Chamber and committees

Details of all Ministerial engagements and expenses are proactively published by the Scottish Government, including the costs of travel and accommodation. The information can be accessed at the following below: https://www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts

The most recent published figures from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is available at: Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme and Ukraine Family Scheme: Visa data by age and sex of applicant - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) .This provides the sex breakdown by age grouping of displaced people from Ukraine who have arrived under the Super Sponsor Scheme.

The Scottish Government is not aware of any Scotland-wide surveying or monitoring of rat populations over the last five years.

The Scottish Government’s contract with First Marine International (FMI), a subsidiary of HaskoningDHV, sets out deliverables around timing and the quality of the work done on the report that the Scottish Government has commissioned. These are being used to determine performance and are linked to milestone payments to the supplier. The use of milestone payments is a common mechanism in Scottish Government contracts.

Any decisions around potential investment at the yard will be subject to value for money considerations and to subsidy control rules.

There have been nearly 300 applications to the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) from Ukrainian nationals, undertaking a first year of study in Higher Education (HE), for financial support (including tuition fees) in the 2022-23 Academic Year (AY). There have been a further 35 applications from Ukrainian nationals for financial support for postgraduate studies – this package attracts a tuition fee loan.

These figures may continue to rise with applications still being accepted.

It is not possible to confirm how many of these students have applied to the Super Sponsor scheme.

Data in respect of applications for support for courses of Further Education (FE) is not available. At the end of the 2022-23 AY, the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) will be able to confirm the number of Ukrainian nationals who enrolled on college courses.

These are operational matters for Scottish Canals. Scottish Canals receives Grant in Aid for its core duties of operating and maintaining the waterways for which it is responsible as navigation authority .

Scottish Canals has benefitted from significant increases in grant in aid awards in recent years. Since 2019, the Organisation’s capital grant from the Scottish Government has increased by 87% and it has received an annual uplift in resource funding since 2020.

We continue to work with local authorities on plans to ensure every school-aged child has access to a device and connectivity by the end of this parliamentary term. This will include consideration of processes and costs to update devices when necessary.

The Scottish Government does not have policy control over the eligibility for rebated fuels, such as red diesel. This is a reserved policy. Changes introduced by the UK Government in April 2022 restricted the eligibility for use of rebated fuels.

An emergency budget review has been announced to assess any and all opportunities to redirect additional resources to those most in need, reduce the burdens on business and stimulate the Scottish economy. More than £4.7 billion in support has been provided to businesses since the beginning of the pandemic, including around £1.6 billion in rates relief.

Ultimately, the Scottish Government believes that all tax powers should be devolved to this parliament so that we can provide the support that Scottish businesses need.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally, however each NHS Board will hold information on dental practice registration capacity in their area.

We remain a position of relative strength in terms of workforce numbers and capacity in Scotland, with 59 dentists per 100,000 of the population providing NHS dental services, compared with 43 per 100,000 in England. Dental registrations project a similar picture, with a record number of people registered with a NHS dentist, more than 95% of the population of Scotland.

Further information on dental statistics, including NHS dental registration numbers broken down by NHS Board, can be found on the Public Health Scotland (PHS) website, at: Dental Statistics (publichealthscotland.scot) .

£25m digital inclusion funding was made available by Scottish Government in 2020-21 for local authorities to use to support learners, in line with their own local needs. This funding supported the provision of 14,000 internet connections and 72,000 tablets or laptops for learners across all local authorities.

A number of local authorities have also invested their own funding in technology and have distributed connections and devices to learners in line with their own digital strategies.

We continue to work with local authorities on plans to ensure every school-aged child has access to a device and connectivity by the end of this parliamentary term.