- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 31 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will confirm all costs associated with the launch event for the Scottish Affairs Office in Copenhagen.
Answer
The Copenhagen office launch reception cost £10,339, which includes venue hire, catering, and entertainment.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 31 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will confirm all costs associated with the launch event for Scotland House in London.
Answer
The Scotland House London launch event cost £9,456, which includes hire of venue and equipment.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 30 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will work with the UK Government to pause, review and improve the Shared Rural Network programme through consulting with rural communities across the Highlands to (a) establish their digital connectivity needs, (b) avoid construction of new access tracks unless no other method is possible, (c) avoid construction in the Highlands' designated and other environmentally sensitive wild areas and (d) ensure that mobile operators share mast infrastructure, rather than building adjacent masts.
Answer
The Scottish Government has no formal role in the Shared Rural Network (SRN) programme. SRN is a joint venture between the UK Government and the UK's four main mobile network operators. Equally, telecommunications policy is currently reserved to the UK Government.
Scottish Government officials continue to engage with the UK Government and the mobile network operators on SRN delivery and to encourage them to prioritise community and stakeholder engagement.
The Scottish Government recently completed the delivery of the Scottish 4G Infill programme, which deployed 55 masts in rural and island communities. Lessons learned from the programme have been shared with the SRN programme team, focusing in particular on the importance of thorough local stakeholder engagement at the mast site selection and acquisition stage. We will continue to facilitate discussions between UK Government and key stakeholders and to push for as much transparency as possible on the locations of masts and the rationale for why these have been chosen.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 30 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported figures from Citizens Advice Scotland stating that nearly 24,000 people have been forced onto an electric prepayment meter against their wishes, and around 12,000 have been forced onto a prepayment meter for gas.
Answer
We share the concerns that have been expressed by Citizens Advice Scotland and others concerning the reintroduction of forced pre-payment meter installations. Ofgem's Code of Practice requiring suppliers to meet a number of conditions before taking such action is an important step; however, too many households in Scotland remain at risk from this practice, especially with energy and other costs that are still too high. We believe that energy suppliers must exhaust all possible options, including meaningful support to struggling households to manage debt before imposing pre-payment meters. I have raised the issue of pre-payment meters many times with my UK Government counterparts who hold all the levers to act on this issue, and I will continue to raise these issues and concerns directly with the UK Government and Ofgem over the coming weeks in addition to my calls for a social tariff for the most vulnerable customers of energy companies.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 30 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of any economic analysis undertaken by South of Scotland Enterprise (SoSE) on any economic benefits of attracting private investment capital into tree planting, peatland restoration and nature bio-diversity, and, if so, whether any such analysis considered (a) both the short-term direct employment and local spend gains and multipliers and any longer-term effects in drawing resources out of the SoSE area through the returns on external private investment requiring to be paid, (b) how much of the flows of finance from carbon trading would leave the SoSE area and how much would be retained and (c) the effect of private external finance on (i) local land values and (ii) the number of farm enterprises in the region.
Answer
The Scottish Government is not aware of any economic analysis undertaken by South of Scotland Enterprise (SoSE) on any economic benefits of attracting private investment into the region’s natural capital assets.
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how many times emergency contraception, or the so-called morning after pill, has been prescribed to prisoners in the (a) female and (b) male prison estate in each of the last five years.
Answer
This is a matter for NHS Health Boards. The information requested regarding data on emergency contraception prescribed in prisons is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 30 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) stating that almost 200,000 people were out of work because of ill health between July 2022 and June 2023, which is reportedly around 29,000 more than in the same period before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answer
More recent statistics are available for comparison from the ONS Annual Population Survey.
- In the pre-COVID period October 2018 to September 2019, 762,700 people were classed as economically inactive. Of this, 215,800 or 28.3% said that long-term sickness was the main reason for inactivity.
- In the most recent comparable period of October 2022 to September 2023, 762,600 people were classed as economically inactive. Of this, 242,000 or 31.7% said that long term sickness was the main reason for inactivity.
- This is an increase of 26,200 people giving long term sickness as the reason for inactivity whilst the level of inactivity overall had fallen modestly by 100. This suggests that people are changing their reason for inactivity rather than becoming inactive as a result of illness.
We were among the first in the UK to turn serious attention to economic inactivity, initially focussing on ill health, and our National Strategy for Economic Transformation contains a commitment to address Scotland’s labour market inactivity challenges. To progress this commitment we have undertaken engagement with employers about how our health system can better support employers and employees to enable people to stay healthy in work and move back in to work from inactivity.
In addition, we are committed to supporting people into work through our devolved employability approach No One Left Behind, a lifetime skills offer for adults to target support at those who need it most, and supporting more diverse and inclusive workplaces as part of our Fair Work agenda.
The Scottish Government also funds NHS initiatives to support people with health conditions to sustain or return to work, including Working Health Services Scotland and Public Health Scotland's Healthy Working Lives . These provide advice and support on work-related physical and mental health promotion and ill health prevention, return to work practices and workplace safety for employers and employees.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 30 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what risk assessments have been undertaken by, or with the involvement of, any of its agencies regarding projects seeking to utilise private investment in nature, woodland creation and peatland restoration, and whether it will publish any such assessments.
Answer
Risk assessments are a routine part of projects approved under the two established mechanisms for utilising private investment in nature in Scotland - the Woodland Carbon Code and the Peatland Code. We expect Agencies to adhere to the risk assessment process for the two Codes and also the principles set out in the Scottish Public Finance Manual. Scottish Government does not hold this information.
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how many times an early medical abortion, or so-called abortion pill, has been prescribed to prisoners in the (a) female and (b) male prison estate, who were not pregnant upon incarceration, in each of the last five years.
Answer
This is a matter for NHS Health Boards. The information requested regarding data on early medical abortion medication prescribed in prisons is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 30 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what changes (a) have been made and (b) are being considered to the Memorandum of Understanding between NatureScot, Lombard Odier Investment Managers, Hampden & Co and Palladium, in light of the changes to the originally envisaged participation by Lombard Odier Investment Managers.
Answer
No changes have been made, or are currently being considered, to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between NatureScot, Hampden & Co, Lombard Odier Investment Managers and Palladium.