Chamber and committees

Both passenger ships, MS Ambition, Glasgow and MS Victoria, Edinburgh were contracted as a temporary measure to ensure Scotland could respond to the humanitarian crisis facing people in Ukraine and provide an immediate place of safely for displaced people.

All guests successfully disembarked MS Ambition before the contract ended on 31 March and were supported into alternative accommodation and we are now working closely with the City of Edinburgh Council to support guests on board MS Victoria to disembark before the contract ends on 11 July.

The Scottish Government continues to work intensively with local authorities to match people into longer-term accommodation and our priority is to ensure safe and sustainable accommodation can be provided. We are keen to continue to work together with the British Red Cross to utilise their experiences and expertise as we continue to settle displaced people from Ukraine into our community.

Ministers meet representatives of civil society organisations from time to time to discuss matters of common interest. Meetings with JustRight Scotland have been held on a number of occasions since May 2021.

Information about ministerial engagements is proactively released and is publicly available on the Scottish Government website .

Civil society organisations contribute in other ways to the development and delivery of public policy in Scotland, for example through participation in working groups and advisory boards.

JustRight Scotland are a member of the Scottish Government Human Rights Bill Advisory Board. Details of the Advisory Board are available on the Scottish Government website .

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

National Records of Scotland (NRS) are the official producer of statistics relating to deaths, including where the cause was related to COVID-19. The information they hold is restricted to that recorded at death registration and therefore they do not hold sufficient detail to identify where a cause of death was related to secondary COVID-19 impacts such as loss of support.

A one off analysis of COVID-19 deaths by disability was made possible by linking information on death registrations to data on long-term health problems and disabilities from Scotland’s Census 2011. This is publicly available on the NRS website: Deaths involving coronavirus (COVID-19) in Scotland, Week 11: Report (nrscotland.gov.uk).

There is no ongoing or planned work to look further at the level of detail outlined in the question.

We will consider the proposed Right to Addiction Recovery Bill when it is introduced by Mr Ross to Parliament.

Meanwhile, we have committed £250 million pounds now, through the National Mission, to tackle the drug deaths crisis.

We are also looking to the National Collaborative – which includes people affected by substance use and their families – to bring forward a Charter of Rights.

This will aim to set out how rights in the forthcoming Human Rights Bill can be implemented to improve the lives of people affected by substance use.

Our National Strategy for Economic Transformation sets out how we will establish Scotland as a world-class entrepreneurial nation, recognised as one of the best countries to start and grow a business.

Since the Strategy’s publication we have announced the appointment of Mark Logan as Chief Entrepreneur, launched our Techscaler network to support the creation of more tech start-ups and published the Pathways Report: A New Approach for Woman in Entrepreneurship to address the barriers woman face in entrepreneurship and business start-up.

The Scottish Government remains committed to providing a resilient infrastructure solution to address the landslip risk at the Rest and Be Thankful. The preferred option for a medium-term solution was announced on 23 December 2022. A detailed programme for the proposed improvements is now being developed and it is expected that these works will be carried out on a phased basis starting later this year.

At the same time, Transport Scotland continues to take forward the necessary design and assessment work at pace with a view to announcing a preferred route option for the long-term solution this Spring.

I absolutely share the urgency communities and businesses place in maintaining and improving connectivity of this vital route, and remain absolutely committed to ensuring continuity of access to Argyll and Bute so that the region remains open for business.

Following their meeting on 14 December 2022, the National Partnership for Culture met on 15 February 2023 to support the development of the Culture Strategy Action Plan Refresh. The partnership will meet again in the coming months to discuss its remit, structure and future work plans.

The Scottish Government will outline our ambitions around culture and creativity in learning via the Culture Strategy Action Plan refresh, which we will publish later this year. This will include our plans for cross-portfolio engagement in order to scope where culture may link in with other policy initiatives, such as the Place Standard Tool, as outlined in the National Partnership for Culture recommendations.

The Scottish Government has made it clear that this agreement, will not compensate for the damaging impact of the UK leaving the EU. The UK Government’s own modelling suggests that CPTPP membership will result in a mere 0.08% increase in UK GDP. In contrast the Office for Budgetary Responsibility has forecast that Brexit will reduce the UK’s potential growth by 4%.

Whilst there are some welcome gains for Scottish businesses, such as the reduction in high Scotch Whisky tariffs, these must not be at the expense of other sectors vital to our economy.

We have consistently expressed concerns to the UK Government that joining CPTPP could place Scottish producers at a disadvantage by opening the door to cheaper imports produced to lower safety, animal welfare, environmental or labour standards. We are also unclear how the UK Government will protect domestic standards given the arbitration processes of the agreement.

The review of the expressive arts curricular area is part of the ongoing National Discussion on Education as well as the Hayward review into qualifications and assessment. In the immediate term, Screen Scotland, in partnership with the education community, are piloting, in selected schools, a new Film and Screen curriculum for Scotland as part of the expressive arts curricular area. This pilot programme is being delivered across early years, primary and secondary settings.

The draft Film and Screen curriculum has been created to meet the needs of a shifting economy, employment landscape and learner demographic. A full evaluation of this will be made at the end of the pilot programme.