Chamber and committees

Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Promoting Equality and Cohesion Fund initially ran from 2017 to 2020, and was then extended to October 2021 due to the impacts of covid-19. It was superseded by a revised funding programme: the current Equality and Human Rights Fund.

The Promoting Equality and Cohesion Fund was used to fund projects that would contribute to one or more of four outcomes:

• Discrimination against people who share protected characteristics is reduced and multiple discrimination is addressed so that barriers to participation are reduced.
• People covered by hate crime legislation experience lower levels of hate crime.
• People and communities are supported to participate in and engage with services and civic society; their contribution is recognised, and community cohesion is increased.
• Current imbalances in representation in all aspects and levels of public life, including education and employment are addressed to better reflect our communities

The Interfaith Glasgow project was funded to support Interfaith Glasgow to improve community cohesion, reduce the ignorance and prejudice that leads to discrimination and hate crime, and increase civic participation. This would be done by organising activities and events that promote friendship, encourage cooperation and provide opportunities for dialogue to occur between people of all faith and belief traditions. Interfaith Glasgow would also continue to build relationships with different faith communities and wider civic society to make Glasgow a safer, more harmonious city for all.

The specific outcomes to be achieved were:

• Glasgow’s religious diversity is valued and there is increased social interaction, communication, and friendship between people of different religions and beliefs
• People of different religions and beliefs have developed greater mutual understanding and respect through focused dialogue activities challenging ignorance, prejudice, and misconceptions
• People of different religions and beliefs are working cooperatively with each other and engaging in civic society to address inequalities

The Fund was managed on a day to day basis on the Scottish Government’s behalf by Impact Funding Partners initially and then Inspiring Scotland. You can find a Final Progress Update report for the Fund summarising its impacts here: Promoting-Equality-and-Cohesion-Fund-Final-Report-Jan-Sep-2021-for-SG-publication.pdf

The Scottish Government does not support the manufacture of munitions - nor do our public agencies. The support provided is focused on helping firms to diversify and develop civilian applications for their technology and ensure Scotland continues to benefit from the thousands of jobs in the defence, aerospace and shipbuilding sectors.

Our Guidance on Due Diligence: Human Rights sets out recommendations on how the Scottish Government, our executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies should undertake appropriate due diligence on companies, including their human rights record, before entering into an investment relationship with them. In operationalising our guidance, Scottish Enterprise’s Customer Due Diligence Procedure sets out the process that it follows to undertake human rights due diligence checks on companies it works with.

In line with the Scottish Public Finance Manual, general grants are discretionary and intended only for the delivery of policy aims/objectives and/or national outcomes.

The Scottish Government does not provide full funding for the provision of affordable homes. Homes are funded through a mixture of Scottish Government grant through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) as well as borrowing or other investment by grant applicants.

Through the AHSP, we deliver a range of housing including new build, off the shelf purchases and rehabilitation projects. The Scottish Government publishes quarterly figures on all homes delivered through the programme by tenure and build form, which can be found online here: Housing statistics quarterly update: new housebuilding and affordable housing supply - gov.scot

Details on the number of homes that have been approved, started or completed that have received funding through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) each year since 2007 by local authority are also published here: Affordable Housing Supply Programme - More homes - gov.scot. This includes information on grant levels which are also published in our annual out-turn reports.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

SPS recognises that where the Court supports a claim, the appropriate compensation should be paid. This may include incidents where the belongings of someone in custody have been lost or damaged, where an injury has occurred or in the limited occasions where someone has been detained in error.

SPS can confirm that in the last five years, prisoners have been awarded compensation. Compensation has been awarded for reasons such as personal injuries, damaged or lost property and unlawful detention, however we are unable to release the specific reasons for individual compensation payments, as this could lead to the indirect identification of the person involved.

Following a review of the impact of the Regional Improvement Collaboratives, I confirmed to Parliament in 2023 that funding would be tapered in 2024-25 and repurposed thereafter, including to support the establishment of the Centre for Teaching Excellence.

