Chamber and committees

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 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.

Transport Scotland is in the process of analysing around 650 responses received from the public consultation. It is expected the consultation findings, including responses to occurring themes where relevant, will be published on the Transport Scotland website in early 2021.

In the meantime, Transport Scotland has published information on the emerging themes from the consultation on its website at https://www.transport.gov.scot/projects/a83-access-to-argyll-and-bute/project-details/ .

Michael Matheson: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-33622 on 10 December 2020. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

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.

As part of our precautionary approach, our COVID-19 guidance on reducing the risks in schools advises that parents/carers should wear face coverings during school drop off/pick up. This was a recommendation from the COVID-19 Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children's Issues.

The guidance makes clear that it is a legal requirement that local authorities ensure that risk assessments are conducted, regularly reviewed and updated, and that all aspects of school life should be taken into consideration.

As I previously indicated to the Finance and Constitution Committee, on an exceptional basis, I will provide the Committee with a high level analysis of the allocation of Barnett consequentials since the Autumn Budget Revision in early December. This will be an interim update, subject to final allocations being formally confirmed in the Spring Budget Revision.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5O-04819 on 3 December 2020 which is available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/ormain.aspx '