- Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 03 June 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 14 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-27604 by Tom Arthur on 28 May 2024, when it plans to provide an updated long-term labour market strategy, and what involvement (a) businesses, (b) enterprise and (c) industry will have in the establishment of any updated strategy.
Answer
In setting out the four key priorities for the Scottish Government, the First Minister has been clear in emphasising the need to focus on action and delivery rather than additional strategies.
The National Strategy for Economic Transformation was published in 2022 and is a 10-year strategy. The strategy set out our long-term vision to build a fairer, wealthier and greener economy based on the principles of prosperity, equality, sustainability and resilience.
The strategy’s Fairer and More Equal Society programme aims to reorient our economy towards wellbeing and fair work, to deliver higher rates of employment and wage growth. The Skilled Workforce programme seeks to ensure that people have the skills they need at every stage of life to have rewarding careers and meet the demands of an ever-changing economy and society, and that employers invest in the skilled employees they need to grow their businesses.
Engagement with business, enterprise and industry stakeholders was a critical part of developing the strategy. We continue to work with partners to deliver the labour market interventions that will have the greatest impact on achieving our ambition of growing an economy that is fair and green and we will be setting out the next phase of our approach in the forthcoming Programme for Government.
- Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 May 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 13 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of any financial support that it has provided to (a) small, (b) medium-sized, (c) large and (d) start-up businesses in the Edinburgh Eastern constituency in each of the last five financial years.
Answer
The Scottish Government is keen to promote a culture of entrepreneurship.
Scottish Government business support is provided by our enterprise agencies, utilising a range of support mechanisms. Scottish Enterprise provide business support in the area which includes the Edinburgh Eastern Constituency.
Scottish Enterprise systems do not hold tags for UK or Scottish parliamentary constituencies. Accordingly, as a proxy, the postcodes for the Edinburgh Eastern constituency were used to identify businesses in that constituency to which payments were made. It is also not possible for Scottish Enterprise to break down the payments according to size of business as they do not hold company size in our finance system
£ | Financial Year | | | | | |
Funding Type | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | Grand Total |
Grant Contribution | 1,030,835 | 1,853,866 | 719,756 | 525,259 | 818,095 | 4,947,811 |
New Investment | 980,505 | 1,316,627 | 356,259 | 1,065,670 | 1,559,996 | 5,279,057 |
Grand Total | 2,011,340 | 3,170,493 | 1,076,015 | 1,590,929 | 2,378,091 | 10,226,868 |
Scottish Enterprise can be contacted via their website or you can reach them on 0300 013 3385 every Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.
- Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 May 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 13 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has engaged with (a) universities, (b) Universities Scotland, (c) the Scottish Funding Council, (d) the Department for Education and (e) any other part of the UK Government regarding contingency planning in the event that a university in Scotland becomes bankrupt, and whether it has plans in place to deal with such an incident.
Answer
The Scottish Government are in regular discussions with the Scottish Funding Council about the financial sustainability of the university sector. These discussions consider sector risks and plans and seek to strengthen our collective approach.
Additionally, I last met with University Chairs on 5 March 2024 at which a range of topics of importance to the sector were discussed. In addition to regular meetings with Universities Scotland (US), I met with US, the Scottish Funding Council and PriceWaterhouseCoopers on 29 May to discuss the short to medium term financial sustainability of universities in Scotland.
- Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 May 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 13 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to update the Parliament on its work to split the role of the Lord Advocate, and whether this work remains one of its priorities.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question PQ S6W-27235 on 17 May 2024. 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 Scottish Government has announced it will consult on whether the prosecution and government functions of the law officers should be separated.
- Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 13 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when it plans to allow patients to access their medical records digitally, and whether it plans to roll this out across Scotland.
Answer
As stated in the answer to question S6W-27820 on 11 June 2024, I can confirm the Digitisation of records is an operational responsibility of individual Health Boards GP practices and Local Authorities, and their partner organisations commissioned to deliver care. At a national level and building on the existing use of electronic record systems, we are focussed on allowing records to be stored, linked, and shared securely.
Our national work recognises, however, that we need to improve the way this works for people across Scotland in a nationally consistent manner. As set out in our integrated health & social care record and a digital front door so that we can introduce a national approach to improving the process for accessing care records for care experienced people, and those around them.
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 .
- Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 13 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to have a national integrated ticketing system for public transport in place and operational before the end of the current parliamentary session.
Answer
The Scottish Government has already introduced a national smartcard that can be used across all modes of public transport. The National Entitlement Card ( saltire card) is available to any Scottish resident and, since 2019, can be used across Scotland for any operator that provides a compatible smart ticket. This platform is also used for the national concessionary travel schemes, with approximately 170m smart journeys taken each year.
Our refreshed Smart Delivery Strategy will be published in summer 2024, outlining our programme of work in the coming years. This includes exploring development of options for a new national integrated ticketing system to reflect passenger desire for progression to integrated contactless and digital ticketing. We will encourage operators across all modes to participate in these options for a new system that could offer multi-modal fare capping, removing the need to think about a ticket for each leg of the journey, potentially building on the five regional integrated ticketing schemes that are available in Scotland, led by operators and local transport authorities.
The strategy aligns with the work of the National Smart Ticketing Advisory Board (NTSAB), established in November 2023, to advise on national technological ticketing standards that will support a new integrated system, as well as delivery of smart ticketing measures from the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019. With NSTAB’s advice, a business case will be developed, which will consider the timescales and costs of delivering a national integrated ticketing system.
- Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 June 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 20 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that homeless women are not safe in hostels.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 20 June 2024
- Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 May 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 12 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with (a) NHS Lothian, (b) the City of Edinburgh Council and (c) other relevant authorities regarding the reports of non-surgical Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) procedures taking place in the city, which led to the local authority issuing a public warning on 25 April 2024.
Answer
The Scottish Government was approached by NHS Lothian, the City of Edinburgh Council and Public Health Scotland to make it aware of issues regarding Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) procedures taking place in Edinburgh.
The Scottish Government invited an environmental health officer from the City of Edinburgh Council to the Scottish Cosmetic Interventions Expert Group meeting on 25 March 2024 to provide the group with further details.
The decision to issue a public warning regarding these procedures rested with, and was made by, the City of Edinburgh Council.
- Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 May 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 12 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates that it will publish the findings of its most recent consultation on restricting promotions of food and drink high in fat, sugar or salt.
Answer
The consultation on the detail of proposed regulations to restrict promotions of food and drink high in fat, sugar or salt closed on 21 May 2024.
Work is underway to procure an independent analysis of the consultation feedback. The feedback received will be used as part of the policy decision-making process, alongside a range of other available information and evidence. It is anticipated that the final report will be available for publication in late autumn.
- Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 31 May 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 12 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of when the (a) Lord Advocate and (b) Solicitor General attended meetings of the Cabinet since August 2023, and the reason for their attendance at any such meetings.
Answer
Between 1 August 2023 and 4 June 2024 Cabinet has met 37 times. A Law Officer attended 24 of these meetings: the Lord Advocate on 17 occasions and the Solicitor General on behalf of the Lord Advocate on seven occasions. Law Officers attend Cabinet as principal legal advisers to the Scottish Government and to represent their Ministerial interests.
