Chamber and committees

As the First Minister advised Parliament on 26 May, the Scottish Government and the Scottish Green Party have committed to exploring opportunities for cooperation and joint working for the common good and to change the dynamic of our politics for the better in line with the founding principles of our Parliament.

Since the First Minister’s announcement last month, the Scottish Government and the Scottish Greens have been engaging in positive discussions about a potential co-operation agreement, and have identified the subjects to be explored as part of this.

Talks are covering the major challenges of this Parliament. This includes Scotland’s recovery from Covid, our response to the Climate Emergency, the constitution, public services, infrastructure, and building a fairer and more equal Scotland.

Talks will continue over the summer and a further report will be provided to Parliament after the recess.

On 25 March 2021 the UK Government committed to ruling out COVID-19 appeals on non-domestic properties in England. It concurrently announced a new Business Rates relief fund of £1.5 billion for businesses affected by COVID-19 outside the retail, hospitality, and leisure sectors.

We anticipate that this will result in consequential funding for the Scottish Government, but at this point we are still waiting for confirmation of when this will be received. Once that confirmation is provided, we remain committed to passing on all business support consequentials through a tailored package of measures for Scottish business during the recovery period.

In the interim, we agree in principle with the UK Government that market-wide economic changes to rateable values, such as from COVID-19, should be only considered at revaluation to ensure fairness to all ratepayers; and that it is not appropriate to use the material change of circumstances provisions in the non-domestic rates legislation in relation to COVID-19, or COVID-19 restrictions.

The Scottish Government can therefore confirm its intention to also take measures to rule out COVID-19 appeals, whilst continuing to ensure that we best support the most affected businesses and sectors in the recovery period. We will set out our legislative plans after the summer.

Amending Regulations were made to the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 today.

These Regulations amend the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations 2020.

The regulations adjust the physical distancing requirements at funerals so that family members may be involved in funerals by carrying the coffin or assisting to lower the coffin into a lair. The regulations also amend the physical distancing rules for the purpose of the 1888 Cup rugby event at Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh on 26 June 2021. The physical distancing requirements are reduced to 1.15 metres within Murrayfield Stadium for the purposes of that event.

The Regulations provide for extended opening hours for hospitality in the event that a match during the knockout stages of the UEFA EURO 2020 Championship which is being shown in hospitality premises runs over the currently permitted opening hours. This amendment was also set out in S6W-00988 on 23 June 2021. In the event of extended play, and limited only to match days and the games where this occurs, closing time for hospitality premises showing the game is extended up to 23:30 where a venue is showing a match live which runs over the current opening hours. This is not a blanket relaxation of the rules but a specific and pragmatic approach to facilitate safe viewing of full Euros matches.

The regulations also adjust the rules on face coverings at weddings and civil partnerships to remove the requirement for persons accompanying a party to be married or entering into a civil partnership to wear a face covering.

The Regulations have been published at The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 29) Regulations 2021 (legislation.gov.uk)

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

Early medical abortion at home, and the changes adopted in March 2020, has been an important measure to ensure abortion services have continued to be delivered throughout the pandemic, without delays. 

The Scottish Government launched a public consultation on the future arrangements for early medical abortion at home on 30 September 2020, which closed on 5 January 2021. An independent analysis of the consultation responses has been published today and can be found at https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781800048560.

The report shows very differing views among respondents, particularly in relation to whether the current approach is sufficiently safe. In order to ensure robust evidence is available, the Scottish Government is taking steps to commission an independent evaluation to assess the effectiveness of the current approach, including in relation to safety. Scottish Ministers will consider future arrangements once this evaluation has been completed.

The current March 2020 approval will remain in place while this evaluation is undertaken. This will continue to allow patients to take both mifepristone and misoprostol at home (following a telephone or video consultation) while coronavirus continues to pose a serious and imminent threat to public health in Scotland and a doctor, or a nurse under the direction of a doctor, considers that it is not advisable or possible for the person to attend a clinic. In line with the Scottish Abortion Care Providers guidelines, both drugs should only be taken at home where it is considered clinically appropriate for the patient, and where the patient wishes to do so.

a) Valneva has not received economic development funding to expand their manufacturing capacity from the Scottish Government, but have received account management support and advice from Scottish Enterprise.

b) The UK Government through the Vaccines Taskforce and (BEiS) has supported Valneva by providing funding for its early clinical trials and has also made a multi-million-pound investment to upgrade and expand Valneva’s Livingston manufacturing facility, as part of its supply agreement for COVID-19 vaccines.

