Chamber and committees

Local authorities provide information to parents and carers about how they can register their child for early learning and childcare (ELC) and primary school. Parents and carers are encouraged to talk to their local authority to discuss their individual childcare and education needs. The Scottish Government’s Parent Club website has information about starting school and ELC, which is updated regularly. Parent Club also includes links to the individual local authority websites that provide information about how to apply for ELC: What’s your child entitled to? | Parent Club

As set out in the Programme for Government 2022-23, a Local Visitor Levy Bill will be introduced to the Scottish Parliament this parliamentary year.

Culture is an important asset for our international offices in strengthening our links and visibility with key countries. Our in-country presence can open new opportunities for Scottish artists and cultural organisations.

The Scottish Government has not been consulted or invited to engage with the UK Government on its 5-year acquisitions programme, including where this involves artists who are based in Scotland. At this time, there are no plans to establish a scheme similar to the X-UK acquisitions programme.

The Scottish Government is however working to secure the benefits of international engagement for our culture sector and has committed to develop a strategy to this end.

There are no local authority commissioned communal night shelters currently operating in Scotland and we are not aware of any congregate night shelters being operated by third sector organisations in Scotland.

We have worked closely with local authorities and third sector partners to end the need for communal night shelters in Scotland by scaling up rapid rehousing and Housing First, which was a key commitment in our Ending Homelessness Together action plan.

Given that some form of emergency accommodation will always be needed, since 2020 we have provided over £690,000 of funding to support local authorities and third sector partners to establish rapid rehousing welcome centres (RRWCs) in Glasgow and Edinburgh as an alternative to night shelter provision. RRWCs provide short-term, safe and self-contained rapid access accommodation alongside multi-agency services, with the aim being to support people at risk of rough sleeping to move on to more settled accommodation.

The courts and judiciary are independent of Government. Operational court matters including the management of summary cause proceedings are a matter for them. It is for the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service itself to assess the impact of any changes in its guidance relating to summary cause proceedings, including any impact on the rights of both tenants and landlords.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-03196 on 29 September 2021. 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
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I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10585 on‎ 22 September 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

We published the costs incurred by the Lord Advocate’s reference to the Supreme Court on 22 September, which can be found here: www.gov.scot/publications/independence-referendum-supreme-court-referral-legal-costs . We will continue to publish costs on a quarterly basis until litigation ends. As the litigation is ongoing, and the costs may be affected by a number of factors, it is not possible to provide an estimate of the total costs we will incur.

As the First Minister explained to Parliament on 28 June, there is a substantial majority in Scottish Parliament in favour of an independence referendum and therefore a clear democratic mandate for this work. The UK government, regrettably, is refusing to respect Scottish democracy.

The earliest date for implementation of this bill, as with all other bills, is wholly dependent on the agreed bill process and how quickly that can be completed, and meet Parliament’s as well as the Scottish Government’s requirements for appropriate bill scrutiny and consideration. Once the local visitor levy bill is introduced to Parliament, the bill timetable will be agreed and the earliest implementation date will become clearer.

From 24 October 2022, the requirement to book seats in the Historical Search Room has been removed. No further requests are being taken for bookings and all currently active requests will be allocated a booking prior to‎ 24 October 2022. The maximum current waiting time for active requests is around 6 weeks.