The following table shows funding that has been provided to support the work of each Regional Improvement Collaborative (RIC), in each of the last five financial years:

The 2025-26 budget delivered record funding of over £15.1 billion for Local Government, a real terms increase of 5.5 per cent, as confirmed by the Accounts Commission.

As part of the record funding package for Local Government, in 2025-26 North Ayrshire Council will receive £383.8 million to support day to day services, which equates to an extra £21.2 million or an additional 5.8 per cent compared to 2024-25. Taken together with the decision to increase Council Tax by 7 per cent, North Ayrshire Council will have an additional £25.7 million to support front line services in 2025-26.

Decisions on future local government finance settlements will be the subject of negotiations with COSLA on behalf of all 32 local authorities and announced as part of the outcome of future Scottish Budgets.

However, the record funding settlement for Local Government in 2025-26 was the result of early and meaningful engagement between Scottish Government, COSLA and Councils. We remain committed to ensuring the sustainability of local services going forward and budget engagement ahead of the 2026-27 Scottish Budget has already commenced.

We do not intend on publishing a list of reserved projects. Two projects have been reserved, these are Springburn Winter Gardens in Glasgow City Council and Glenboig Community Greenspace, North Lanarkshire Council.

The Right to Buy (RTB) policy pre-dates the Scottish Parliament. The Tenants’ Rights, Etc. (Scotland) Act 1980 introduced the RTB for tenants of local authorities, New Town Development Corporations, the Scottish Special Housing Association and Housing co-operatives to buy their homes at a discount depending on how long they had lived in the property. Any original guidance would have been the responsibility of the UK Government.

The Scottish Government published the Right to Buy Guidance Circular for social landlords in 2011: Right to Buy Guidance Circular A guide for social landlords - gov.scot

This covered changes to RTB as a consequence of the Housing (Scotland) 2010 Act and a comprehensive overview of the legislation relating to the RTB. The procedure in relation to RTB sales was covered by sections 63 to 68 of the 1987 Act and is also covered in the guidance.

A guide for social housing tenants, “your right to buy your home” was also published by the Scottish Government in 2011, and included information and advice for social tenants on buying the home and the costs involved in this. The guidance strongly recommended the purchaser to have a survey carried out on the condition of the home to make sure there are no structural problems as they will be responsible for repairs once they buy the property. Additionally, the guide confirms the owner’s responsibilities for the repair and maintenance costs of the property, after the home has been purchased, details of this are included in the conditions of sale.

Angela Leitch CBE, was appointed as the Chair of the independent review of Creative Scotland based on merit and the criteria set out for public appointments under section 7 of the Scottish Ministerial Code. The role was not publicly advertised due to the timing of the independent Review, which is to conclude later this year.

Angela Leitch brings significant public sector experience having worked in a number of Local Authorities and as Chief Executive of Public Health Scotland. Angela Leitch also has relevant experience as Convener of the Board of the Scottish Local Authority Remuneration Committee. She is a member of the Accounts Committee and the Scottish Police Authority. She is also Chair of YouthLink Scotland and is a Trustee of the homelessness prevention charity Cyrenians.

We do not have the specific information requested. However, we know that people who are neurodivergent can find it more difficult to secure and maintain employment. Some of the barriers were highlighted in responses to the public consultation on the proposed Learning Disabilities, Autism and Neurodivergence Bill. The Scottish Government wants to ensure that neurodivergent people are supported to work and that our economy can benefit from their skills and talents as much as possible.

In 2016, we committed to halving the Disability Employment Gap, outlining the initial steps that would be taken to achieve this by 2038 in A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People: Employment Action Plan, published in 2018. To improve employment opportunities for those who face many structural barriers on the labour market, we have carried forward several actions into our refreshed Fair Work Action Plan: Becoming a Fair Work Nation by 2025, published in December 2022. Input was provided by disabled people and their representative organisations.