Chamber and committees

Ferguson Marine Engineering Limited (FMEL) was put into administration in 2019 and since then the company has been dissolved. Operating the Crane at Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow is classed as an operational matter for Ferguson Marine as such the Scottish Government does not hold this information.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19355 on 29 June 2023. 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

Transport Scotland owns and manages a small number of buildings but has not carried out any assessments of this kind. They have confirmed with its building occupiers that no assessments for this material have been carried out. Transport Scotland lease their corporate office space, so don't have any property management responsibilities in this regard. They will now consider the relevant guidance, explore what may be needed and advise once these investigations have been carried out.

Following detailed discussions between the Scottish and UK Governments, we have today announced that there will be two Investment Zones in Scotland, to be designed and delivered on the basis of a partnership approach alongside the successful Regional Economic Partnerships.

We have together decided, on the basis of a robust and evidence-based joint selection process, that the Glasgow City Region and North East of Scotland are the two most suitable areas in which to locate them.

Each Investment Zone will benefit from a package of funding worth £80 million, made up of capital and revenue spending and targeted tax reliefs, to promote innovation, stimulate business growth in sectors of the future and create high-quality, well-paid jobs.

We will now jointly begin discussions with the two Regional Economic Partnerships to co-develop detailed proposals, aligned to our National Strategy for Economic Transformation and the recently published Innovation Strategy.

We will publish more information in due course on the policy approach and on the selection process.

The Scottish Government has allocated £6 million from the City Centre Recovery Fund 2021-22 to the member cities of the Scottish Cities Alliance in support of City Centre recovery, to take forward the priorities identified by the City Centre Recovery Task Force. Funds were divided between the cities based on city centre population and paid directly to each local authority, rather than directly to the Scottish Cities Alliance.

The Scottish Government also contributes £196,000 per annum directly to the Scottish Cities Alliance. This is in addition to the £28,000 contributed by each of the 8 cities. It is from this contribution that any ongoing work undertaken by the Scottish Cities Alliance on City Centre Recovery is funded.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. We advise the member to contact the NHS Board directly.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. We advise the member to contact the NHS Board directly.

Probationary teachers are allocated places on the Teacher Induction Scheme based on their subject and their ranked preference of five local authority areas. An insufficient number of probationary teachers chose Aberdeenshire Council for their probationary year and, therefore, Aberdeenshire Council did not receive the number of probationary secondary teachers that they requested.

Through the Teacher Induction Scheme probationary teachers can receive a Preference Waiver Payment of up to £8,000, if they are willing to complete their probation anywhere in Scotland, including in Aberdeenshire.

Whist we recognise there is a challenge around the recruitment of teachers in certain geographical areas and in certain subjects, we cannot direct teachers where to undertake their probation or where to work.

Transport Scotland and CMAL will continue to engage with CalMac on maintenance, repair, and vessel resilience activities, considering preventative approaches as part of this. The ongoing engagement is aimed at minimising unplanned outages which affect performance of the fleet and at helping to deliver reliable services to our island communities. Direct comparison with other fleets is not straight forward but it is noted that the unplanned events in the CalMac fleet are, in part, a consequence of challenges of maintaining equipment which, in some cases, is no longer supported by original manufacturers. These activities are supported by the ongoing commitment to the additional maintenance and resilience funding. The phased replacement of the older vessels in the major and small vessel fleets, along with the related standardisation of equipment, will reduce unplanned maintenance, and make overhaul and repair activities more efficient over the coming years.

Local authorities are directly responsible for teacher recruitment, and they have autonomy to provide incentives – as some already do - to attract teachers to their area.

We are providing £145.5 million in this year's budget to protect increased teacher numbers and support staff across all local authorities. In addition, through the Teacher Induction Scheme probationary teachers can receive a Preference Waiver Payment of up to £8,000 if they are willing to complete their probation anywhere in Scotland.