Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05818 on 2 February 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

Scotland Cycle Repair Scheme (SCRS) originally targeted to deliver 20,000 cycle repairs or services to people in Scotland, focusing on those that need the support the most. Repairs and servicing are provided through a network of over 300 shops, retailers, community organisations and sole traders. There have been two iterations of the scheme and the number of bikes repaired during each is as follows;

First iteration of Aug 2020 – May 2021: 31,562 bikes were repaired

Second iteration of Nov 2021 – May 2022: 8,153 bikes have been repaired so far.

In August 2021, the first six pilots commenced, meeting the 100 day commitment set by this government. A further four pilots have been launched since then. These pilots will run for up to 12 months, testing different approaches and delivery models to help inform a national rollout. The latest figures calculated show that 988 free bikes have been issued across the ten pilots so far.

The Scottish Government is aware of the impact the necessary public health restrictions have had on businesses, including the outbound travel industry. Since the start of the pandemic, businesses have benefitted from more than £4.4bn in support from the Scottish Government. Eligible travel agents benefited from sectoral grants of up to £25,000 per premises in addition to other support including Strategic Framework Business Fund grants, Restart Grants, Non-Domestic Rates relief and furlough payments for staff.

We recently announced £3.5m for outbound travel agents as part of our support for businesses impacted by the measures introduced to control the spread of Omicron. Details of the eligibility, and how and when to apply will be published on the Scottish Government website and on the Find Business Support website as soon as they are available.

Due to the changes in responsibilities, it is difficult to provide an exact like-for-like comparison of Scottish Government funding from the UK Government over the last five years. However, excluding Social Security and EU Replacement funding (neither of which featured in the Scottish Budget limit 5 years ago), the amount of funding has increased from £30.662 billion in 2017-18 to £39.257 billion in 2022-23. This is a real terms increase of 14.3 per cent over the period.

As the Scottish Government remains committed to passing on every penny of additional health funding from the UK Government much of this increase has been allocated to Health which has a direct impact on all other areas of the Scottish Budget, including local government.

If Health funding is excluded, the Scottish Budget real terms increase over the period is 8.5 per cent, and local government have therefore been treated very fairly with council’s revenue funding having increased by 9.9 per cent in real terms.

We are aware that there is significant public interest in carrying out work to comply with the new standard for fire alarms in all Scottish homes. We are also aware that some retailers have short term supply issues, and may be affected by difficulties with imported components. Whilst we encourage homeowners to install these alarms at their earliest opportunity to protect lives and possessions, we have emphasised consistently that there will be no penalties for non-compliance and individual circumstances, including availability of suitable alarms, will be taken into account.

Policy relating to mobile telecommunications is currently reserved to the UK Government and is regulated by Ofcom.

However the Scottish Government recognises the vital importance of mobile connectivity for rural, remote and island communities and businesses. Through our Scottish 4G Infill Programme, we are investing £28.75M to deliver up to 55 4G masts in selected mobile ‘notspots’ around Scotland.

The Scottish Government continue work closely with the UK government and operators to ensure that resilience of the telecoms network in Scotland is a priority.

Vehicle Excise Duty is reserved to the UK Government with a proportion of the funds raised allocated to Scotland through the Barnett Formula as part of the block grant. Revenues raised from vehicle excise duty are not hypothecated and are therefore part of the overall Scottish Budget, rather than apportioned to any specific area of spending.

In Scotland, fishing vessel licences are issued by Marine Scotland, on behalf of Scottish Ministers. Scottish fishing vessel licences are issued for eligible vessels which are registered in Scotland by virtue of a Scottish address and port. Licenses are not issued by area, therefore no licenses have been issued, and no vessels are registered specific to the area covered by the Red Rocks and Longay MPA. There were 2093 Scottish licensed vessels in 2020.

The Cancellation Fund for Creative Freelancers has provided much-needed support to creative freelancers experiencing cancellations due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.

Since opening the fund on 06 January, Creative Scotland received 1,946 applications to their Cancellation Fund for creative freelancers, totalling £3.33m.

On 21 February, Creative Scotland announced a further £8m support would be available to creative freelancers via a Hardship Fund for Creative Freelancers. This fund opened for applications on Wednesday 23 February and will support creative freelancers experiencing hardship due to lost income from work or practice in the creative sector due to Covid-19.