Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05369 on 25 January 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

The pound sterling is Scotland’s currency and will continue to be on independence until it is judged that conditions are suitable for individuals and businesses to move to an independent Scottish currency.

An independent Scotland will establish a Scottish Central Bank.

The revised Affordable Housing Investment Benchmarks were introduced on 29 October 2021.

All decisions made in the development of measures under the Covid-19 emergency powers have included careful assessment of the necessity and potential impacts of the powers and their compatibility with the Convention rights set out in the Human Rights Act 1998.

Appropriate impact assessments are carried out as part of this process and are reported to the Scottish Parliament.

In December 2020 the Scottish Government and Skills Development Scotland published the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan (CESAP) setting out the actions required to ensure Scotland’s labour market is able to effectively support the transition to net zero. As a priority action identified in the CESAP, the first phase of the Green Jobs Workforce Academy administered by Skills Development Scotland, launched on the 23 August to help individuals of all ages identify and access relevant green jobs and training. The Academy will continue to provide training opportunities for green careers throughout 2022-23.

In addition to the work taking place through the CESAP, financial support has also been made available through the National Transition Training Fund (NTTF) and the North East Economic Recovery and Skills Fund (NEERSF).

While both NTTF and NEERSF are short-term funding programmes, we offer long-term support through skills programmes including: the Individual Training Account (ITA) scheme, which provides people who are unemployed or in low paid work with the opportunity to access £200 towards training; and the Flexible Workforce Development Fund (FDWF), which supports employers in delivering upskilling and retraining opportunities for their existing employees.

The costs associated with The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2021, which we withdrew in February 2021, are set out in the draft Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment published in December 2020.

The costs associated with The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022 are set out in our updated Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment which we published in November 2021.

Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) treatment is available in Scotland for those who would clinically benefit from it.

Over the last five years the Scottish Government has spent £4,122,329 on public outdoor digital advertising in Scotland with public health campaigns and Covid-19 activity utilising the majority of this space. There has been a total of 181 weeks of advertising over the last five years, which are broken down as follows across the category of campaign:

Category - Number of Weeks Advertising is Active - Total Spend

Brand Scotland – 3 - £30,515

COP26 - 2.5 - £388,000

COP26 Travel - 2.5 - £79,289

Greener/Net Zero – 9 - £271,200

Health including Covid-19 – 112 - £2,996,724

Parental Support - 2 - £9,900

Safer including Road Safety – 33 - £250,622

Economy/Financial Support – 17 - £165,153

These figures do not include occasions when the Scottish Government has been offered the use of outdoor advertising space at no cost. For example, during the Coronavirus pandemic the Scottish Government has provided advertising materials to football clubs to be used on their pitch side advertising to support the promotion of important public health messages.

Outdoor advertising plays a pivotal role in ensuring that key public information can be effectively communicated to people in Scotland, especially when run in collaboration with other media such as television, digital and radio. Outdoor advertising can support the delivery of communications that need to target specific geographical locations. Digital outdoor advertising has the benefit over non-digital sites in that creative can have more visual impact than static poster sites, especially during non-daylight hours. There is also reduced lead time for production, which means messaging can be quickly updated or removed when required.

The Hospitality Top Up Fund provides support to hospitality businesses that lost bookings during the festive trading period, including pubs, restaurants, cafes and nightclubs.

Bingo businesses are eligible for funding though the Hospitality and Leisure top-up fund which supports businesses impacted by the necessary public health restrictions introduced from 27 December 2021, including requirements for physical distancing and capacity limits.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05641 on 25 January 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers