Chamber and committees

Official launch of the Cyber Centre of Excellence (CCoE) physical location was on 15th December 2022. The CCoE is based in Abertay University cyberQuarter.

The Scottish Government is greatly concerned about any adverse impact on students resulting from industrial action, and fully expects universities to put in place appropriate mitigations to minimise disruption to studies. As autonomous bodies, universities are responsible for their own academic and assessment regulations and policies.

During this period of industrial action, while the nature and scale of any impact will vary between and within institutions, the Scottish Funding Council has been working closely with the Quality Assurance Agency, Universities Scotland and institutions across the sector to monitor mitigation arrangements, prioritise the integrity of academic standards and manage the impact on the student learning experience, including any implications for completion of studies and awarding of degrees.

Applications closed on the 15 January with 72 applications in total received. Following a rigorous panel selection 48 applicants were successful in obtaining a place on the programme. The MSc programme launched in March and is constructed to provide the 48 participants with the opportunity to achieve Certificate, Diploma, or Masters level accreditation as they progress. Programme participants represent 31 organisations across the health and care sector. The first module, 'Fundamentals of Leading Digital Transformation' commenced in April.

The Tax Advisory Group will build on the Scottish Government’s inclusive approach to tax policymaking. The group will be a key part of the achieving our ambitions for Open Government and greater engagement on tax policy and will be a long-term feature of how we engage on tax. Further details, including on the frequency of meetings, will be set out later this month. Minutes from the meetings will be published once agreed by the group.

The Scottish Government currently have no confirmed date for the 2024 publication of the Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS). However, under the Written Agreement between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament, we must produce the MTFS after the UK Government’s Spring fiscal event and four weeks before the summer recess.

Asylum and immigration are entirely reserved to the UK Parliament and are handled by the Home Office, including provision of asylum accommodation for people who would otherwise be destitute while waiting for an asylum decision from the Home Office.

The Scottish Government has regular discussions with the Home Office and local authority representatives about asylum accommodation, including different types of contingency accommodation. We have been consistently clear that people seeking asylum should be accommodated in communities, with access to the essential support and services they need. The Scottish Government supports widening dispersal in principle, but believes that participation by local authorities should be voluntary. Funding for local authorities, introduced for the first time in 2022, is a positive step but this needs to be a long term commitment to make asylum dispersal more attractive and enable better support for people seeking asylum as well as local communities. Improved partnership working, data and information sharing are also needed. The Scottish Government is clear that the Home Office must engage with local authorities and COSLA on these matters.

As part of the UK Government’s plans to pursue alternative accommodation sites, the UK Immigration Minister spoke to Scottish Government and COSLA on 25 May.

In that meeting the Scottish Government was very clear that hotels and other forms of temporary accommodation, including vessels, are not suitable for people seeking asylum. It is not comparable to use for displaced people from Ukraine or other groups supported in temporary accommodation, because of fundamental differences in the rights and agency of people seeking asylum. While people are waiting for a decision on their asylum application they are restricted from working and have no recourse to public funds – a policy which prevents access to most mainstream benefits.

The Scottish Government was also clear that if the Home Office were to impose a vessel in Scotland they must: undertake a detailed risk assessment and engagement through the Asylum Partnership Board and local service providers in Scotland; fully engage the relevant local authority in this work; and that suitable funding is provided for local authorities and services to ensure that essential services are in place, people are supported appropriately and any impact on local services is minimal.

There are no current plans to publish correspondence in order to prevent substantial prejudice of relations between administrations and in the interest of maintaining the effective conduct of public affairs.

In the Programme for Government 2021-22, the Scottish Government pledged to develop a Scottish Education Exchange Programme to support the international mobility of staff and learners.

The Scottish Government will work as quickly as possible to provide information to partners on the timetable for delivery of this commitment.

In response to your query regarding the Scottish Government’s spend on unconscious bias training, our records show that centrally the Scottish Government has not spent any budget on unconscious bias training using external businesses and organisations. However, Scottish Government staff have been required to complete mandatory diversity and inclusion training since 2021. Unconscious bias is referenced in this training. The training was developed in partnership with Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion (ENEI) and the total cost of development was £33,900.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18675 on 20 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