Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is monitoring with Creative Scotland the position of cultural organisations in the current crisis. The Creative Scotland board meets on 19 December to consider the option of using its UK National Lottery reserves to help maintain standstill funding for Regularly Funded Organisations through 2023-24.

This would include support for Eden Court which receives £500,000 per year. Creative Scotland will also offer ongoing flexibility in the use of existing Regular Funding, whilst also exploring support for organisations and the sector to innovate and explore new ways of working.

The Scottish Government recognises that this is an incredibly worrying time for the culture sector as a whole and is in regular dialogue with the sector. We are holding a series of roundtables including one planned for Inverness in January 2023.

The Stonemasonry Short Life Working Group held its initial meeting in May 2022 and has since met three further times, with the most recent meeting held on 4 November 2022. After the next scheduled meeting in January 2023, the Stonemasonry Short Life Working Group intends to report to the Our Place in Time Skills and Expertise Group by the end of January 2023 with an outline of what actions are required to put stonemasonry training in Scotland in a sustainable position. Additionally, in order to provide an independent review of 2022-23 Scottish Stonemasonry Skills & Training needs, four stakeholder stonemasonry training workshops have taken place across November and December 2022.

We are committed to tackling disrepair in housing and driving a culture in which good maintenance is given a high priority.

Social landlords are required to have a clear complaints process and where a tenant is dissatisfied with the response of their housing provider, they are able to escalate their complaint to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman. The Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) is responsible for monitoring social landlords’ progress towards the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS), which they are required to meet, as part of the SHR’s role to monitor and report on social landlords’ achievement of the Scottish Social Housing Charter. SHR wrote to all Social Landlords on 1 December 2022 on the importance of having appropriate, proactive systems to identify and deal with any reported cases of mould and damp timeously and effectively.

For private landlords, they are obliged to meet the Repairing Standard and Tolerable Standard. If, after a landlord has been notified of a problem, it is not attended to satisfactorily, then tenants have the right to refer the matter to the Housing and Property Chamber First Tier Tribunal for Scotland, who can require landlords to take remedial action. Local authorities also have powers to inspect properties in relation to the repairing standard and rights to make an application to the Tribunal in respect of this were introduced through the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014.

In the New Deal for Tenants consultation, published in December 2021, we asked for opinions on how best to ensure that landlords undertake repairs in a timely fashion. We are carefully considering what measures are necessary to ensure that private rented homes are in good condition and that tenants’ concerns are quickly resolved.

We have also committed to developing a new cross tenure Housing Standard for Scotland during this Parliamentary term.

The Scottish Government and COSLA have today jointly published a new Statement of Intent. It is available on the Scottish Government website here: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781805253778 .

This new Statement of Intent will report on the progress of the commitments made in our joint Statement of Intent published in March 2021, and sets out additional actions we will take across the next 12 – 18 months to bring about improvements to the delivery of social care support.

Police Scotland continue to develop international partnerships with law enforcement authorities and support agencies to assist with investigations into human trafficking and exploitation offences and support for victims.

Development of those partnerships remains an operational matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland.

This information is not held by the Scottish Government. Although there is no statutory accreditation for energy efficiency installers, our Quality Assurance policy statement, which was published on 7 June, included information on the standards, skills and certification required for installers.

Professor Logan was selected for this role in line with the Scottish Ministerial Code, which enables Ministers to make appointments providing they are satisfied that the preferred candidate is being appointed on the basis of merit. Professor Logan was selected from a list of outstanding candidates on the basis of his exceptional experience in growing companies to scale, advising and investing in Scottish start-ups, his strong relationship across industry and investors, and his work in teaching entrepreneurship at the University of Glasgow. This list was assembled, and the decision made, following discussions with key figures in industry, academia, the entrepreneurial ecosystem and public sector leaders.

The Chief Entrepreneur will be remunerated at a rate of £2,000 per day for a maximum of 100 days per year. He is entitled to be reimbursed for expenses incurred in relation to travel and subsistence and will be supported by a small team providing diary management and support with correspondence.

The Chief Entrepreneur ensures entrepreneurship is embedded in the economy, and that partnerships with industry and investors are prioritised and strengthened. A full remit was published at the time of his appointment and can be found in the following press release: Appointment of Chief Entrepreneur - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

The health and wellbeing of displaced people from Ukraine is our priority.

There has been no outbreak of Strep A on the M/S Ambition, with infections having been restricted to isolated cases.

On the M/S Ambition, should quarantine measures be required, there is a section of the ship that is set aside for quarantine procedures, with specific cabins set aside. Where this has been required, those quarantined were visited daily by ship medical staff, and meals and snacks were delivered to the cabin.

The Scottish Government is working with partners to deliver relevant public health messaging in relation to Strep A, to ensure everyone in Scotland has the most up-to-date advice.

The Scottish Government Mental Health directorate worked closely with our partners such as Heads of Psychology Scotland, NHS Scotland, COSLA, the Scottish Refugee Council, amongst others, to develop and then publish wellbeing packs for displaced people from Ukraine arriving in Scotland. There was a specific pack full of helpful resources and guidance for displaced people from Ukraine on physiological wellbeing – Ukraine psychological wellbeing advice pack: guidance for Ukrainian arrivals - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . This pack is available online and therefore accessible when using the internet on passenger ships. The pack also highlights specific resources for children and families.

We have amended legislation so there will be no charge for NHS Scotland services for people who have fled Ukraine, including mental health services.

Anyone in Scotland, regardless of their nationality, residence status or length of time they will be in the country, is already entitled to receive emergency treatment at an A&E or casualty department, and can register with a GP Practice to receive general medical services, at no charge.