Chamber and committees

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.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the development of skills to realise the full potential of our screen sector. As set out in the Programme for Government 2021-22, working with Screen Scotland through its partnership with the skills agencies, we will continue to increase skills provision across the sector, including through increasing training and apprenticeship placements. Work is already underway to deliver training targeted at areas of skills needs. This includes two programmes backed by £426,500 from the Scottish Government’s National Transition Training Fund, one which supported trainees learning new skills in production and a second offering training in animation, visual special effects and production accountancy.

Our shared policy programme with the Scottish Green Party recognises the important role that community housing trusts play in supporting our remote, rural and island communities and the delivery of more affordable homes in these areas. We will work with these organisations to achieve this aim, including through the availability of Scottish Government operated funds, for the continuation of their important work.

The Scottish Government is now determining how this work will proceed and the resourcing it requires, as we do for delivering our commitments across the whole range of our responsibilities in the interests of the people of Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02844 on 23 September 2021. 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 Programme for Government , published and debated in the Scottish Parliament on 7 September, set out that “The Scottish Government will work to ensure that a legitimate and constitutional referendum can be held within this Parliament, and if the Covid crisis is over, within the first half of this Parliament.”

The First Minister announced as part of the Programme for Government on 7 September that the Scottish Government would restart work on the prospectus for independence. The Scottish Government is now determining how this work will proceed, as we do for delivering our commitments across the whole range of our responsibilities in the interests of the people of Scotland.

The previous Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Economy and Fair Work met with the local authority culture conveners on 2 March 2021. This was the second meeting since the Culture Strategy was published. Scottish Government officials are working with COSLA to organise a further meeting soon.

A range of civil servants will be responsible for overseeing different aspects of work relating to an independence referendum. Overall leadership of the civil service supporting the Scottish Government lies with the Permanent Secretary and Executive Team.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02844 on 23 September 2021. 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 .