Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government has accepted all 38 recommendations from the IRISR and the response will be published on 6 March 2024, with a proactive statement due to be issued at 9.30am. The full Scottish Government response can be accessed here http://www.gov.scot/ISBN/9781835219768 .

In accepting these recommendations, we recognise the significant amounts of work already underway, that will in part or fully address a large number of the recommendations, and this work needs to continue in partnership and at pace. In taking a phased approach to the implementation of the IRISR recommendations, we are confident that work can be carried out to deliver continuous improvement that addresses the key challenges highlighted by the Review and support better outcomes for the people of Scotland.

Local authorities take their own decisions about which digital tools, services and apps to deploy in their schools to support delivery of education. We expect that any digital service would be implemented in recognition of statutory duties arising from GDPR and Data Protection Act. As Data Controllers in their own right, it is for local authorities to ensure all digital services in schools comply with the relevant legislation.

The Scottish Government has engaged in extensive cross-departmental and multi-agency work to consider the environmental impact of single-use vapes including working closely to with other nations across the UK.

On 29 Jan 2024 I wrote to the Convener of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee to confirm the Scottish Government’s intention to progress legislation to prohibit the sale and supply of single-use vapes, with a view of a ban coming into force at the earliest opportunity. This builds upon the research commissioned by the Scottish Government into the environmental impact of single-use vapes that was published in June 2023.

This information is not available in this format, as it would be dependent on the depend on the number and type of traffic, on any one particular sailing.

The Empowering Communities Programme (ECP) comprises two community funding programmes - the Investing in Communities Fund and Strengthening Communities Programme – as well as grants to strategic delivery partners. In 2023-24 222 organisations within the ECP have been offered grants with a total value of £13,855,118.50.

As grant claims are invited on a quarterly basis in arrears we do not collate information on grant claims paid on a monthly basis at an organisational level and are therefore unable to provide this information in the format requested. Data on the amount of grant paid is currently available from the 1 April 2023 up to the period ending 31 January 2024. The total amount of grant paid for the ECP for this period is £9,030,517.

A table including the list of grant awards made for each organisation within the ECP has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. Number 64909)

Coalfields Regeneration Trust’s (CRT’s) grant for 2023-24 has been agreed following the principles of the Scottish Government’s latest grant management guidance which ensures adherence to the Scottish Public Finance Manual instructions. These state that contracts that include services to distribute grant funds must be awarded through genuine and effective competition. In light of that, the previous historical arrangement with CRT has been reviewed and the Scottish Government can no longer provide a proportion of the grant for CRT to use as a budget to then operate a small grant fund.

The Scottish Government’s procurement rules exist to ensure funds are spent in a way that delivers the most benefit to society. The Scottish Government is discussing with CRT other ways in which they can best support community organisations where these meet the regeneration outcomes and conditions of its existing grant award.

I have asked Janet Egdell, Chief Executive of National Records of Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:

Of the 355 wards in Scotland, 162 had a population over 15,500 as at 30 June 2021. The following table shows the number of electoral wards with a population over 15,500, by local authority.

Number of electoral wards with a population over 15,500, by local authority, as at 30 June 2021

The Scottish Government has enjoyed a number of recent engagements with Government of Türkiye on issues ranging from tackling climate change, to boosting trade and investment and increasing tourism and cultural collaboration. This type of international collaboration, recently articulated through the publication of our new International Strategy, will continue to make a substantial, positive impact on the delivery of the Scottish Government’s domestic objectives and on the lives of people in Scotland and internationally.

The Community Bus fund was launched on 22 September 2023, with the £0.75 million resource funding available to local transport authorities for pathfinder style projects aimed at supporting them to complete initial feasibility and preparatory work required to consider the bus powers in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, including franchising, formal partnerships and local authority run bus services. Projects are still in progress, therefore the Scottish Government will not have information on how the resource funding was spent until the end of the financial year 2023-24.

From the bids received, 10 projects are being taken forward in 2023-24 pending compliance with Fair Work First requirements. These include projects to review local bus networks to develop local transport/bus strategies, and projects to complete options appraisals with a view to developing business cases. The majority of local authorities are still in the early stages of exploring the options within the Transport Act 2019, with most projects aimed at commencing work to determine which option, if any, is most appropriate for their areas. A full evaluation will be carried out following the completion of projects throughout 2024.