Chamber and committees

I set out, on 25 November, priorities for expanding testing in social care, including the introduction of testing for designated care home visitors and we will start to roll this out to 14 ‘early adopter’ care homes from 7 December and issue lateral flow test kits to all care homes from 14th December. It is possible that not all homes will be able to start lateral flow testing before Christmas, and so we will provide PCR testing during the festive period. Our strategy is in line with the clinical and public health priorities identified through the review of our testing strategy which can be found at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-review
-of-testing-strategy-october-2020/ . From January, this will include extending our testing programme to care-at-home staff, including permanent and visiting staff and personal assistants in a person's home, covering residential settings, sheltered housing and day care.

Testing remains one measure of protection against COVID-19, alongside a strong emphasis on robust infection prevention and control measures, including the use of PPE, the extended use of face masks, physical distancing and good hygiene.

It is for the Scottish Enterprise Board to determine how the budget it receives from the Scottish Government is allocated across its various activities, including the Scottish Investment Bank (SIB) which primarily utilises Financial Transactions.

The Government allocated £203.755m to Scottish Enterprise for 2020/21, including £38.6m (net) in Financial Transactions. In 2020-21, Scottish Enterprise received additional funding to provide to businesses to support them through the Covid crisis. In July, the Scottish Government allocated £10m to Scottish Enterprise to support SIB’s co-investment funds, to enable more support to be provided to businesses and help stimulate private investment. The Government also allocated a further £25m for the Early Stage Growth Challenge Fund to help early stage innovative businesses whose routes to investment and growth had been impacted directly or indirectly by Covid. SIB led on the delivery of the Fund.

The SIB team within Scottish Enterprise has 42 Full Time Equivalent staff.

The existing exclusivity agreement is in place until 31 December 2020. Discussions between Flamingo Land Ltd and Scottish Enterprise are continuing and it is not yet possible to confirm what, if any, agreement may be in place after that time.

In March, in response to coronavirus, the Scottish Government announced a £350 million emergency package for communities. Before opening the current £40 million Community and Third Sector Recovery Programme (CTSRP), the Scottish Government had already awarded over £22 million in grants to 1,349 organisations through the Third Sector Resilience Fund (TSRF).

Adapt and Thrive is part of the CTSRP and aims to support charities, community groups, social enterprises and voluntary organisations, through working with advisers, to develop plans and implement changes to adapt how they raise income so they can operate sustainably through the move from lockdown to recovery. As well as support, grants between £5 and £25k and loans of £25K+ are also available to implement the plans.

More information is available at Community & Third Sector Recovery Programme – SCVO

Since the start of the crisis, we have invested over £2.3 billion to support businesses of all types across Scotland. In addition to the support offered through the Strategic Framework Business Fund, we recently announced a further £185 million to help impacted businesses through winter. More details will be announced shortly.

I refer the member to the oral evidence provided to the Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints and related correspondence. This sets out that the then Director of Safer Communities, Gillian Russell, provided Judith Mackinnon, Head of People Advice, with a contact in the Public Protection Specialist Crime Division of Police Scotland to seek generic advice on handling cases of sexual harassment. The meeting was in December 2017 and in attendance were three Police Scotland officers and Ms Mackinnon.

The Scottish National Investment Bank (the Bank) and Scottish Enterprise are working closely together to align their activities and minimise duplication to deliver maximum benefit for businesses and the Scottish economy. As part of this and to avoid confusion, the Scottish Investment Bank, ‘SIB’, brand is no longer being used and the investment activities of Scottish Enterprise (SE) are now being carried out under the SE brand. Work is also underway to identify investments made by SE under the SIB brand which may transfer to the Bank as part of its role in consolidating existing public sector investment activities.

I have made clear my opposition to the UK Government’s pay freeze, which misjudges the value of frontline efforts throughout this pandemic. The forthcoming Scottish Public Sector Pay Policy for 2021-22 will directly impact 50 public bodies, and act as a benchmark for wider public sector workforce groups across Scotland, including NHS Scotland, renewing pay deals for 2021 and beyond.

We will continue to take a principled approach to public sector pay awards as we work towards rebalancing our economy – building on our progressive approach of recent years that has both restored pay to pre-2010 levels for the lowest paid and consistently paid more across frontline services than the UK Government.

The funding made available to support the Hotel Support Programme is £14m. Enterprise Agencies, VisitScotland and SDS are also drawing in their wider support products and services to assist companies on the Programme. The number of Expressions of Interest received by local authority area is set out in the following table:

The Scottish Government has committed to identifying a preferred corridor by Spring 2021. A full timetable can only be established once a preferred corridor is known and the nature of the infrastructure works can be more clearly defined.

Safety of staff in schools is paramount. Teachers are entitled to feel safe at work and we expect schools and local authorities to make sure appropriate arrangements are in place for them.

Our latest guidance on reducing coronavirus (COVID-19) risks in schools, published on 30 October, says schools and local authorities should follow the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists advice to try to keep the risk of exposure as low as is practically possible to pregnant women, particularly in the third trimester. Normal pregnancy risk assessments should also be undertaken, and appropriate attention paid to mental health and wellbeing.