- Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 18 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what impact the Emergency Budget Review will have on the provision of financial support to homeowners for cladding remediation work.
Answer
There will be no impact to homeowners as the overall budget remains unchanged.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 18 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many residents have been accommodated on the MS Victoria for more than (a) two, (b) four, (c) six, (d) eight, (e) 10, (f) 12 and (g) 14 weeks.
Answer
This information is not collected by Scottish Government.
We do collect information for the number of people accommodated on the MS Victoria. This is published in our monthly statistics on our website. The latest publication was on 20 October 2022 and can be found via: https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-statistics-october-2022/pages/welcome-accommodation/
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Maggie Chapman (on behalf of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body on 18 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what budget was allocated to the Scottish Information Commissioner's office in each of the last five years.
Answer
The budget allocated to the Scottish Information Commissioner in the last five years is set out in the table below.
Year | Approved Budget |
2022/23 | £2,120k |
2021/22 | £2,030k |
2020/21 | £1,903k |
2019/20 | £1,673k |
2018/19 | £1,565k |
2017/18 | £1,573k |
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Maggie Chapman (on behalf of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body on 18 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how many staff members have been employed in the Scottish Information Commissioner's office (a) in total and (b) for the purpose of handling FOI request appeals, in each of the last five years.
Answer
The average number of FTE staff employed by the Scottish Information Commissioner in the last five years broken down into the total number of staff employed and those employed for the purpose of handling FOI request appeals is set out in the table below.
Year | No of staff [FTE] | Staff handling FOI request appeals [FTE](1) |
2022-2023 | 18.4 | 11.6(2) |
2021-2022 | 25.01 | 13.4 |
2020-2021 | 23.6 | 14.2 |
2019-2020 | 22.8 | 14.7 |
2018-2019 | 21.4 | 13.5 |
2017-2018 | 20 | 14 |
(1) The figures include all members of the Commissioner’s Enforcement Team which handle FOI request appeals made to the Commissioner. The Enforcement Team consists of the Head of Enforcement, Deputy Heads of Enforcement, Freedom of Information Officers (Investigators), Validation Officers, and the Enforcement Team Support Assistant.
(2) actual FTE numbers of staff employed as at 15/11/22. The Commissioner is in the process of recruiting 3 Enforcement Team investigators.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 18 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many homebuyers have tranched up their equity stakes to date for properties in which it still holds an equity stake, broken down by scheme.
Answer
Providing the information requested prior to April 2017 could only be answered at disproportionate cost. Following a change to the way we record shared equity sales from 2017-18 we are able to provide the information requested.
Since 2017-18 there have been 7 partial tranche-ups where the Scottish Government still hold an investment. This includes 3 properties purchased through the Open Market Shared Equity Scheme, 2 through the Help to Buy scheme and 2 through the New Supply Shared Equity Scheme.
- Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 18 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to increase the availability of swimming lessons to young people, in light of reports of waiting lists as long as six years in Dumfries and Galloway.
Answer
The Scottish Government have been working with Scottish Swimming, Education Scotland, sport scotland and Scottish Water to develop interventions and approaches to provide opportunities for children to become confident, safer and competent swimmers.
Scottish Swimming aim to run a number of Delivery Model Pilots in 2022-23 to support schools to understand and consider different approaches and models of delivery to help educate and provide opportunities for children across Scotland to experience the water in a fun, safe and inclusive approach. This reflects the many different scenarios faced by schools when deciding how best to support young people to access school swimming.
In terms of the issues reported in Dumfries and Galloway, we understand that the waiting list expanded significantly due to the reduced capacity available to deliver lessons whilst they operated from the temporary swimming pool at Dumfries Ice Bowl. This was then further exaggerated by COVID closures. The local authority are looking at their swimming pool timetables with a view to securing lessons for as many children as possible within their existing resources and available teaching complement.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 07 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 18 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether Scottish Enterprise has undertaken an equalities impact assessment to inform its reported proposal to close all its office locations except those in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen.