Due to the commercially confidential nature of supply agreements, the UK Government is not able to disclose any further details.

We are aware of the current shortages of both labour and materials facing parts of the construction sector. We are working with Construction Scotland and others to understand and address the factors behind this, which include the impacts of Covid and EU Exit.

For the pipeline of future affordable housing supply programme projects, we are continuing to closely monitor any issues around workforce shortages in the housebuilding sector. Through local working arrangements, Scottish Government officials are in regular contact with housing partners and are kept appraised of concerns.

Scottish Government is already taking action through:

Apprenticeships

During 2020-21 we supported 5,033 people into modern apprenticeships in the construction sector.

We have introduced an enhanced Adopt an Apprentice programme, to encourage employers to recruit and retain apprentices supporting the long-term future of work-based learning and the economy.

In December 2020, the Scottish Government introduced a £15 million Apprenticeship Employer Grant (AEG) as a short term, sharp stimulus response to the pandemic.

The Scottish Government will continue to work collaboratively with Skills Development Scotland to maximise apprenticeships and prioritise a recovery that protects and creates jobs and supports our young people.

Upskilling and Retraining through NTTF

In the last year, the National Transition Training Fund (NTTF) has funded a range of support through Scotland’s colleges and universities to provide upskilling and retraining support for both unemployed people and those already in the workforce.

NTTF will continue in 2021-22 and we will continue to develop the support available to the sector to meet new and emerging skills demands.

We will continue to work with the sector through our Skills agency, Skills Development Scotland, to ensure we’re supporting the sector to address skills shortages.

Supporting Transition to net Zero

A key aspect of future training and skills development will be the support to deliver our net zero ambitions, with heat in buildings a critical element.

Training in Energy Efficiency Transition Support and Heat Pump Training alongside training by the Construction Scotland Innovation Centre on Passivhaus construction has been successfully delivered.

The Scottish Government and the Fair Work Convention are taking action to embed Fair Work in the sector to help attract and retain workers and support skills.

The Public Interest Conditions for this specific project are a matter for the UK Government.

Vaccines Taskforce, BEIS have provided the following commentary that the UK Government’s investments to fund Valneva’s early clinical trials and upgrade and expand Valneva’s Livingston manufacturing facility were made in line with HM Treasury’s Green Book.

Vaccines Taskforce and BEIS provided the following commentary that the UK Government has secured early access to 100 million doses of Valneva’s COVID-19 vaccine across 2021 and 2022.

The Prime Minister announced at the G7 on 11 June that the UK will donate 100 million surplus COVID-19 vaccine doses within the next year. The UK will donate 5 million doses by the end of September, beginning in the coming weeks, primarily for use in the world’s poorest countries. The Prime Minister has also committed to donating a further 95 million doses within the next year, including 25 million more by the end of 2021. 80% of the 100m doses will go to COVAX and the remainder will be shared bilaterally with countries in need. The vaccines will be drawn from across the UK’s supply of Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer/BioNTech, Janssen, Moderna and others. Decisions on which vaccines will be shared will be based on the continued reliability of supply chains, regulatory restrictions and advice from the JCVI.

The Scottish Government does not support the practice of conversion therapy in the UK. We are clear that this is an abhorrent practice with no place in modern society.

We strongly support the UK Government’s commitment to ban conversion therapy, and are awaiting precise details of the UK Government’s proposals, including in terms of whether they are likely to apply to Scotland.

If the proposed actions do not result in the banning of this discriminatory and harmful practice in Scotland, we will consider our next steps in banning conversion therapy, in so far as is possible within the powers of the Scottish Parliament.

Keeping children safe online is a key priority of the Scottish Government.

Additional funding was made available to Police Scotland for enhanced enforcement activity in direct response to the increase in reporting of online child sexual abuse during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Scottish Government continues to support Police Scotland’s response, ensuring that hundreds of children have been safeguarded by police enforcement.

We continue our significant funding commitments to third sector partners such as the NSPCC, Barnardo’s Scotland and Stop It Now! Scotland.

We have strengthened legislation and increased funding to make it easier for victims and survivors to come forward and speak out against abusers. We are also collaborating with third sector and operational partners to engage the public and raise awareness about the dangers of online abuse, including running successful communications campaigns earlier this year which connected with hundreds of thousands of Scots.

The regulation of the internet and online service providers remain a reserved matter, but we continue to work closely with the UK Government and Ofcom in developing proposals to introduce better safety measures online to help protect children and young people – including close liaison with the UK Government on the forthcoming Online Safety Bill.