Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government recognises that all recorded information relating to its business is subject to Freedom of Information (FOI) law, irrespective of its format or the platform on which it is held. This includes any information held in or originally generated in WhatsApp or similar messaging apps. This responsibility is discharged through the relevant business units who have the responsibility for capturing this information as set out in the Scottish Government Records Management Policy.

The Scottish Government has released such messaging exchanges in response to Freedom of Information requests. However, to ascertain the number of responses which have included such exchanges since 2019, would require officials to individually check every FOI response the Scottish Government has issued since the beginning of 2019. For that reason, this information could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.

The current contract between Ferguson Marine and BAE Systems ends on 30 June 2023.

The latest Higher Education – Business and Community Interaction (HE-BCI) Survey Report by the Higher Education Statistics Authority (HESA) was published on 04 April 2023. This survey includes information on the number of active spin-offs founded at Scottish Higher Education Institutions, the turnover generated at these spin-offs as well as employment numbers.

Scottish Government is represented on the National Qualifications Group, and Scottish Ministers and officials were kept informed of the decision, and the rationale behind it, through regular meetings with SQA. I last discussed this with SQA when I met with the Chief Executive on 19 April.

SQA took this decision following engagement with the National Qualifications Group and wider education community, informed by extensive feedback gathered as part of their evaluation of the 2022 arrangements. All other parts of the UK have already returned to full course requirements.

Public protection is paramount and the Scottish Government is committed to learning from this Significant Case Review (SCR). We have accepted the two recommendations for the Scottish Government and will take these forward with MAPPA partners as appropriate. We also attended the first of what will be regular meetings convened by the Glasgow MAPPA Strategic Oversight Group Chair with partners to consider the findings of the SCR and oversee the implementation of improvements.

We recognise the health and wellbeing benefits having a pet can bring and our New Deal for Tenants sought views on proposals to give tenants greater rights to keep a pet.

Scottish Government officials engaged with Battersea Dogs & Cats Home to discuss their Pet Friendly Properties report and how these recommendations could work with tenants, landlords and pets. Officials also engaged with Cats Protection regarding their Purrfect Landlords campaign and to consider ways to encourage more landlords to allow pets in their properties.

We are currently considering responses to the consultation as we develop proposals for future reform and will continue to liaise with all stakeholders during this process.

A total of 494 people have benefited from an interim care placement procured using our additional funding offer. The total number of people in interim placements as of 3 April is 545.

This information is published at Interim care placement uptake - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The Scottish Government does not hold the requested information regarding the number of the interim care beds acquired through the announced additional funding that are still being used as of 1 April.

In 2023-24 local authorities will receive funding through the local government finance settlement of nearly £13.5 billion. Local authorities also have a range of revenue raising powers that are not available to other public services.

The Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. As such, the vast majority of funding is provided by means of the block grant. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, on the basis of local needs and priorities, including with regards to climate adaptation, to having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

While local authorities are responsible for setting their own budgets, the total funding provided by the Scottish Government will increase by over £793 million in 2023-24 compared with the 2022-23 budget. Decisions on budget allocations for future years are subject to negotiation with COSLA and the results will be confirmed as part of future Scottish Budgets.

By way of example £42 million is provided to local authorities annually for flood risk management, with an additional £150 million announced for investment over this Parliament. Additionally, £11.7 million for coastal change adaptation is available to support coastal local authorities over the course of this Parliament.

To secure long term economic opportunities from our seas, we must take transformative action to protect and restore nature and broaden our measures of economic success.

Scotland's National Strategy for Economic Transition sets out our ambition to become a wellbeing economy that takes a broader view of what it means to be a successful economy, society and country and put people and the planet first and foremost.

Transition to a wellbeing economy means developing an economic system within safe environmental limits which serves and prioritises the collective wellbeing of current and future generations. It means looking beyond GDP to measure other indicators of economic success and viewing economic activity as a means to an end – that of collective wellbeing of people and planet – rather than be considered an end in itself.

The proposals we have consulted on to introduce Highly Protected Marine Areas in Scotland’s seas, across both inshore and offshore waters, from east coast to west coast, are one action we are taking to protect and restore nature and secure long term economic opportunities for marine sectors, helping to support achieving the aims of the Strategy.

We have conducted a range of initial impact assessments, including an initial Sustainability Appraisal (composed of a Strategic Environmental Report and a Socio-Economic Impact Assessment); a partial Island Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA) Screening Report; and a partial Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA). We sought views on these as part of our initial consultation, which closed on 17 April. However, as was noted in the consultation, any specific potential impacts can only be considered in full once specific site proposals have been developed, following close stakeholder and community engagement.

The Blue Flag beach award is an international programme administered by the Foundation for Environmental Education. The main themes are; water quality; safety and information provision; environmental education; and land based facilities. Keep Scotland Beautiful coordinated the Blue Flag awards in Scotland until 2016. The following table shows how many beaches were granted Blue Flag status in Scotland from 2007 until the final award in 2015.