Answer
Any proposals around its future operational estate are a matter for Scottish Enterprise. I have therefore asked the Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise to respond to you directly. However, I do understand that the current consultation on office requirements - which includes consideration of co-location with other public sector bodies and industry partners, to enhance collaborative working – will include completion of an Equality Impact Assessment as a key component.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 18 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10678 by Shona Robison on 22 September 2022, whether the meeting with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities colleagues has now taken place, and what further funding has been secured to assess and remediate buildings in Scotland affected by combustible cladding.
Answer
Scottish Government officials have fortnightly meetings with counterparts in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. We have committed all the consequentials so far, £400 million, to the programme of work.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 18 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of the 23 awards made to date as part of the £8 million Cycling Facilities Fund, including the amount of each award and details of each project.
Answer
18 To date the Scottish Government and sportscotland (National Lottery) has funded 29 projects via the Cycling Facilities Fund, seven of which have been completed. The details and amounts of this funding can be found in the following table:
Project | Applicant | Award Level |
Pollock Park Cycle Hub | Glasgow City Council | £100,000 |
Cathkin Braes Cycle Hub | Glasgow City Council | £145,800 |
Bellahouston Park Cycle Hub | Glasgow City Council | £184,375 |
North Berwick Pump Track | East Lothian Council | £50,000 |
New Pump Track | Getting Better Together Shotts HLC | £50,000 |
Mountain Bike Skills Loop | Inverness Royal Academy | £40,000 |
New MTB Trail | The Laggan Forest Trust | £100,000 |
Gala Park New Pump Track | Falkirk Council | £50,000 |
West Lothian Cycle Circuit | West Lothian Council | £600,000 |
New Pump Track | Transition Extreme | £50,000 |
Middleden Mountain Bike Trail and Skills Area | Fife Council | £100,000 |
Kelpies Bike Trails and Skills Area | Abriachan Forest Trust | £62,250 |
Clyde Cycle Park Phase 2 | Clyde Cycle Park SCIO | £550,000 |
New Bike Park | Lochaber Wheeled Sport Society | £290,000 |
New Pump Track | Auchterarder Community Sports and Recreation | £50,000 |
Pump Track | Stow Community Trust | £50,000 |
Callendar Park Cycle Hub | Falkirk Council | £157,930 |
New Hallhill Pump Track | East Lothian Council | £50,000 |
New Banchory Cycling Hub | Deeside Bike Collective | £100,000 |
New Cycling Hub | Arran High School MTB Club - Cycling | £190,470 |
Lochore Meadows Whitewood MTB Trails | Fife Council | £49,466 |
Tarland Trails New MTB Trail Centre | Tarland MTB | £299,456 |
New Bellshill Cycle Hub | North Lanarkshire Council | £100,000 - Completed |
Upgrade BMX Track | Cumbernauld Centurions BMX Club - Cycling | £58,599 – Completed |
Balbardie Park Pump | West Lothian Council | £45,433 – Completed |
Bike Glenlivet New MTB Trail | Tomintoul and Glenlivet Development trust | £12,933 – Completed |
Ormiston Park Pump Trail | East Lothian Council | £45,000 - Completed |
New Pump Track | Boat of Garden Community Company | £100,000 - Completed |
Kennoway Pump Track | Fife Council | £75,000 – Completed |
- Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 18 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Scottish National Party manifesto commitment, what the cost would be of bringing the higher non-domestic property rate into line with that in England, broken down by industry sector.
Answer
The 2023 revaluations in Scotland and England will for the first time have different tone dates following the Scottish Government’s acceptance of the independent Barclay Review of Non-Domestic Rates’ recommendation to move to three yearly revaluations and a one-year tone date. This inevitably results in direct comparison between the two systems being less meaningful than in the past with Scottish rateable values more accurately reflecting contemporary market circumstances.
The Scottish Budget will set out non-domestic rates measures including the poundage, supplements and reliefs that will apply in 2023-24 based upon draft values which will be published for the first time on 30 November 2022 but it will only be possible to accurately calculate the impact of different tax rates and supplements on individual sectors when final rateable values are published on 1 April 2023.