 in the 2022-23 FY and 18 in the 2023-24 FY so far.

For the purposes of Scotland Innovates the following defined closure reasons have been considered “unsuccessful”:

Closure Reason	Number of Submissions
Closed – Duplicate Submission	4
Closed – Innovator did not respond	17
Closed and assessed	8
Closed at Innovator’s request	1
No assessor interested (no current interest from the assessor group)	5
Not applicable for public sector	1
Not business ready (not currently in a business readiness state)	4
Not innovative (many solutions and/or services of like on the market)	5

Question reference: S6W-21661

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 22 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans for the work of the Orkney Ferries Replacement Taskforce to feed into the budget process for 2024-25.

The Task Force has been meeting during 2023, most recently in August, to progress this work. Minutes of the Ministerial meetings are published on the Transport Scotland website.

Scottish Government and Orkney Islands Council (OIC) officials have also met regularly to support OIC’s consideration of options for the long term renewal of the Orkney internal ferry fleet. OIC is currently preparing an updated business case to inform future budget discussions.

Question reference: S6W-21554

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 3 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what measures are being implemented to ensure the financial viability of respite care services, especially in light of reports of rising demand and escalating costs.

The Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care policy in Scotland and local Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs) have the responsibility for commissioning and managing the appropriate services for local needs. The Scottish Government are investing £1.7bn for social care and integration in 2023-24 to support the people who deliver, and rely, on these services.

The National Care Service Programme includes a ‘Market Shaping’ work stream. This project will deliver tools and techniques for securing services through contracts, grants, and alliances that are financially sustainable and that meet the needs of people receiving care and the people delivering care. Market Shaping tools and techniques will be designed with providers of social care, commissioners, procurement experts and other stakeholders. It will consider how to improve the financial sustainability of current services, and how services that are not currently offered by the market can be designed and secured in ways that providers are able to deliver.

Question reference: S6W-21521

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 3 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what frameworks are in place to ascertain any (a) benefits and (b) consequences of having beavers throughout Scotland's landscape.

Scotland' Beaver Strategy , published in September 2022, aims to assess the biological, environmental, economic and social implications of beavers. This includes the benefits that beavers can bring alongside mitigating any impacts on other species, habitats, physical processes, land use and wider ecosystem services. We aim to use this knowledge to inform decision making.

NatureScot also operates the Scottish Beaver Mitigation Scheme and keep records of where they have been asked for advice or support with mitigating beaver activity.

Question reference: S6W-21524

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 3 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) it and (b) its agencies are doing to support Doors Open Days in the Highlands and Islands region.

The Scottish Government values the impressive work that the Scottish Civic Trust does to coordinate the national Doors Open Days festival each year, which is the largest free heritage festival in Scotland and delivers many benefits by connecting people with their local historic environment. This is why the Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development was pleased to provide an opening address for the festival and met with the Scottish Civic Trust recently in-person to discuss the opportunities and challenges the festival offers.

Financial support for the Scottish Civic Trust’s Doors Open Days and My Place Photography Competition has been secured through our lead public body for heritage, Historic Environment Scotland, which has committed over £100,000 each for this and the next two years from its Partnership Fund.

Question reference: S6W-21486

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 3 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, as part of its move towards parity of support for part-time students that it announced in its Programme for Government 2023-24, whether it plans to implement the recommendation contained in the report of the independent review of student financial support in Scotland that “the Scottish Government works in collaboration with other interested parties, to look at how the key principles of this Review should be best implemented for part-time students and those currently receiving Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA)”.

Question reference: S6W-21485

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 3 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government which partners in the college sector’s collective bargaining process have yet to provide a formal response to the report, Lessons Learned – resetting national collective bargaining in the colleges sector.

Question reference: S6W-21487

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 3 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when the next round of the Flexible Workforce Development Fund will be announced.

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