Chamber and committees

In the Programme for Government 2021-22, we committed to “engage with our Scottish Connections international community and expand on our work with Scottish diaspora networks across the world.”

Across the Scottish Government, we already have a wide range of activity to engage with our diaspora groups and those with a connection with or affinity to Scotland.

Our external network of international offices work directly with our diaspora communities in key locations around the world, and two new overseas offices in Copenhagen and Warsaw will expand this network further. GlobalScot, Scotland’s network for international business, reached its 20th anniversary and its 1000th network member this year. Our engagement with the Higher Education sector, including our substantial global alumni network and programmes such as the Saltire Scholarships, plays a key role in building Scotland’s connections internationally.

We are currently undertaking research to advise on our future approach to diaspora engagement to expand our international impact. The report from the first phase of this project will be published in due course. We are also planning a programme of international activity for Scotland’s Winter Festivals, with St Andrew’s Day and Burns Night in particular providing key opportunities to support and connect with our existing diaspora networks around the world.

As referenced in the answers to S6W-03093 and S6W-03094 on‎ 29 September 2021, officials will provide me with delivery options and recommendations – including on funding – by the end of this year, and we will offer a further update at that point.

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

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all children and young people with additional support needs are supported. Under the Additional Support for Learning Act education authorities are responsible for identifying and meeting the additional support needs of their pupils. This includes the employment and provision of appropriate resources, including teaching and support staff, to meet children’s needs.

The Scottish Government remains committed to maintaining teacher numbers nationally and ensuring we have the right number of teachers, with the right skills, in the right places to educate our children and young people.

Figures published in December 2020 show that teacher numbers increased for the fifth year in a row – rising to 53,400 in 2020, an increase of 1,153 on the previous year. There are now more teachers than at any time since 2008, and the ratio of pupils to teachers is at its lowest since 2010.

We also continue to provide additional support to education authorities through investment of £15 million per year to further enhance capacity in education authorities and schools to respond effectively to the individual needs of children and young people, through the provision of support staff.

The Scottish Government has also established a Pupil Support Staff Working Group to explore how best we can empower and support pupil support staff, including taking action in response to the recommendations of the additional support for learning review. As part of this a Professional Learning Framework for Pupil Support Staff was launched at the Scottish Learning Festival, on 22 September 2021 .

The R100 North lot contract was signed one year later than planned due to a legal challenge which resulted in a necessary pause in the procurement process. The contract we subsequently signed with BT plc will go far beyond our superfast commitment of 30 Mbps by delivering a significant number of Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) connections, providing future-proofed, gigabit capable connectivity.

The additional engineering work required to deliver these connections will take time, however we remain committed to ensuring that everyone can access superfast broadband services by the end of 2021. Anyone whose home or business broadband speed is less than 30 Megabits per second (Mbps), and where there are no plans under the R100 contracts or commercial build to bring superfast broadband to their address by the end of 2021, will be eligible for a voucher through the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme.

This year we support to hotel facilities, including rural hotels, with £900k by means of our enterprise agencies as part of our highly targeted £14m COVID-19 Hotel Support Programme.

As we look forward beyond immediate business support, we are working closely with the sector and have secured £25m to deliver the recommendations of the Scottish Tourism Recovery Taskforce. These wider actions will stimulate demand for the sector contributing to its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

As previous Scottish administrations have done in the past, we are committed to enhancing our external reach and voice. Our new offices in Copenhagen and Warsaw will promote Scotland’s interests and expertise in the Nordic and Central European regions, attracting investment and supporting the exchange of knowledge and best practice. We will set out the costs of the Copenhagen office in due course but would expect them to be broadly in line with those of several other existing offices. It is too early in the planning process to provide an estimated cost for the Warsaw office.

The Scottish Government will be advised by the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC), if there is likely to be an unrealistic demand placed on the fund.

We will continue to engage and work collaboratively with the sector and SLIC, which provides leadership and advice to Scottish Ministers, local authorities and the wider libraries sector, to ensure we are addressing any concerns in relation to the Public Library Covid Relief Fund.

As part of the Reaching 100% (R100) North lot contract, 16 subsea cables will be delivered to 15 Scottish islands - Colonsay, Iona and Lismore in the Argyll & Bute local authority area; Eigg in the Highland local authority area; Eday, Flotta, Hoy, Rousay, Sanday, Shapinsay and Stronsay in the Orkney Islands local authority area and Fair Isle, Unst, Whalsey and Yell in the Shetland Islands local authority area.

Initial survey work is now complete and we expect all cables to be laid by the end of 2022, subject to favourable weather conditions.

The eligibility criteria for the Public Library Covid Relief Fund have already been made public via the relevant Scottish Government press release issued on 10 September 2021. It can be accessed here .

The fund will support libraries to re-open or extend their opening hours, as well as fund targeted plans for issues such as digital exclusion or mental health and wellbeing. While priority will be given to applications which support deprived areas and communities, all library services across Scotland are invited to apply for the fund based on their communities' local needs and priorities.

The Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC), will be liaising with all services directly and will be working with them on their applications to assist a smooth process and maximise the impact of the fund.

The Scottish Government has no plans to amend legislation relating to antique air weapons. Following consultation with the Scottish Government, the UK Government has introduced the Antique Firearms Regulations 2021. These regulations apply to Scotland as they apply to England and Wales, with the single exception of regulation 3(d). This provision is not being replicated because the air weapons it would affect are devolved. It is already the case that, regardless of the date of manufacture, all air weapons in Scotland with a muzzle energy greater than 1 joule must be held on a Scottish air weapon certificate (unless the muzzle energy is above 12 foot pounds, or 6 foot pounds for air pistols, in which case reserved UK legislation already applies).