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The Scottish Government recognises the importance of day services to both those who use them and to their families and carers. Revised guidance for buildings-based day services was published on 26 May 2022 which says that such services should return to pre-pandemic capacity wherever possible, while operating safely in line with COVID-19 guidance.

We are investing now in additional support for breaks. We have allocated an extra £5 million for short breaks in the 2022-23 budget, on top of the annual £3 million voluntary sector Short Breaks Fund. We have already distributed £3.5 million of this funding to the Time to Live delivery partners to expand short break support for carers. This is in addition to a further £20.4 million in the 2022-23 local government settlement for Carers Act implementation. We are also legislating through the National Care Service Bill to establish a right to breaks from caring.

The UK Government's response to the Ukraine crisis is predicated upon complex, bureaucratic, short-term visas, not humanitarian need. Inordinate time and effort has been required to patch this broken system. Scotland's super-sponsor scheme seeks to do just this. But there remain serious gaps in the UK's schemes even in the short term – in particular routes for vulnerable unaccompanied children and others left out of the existing schemes.

In my regular correspondence, I have pressed the UK government to put people before process. I have been clear that, while many displaced people will want to return to Ukraine when it is safe to do so, the UK should offer sanctuary for as long as is required, and permanently if necessary.

The Scottish Government is currently engaging with stakeholders taking into consideration their ambitions and priorities to develop an International Education Strategy which works for Scotland.

The information on properties purchased through the Scottish Government shared equity schemes (Help to Buy (Scotland), the Open Market Shared Equity (OMSE) scheme, New Supply Shared Equity (NSSE) and the First Home Fund is not recorded by Scottish Parliamentary region. It is recorded by Local Authority area and information on the numbers of properties purchased in each year of each scheme can be found in the published figures at the following links.

Help to Buy (Scotland) under Monitoring Information Report

https://www.gov.scot/policies/homeowners/help-to-buy/

Open Market Shared Equity and New Supply Shared Equity under Affordable Housing Supply Programme annual out-turn reports and related data

https://www.gov.scot/policies/more-homes/affordable-housing-supply/

First Home Fund

https://www.gov.scot/publications/first-home-fund-spend-and-units-monitoring-information-report-december-2019-to-march-2021/

Agricultural workers from Ukraine are critical in the production of soft fruit and vegetables in Scotland. The seasonal worker Labour Providers have a contractual and data sharing agreement with the Home Office. Numbers relating to Seasonal Workers are only shared by labour providers with the Home Office as part of this. Following engagement with officials in the Home Office and DEFRA our best assessment of the information available is that there are approximately 500 Ukrainian Nationals on seasonal work visas currently residing in Scotland.

This data is taken from UK Finance statistics, and relates to mortgage advances for home purchase extended by lenders to first-time buyers in Scotland. Over the 12 months to March 2022, there were 34,310 mortgage advances for home purchase extended to first-time buyers in Scotland, as compared with 30,360 in the preceding 12 months, a rise of 13%.

The Resource Spending Review provides the financial parameters for Scottish Government portfolios to collaborate with delivery partners and stakeholders to develop more detailed financial and organisational planning ahead of the next Budget in Winter 2022.

The Scottish Government has had and continues to have discussions with key stakeholders to understand their priorities and requirements for an International Education Strategy which works for Scotland.

Asylum and immigration are matters reserved to the UK Parliament and handled by the Home Office. This includes decisions relating to refugee resettlement programmes, UK visa routes and the operation of the UK asylum system. The Scottish Government has no control over these processes.

There is no provision in UK Immigration Rules for someone abroad to be given permission to travel to the UK to seek asylum. There is therefore no resettlement route for people seeking asylum from Hong Kong. The UK Government has established refugee resettlement routes and visa routes, including the Hong Kong BN(O) visa route. Decisions about eligibility criteria for refugee resettlement and visa routes are made by the UK Government.

Scotland’s approach to supporting refugees and people seeking asylum is set out in the New Scots refugee integration strategy. Developed and led in partnership by the Scottish Government, COSLA and the Scottish Refugee Council, New Scots provides a clear framework for all those working to support integration and assists the work of partners across local authorities, public services, the private sector, third sector and community organisations. The key principle of New Scots is that refugees and asylum seekers should be supported to integrate into communities from day one of arrival.

CrossCountry is a cross-border rail operator responsible to the DfT. Whilst the Scottish Government has not had recent direct correspondence with them we are aware that six Fife station calls were removed as part of a Covid timetable ‘derogation’ process by the DfT.

Transport Scotland officials are in discussion with the DfT and have been advised that no decisions have been made about permanent changes to the timetable.