- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 10 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on travel expenses for ministers, civil servants or other staff to travel on Edinburgh’s trams network, in each year since 2014.
Answer
Edinburgh Tram tickets can be purchased in three ways: centrally via the Travel Management Team; via electronic procurement card (ePC); or the cost claimed back via a Travel and Subsistence (T&S) expenses claim. The total costs for Lothian Bus/Tram tickets are shown in the following table.
In all cases the tickets can be used on either Lothian Buses or Edinburgh Trams and it is not possible to disaggregate the cost for Trams only.
The cost of all tickets bought centrally in 2014 and 2015, and ePC transactions prior to 2019, are not held.
Calendar year | Lothian Bus/ Edinburgh Tram total spend |
2014 | n/a |
2015 | n/a |
2016 | £76,523 |
2017 | £86,296 |
2018 | £100,220 |
2019 | £119,365 |
2020 | £31,721 |
2021 | £245 |
2022 to date | £153 |
The total spend includes all travel by Ministers and Civil Servants for travel to and from a range of government buildings, meetings and other government business in and around Edinburgh. Ministers and Civil Servants are encouraged to travel sustainably for work related travel and we are working to encourage more use of public transport by everyone in government in the future.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 10 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in connection with the recommendations of the Working Group on Mortgage Lending and Cladding, which reported in March 2021.
Answer
With the support of stakeholders across industry, the Single Building Assessment programme started in June 2021. All other recommendations are progressing and will further develop based on evidence from the Single Building Assessment pilot. The update to parliament on the 12 May 2022 provided more detail on progress: https://www.gov.scot/publications/update-cladding-remediation-programme-cabinet-secretarys-statement/ .
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 10 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many buildings in Scotland have had combustible cladding (a) removed and (b) remediated since the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not collect information where work is progressed by building owners or developers outwith the Single Building Assessment programme.
- Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 10 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will guarantee that any application for Green Freeports in Scotland, which does not include an explicit commitment to supporting the implementation of Fair Work First, will not be successful.
Answer
The bidding prospectus underlines the Scottish Government’s commitment to a Fair Work First approach, and also the commitment of all of Scotland’s local authorities. We would therefore hope and expect that all bids would reflect that. We have made clear that the Scottish Government will only support applications which include clear commitments on this front.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 10 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many people resident in Scotland have offered to take in Ukrainian refugees under its Super Sponsor scheme to date, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The support shown by the people of Scotland to those fleeing the illegal war in Ukraine has been heart-warming and we appreciate those who have registered their interest in welcoming displaced people under the UK’s Homes for Ukraine scheme.
All 32 of our local authorities are taking part in this programme, and hosts have offered up their homes under the Super Sponsor scheme in each area. We have contacted people who registered their interest, and continue to contact new prospective hosts, to find out if they want to make their offer of accommodation available to people with a Scottish super sponsor visa.
In line with guidance from the Office for Statistics Regulation we are obliged to ensure that data are of sufficient quality for publication and we are currently quality assuring this data before publication.
- Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 10 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the in the application for Green Freeports in Scotland, what the maximum percentage score is that is awarded for the applicants’ commitment to fair work practices.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-08668 on 10 June 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
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 10 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has chosen a model whereby it provides grants to fund Single Building Assessments rather than commissioning this work to be carried out directly on its behalf.
Answer
A grant model was used to enable a quick start to the programme and to test the viability of an arm’s length delivery approach based on established principles behind Scotland’s property systems. Interim learning from this approach shows there is a need to move to a model based on directly procured contracts to speed and scale delivery and at lower overall risk. This change was announced to the Scottish Parliament by myself on 12 May 2022 - Update on cladding remediation programme: Cabinet Secretary's statement - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 10 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Welsh Government’s plans to establish a support scheme to allow leaseholders to sell their property and where appropriate provide the option for them to either move on or rent the property back, which, reportedly, is to be funded by the Development Bank of Wales, what plans it has to establish such a scheme in Scotland, and whether it has explored the establishment of such a scheme with the Scottish National Investment Bank.
Answer
The Scottish Government is actively looking at a number of ways to support homeowners affected by unsafe cladding, which may include property purchase schemes. We will work with stakeholders and homeowners to find solutions that work in the unique Scottish context, which does not include leaseholders.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 10 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many meetings of the Cladding Stakeholder Group the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government has attended since the group was established.
Answer
The Cladding Stakeholder Group is operationally focused and so no expectation of ministerial attendance, however, I did attend the August meeting of the group to thank them for their on-going contributions to the evolving Cladding Programme.
- Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 10 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to measure the success of its Super Sponsor scheme for Ukrainian refugees.
Answer
The Super Sponsor scheme was set up to provide a quick and safe route for displaced people from Ukraine. It is a national response that has rapidly established a round-the-clock operation, supported by multi-agency teams, local authorities, CoSLA and the third sector to support displaced Ukrainians and mare sure they are treated with compassion and care and their complex needs met.
We are working closely and collaboratively with our partners to ensure we rapidly respond to opportunities and resolve challenges and issues as they emerge, and ensuring that stakeholders and the direct experiences of those arriving in Scotland feeds directly into continuing to improve our programme.