Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government (SG) has not identified any reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in the Core SG Estate. As such no funding has been requested or made available. The SG Core Estate is defined as those sites/buildings where SG Directorates operate from.

The Scottish Government has recently engaged with Councils regarding Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete, including through the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland and Scottish Heads of Property Services networks. The Scottish Government has had no direct contact with COSLA on this issue. Safety in public buildings is a matter for the owner and we expect them to provide a safe environment for all users.

Support from the Circular Textiles Fund is available without capital expenditure requirements.Applicants from the first round are currently being supported to develop their proposals further, to make best use of the funding.Further information on support for applicants to the Circular Textiles Fund is available at: - https://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/resources/circular-textiles-fund 

The beaver kit dependency period is between 1 April and 16 August and no licences to control beavers have been issued in this period. As such, there has been no legal requirement for carcasses to be submitted to NatureScot for an independent post-mortem.

The legal requirement for licence holders to submit carcasses for independent post- mortem to NatureScot will take effect when new licences granted by NatureScot commence on 17 August 2023 and thereafter.

The Scottish Government is committed to the benefits of our Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). The financial assumptions contained within the related Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) showed the projected cost of compliance with Scotland’s DRS regulations which were passed by this Parliament. A full suite of impact assessments were published at the time of the original regulations and these have been updated in light of subsequent amendments – we will shortly publish revisions to reflect the amendment regulations laid last month. Termination of the DRS was not considered.

Scottish Government is aware of the investment to Circularity Scotland by the Scottish National Investment Bank. The Bank makes commercial investments and operates its investment processes independently of Scottish Government.

Scottish Government has contacted NHS Lothian, which has confirmed the Youth Hospital Navigator pilot at both hospitals was funded only for a fixed term of two years which ends this month. The pilot was included in an external evaluation of all youth work provision commissioned by NHS Lothian.

NHS Lothian is considering this evaluation and its next steps over the next 6 months which includes designing a youth work model, based on learning and key findings from the evaluation and developing a business case to support this. Health Inequalities and Children’s Rights Impact Assessments will be commissioned as part of this process.

As with all public bodies, governance arrangements are reviewed continually to ensure they remain effective. A routine appointment process for vacant SFC board positions is currently underway.

In September 2022, Ministers initiated an Independent Review of the Skills Delivery Landscape focused on the skills functions of Scotland’s national public bodies including Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council.

The Independent Review has been led by James Withers and its findings and recommendations were published on 7 June. The Scottish Government will consider the recommendations, including any implications for the governance of the Scottish Funding Council, in the context of work on lifelong education and skills reform.

The New Deal for Business Group will include business leaders, along with representatives from organisations including the Scottish Retail Consortium, Scottish Tourism Alliance and Fraser of Allander Institute. The membership for the New Deal Business Group has been finalised and agreed by the First Minister.

The New Deal for Business Group has met twice (17 May and 1 June) with representation across a range of business sectors, sizes and locations in both the Group’s membership and members and contributors to the five subgroup’s led by Scottish Government and Business. We have encouraged the business leads to reach out to their networks to ensure as wide a reach as possible and have recently published a mailbox ( [email protected] ) to facilitate contributions from across Scotland’s business community.

Through Creative Scotland we will raise awareness with the creative industries of this facility. The Group is due to report its recommendations to the First Minister at the end of June. After that time, we will review membership aligned with those recommendations.

Given the reserved nature of telecoms legislation, responsibility for ensuring that Project Gigabit creates genuine competition between bidders ultimately sits with the UK Government, who oversee the parameters of the programme and its implementation.

The Scottish Government is, however, working closely with the UK Government and in March 2023, the Scottish Government and Building Digital UK (BDUK) carried out Procurement Area Market Engagement. This engagement sought to determine the level of interest from the broadband supplier market in bidding for new contracts. Feedback from these sessions is being used to help shape the development of potential procurement areas. This process will help ensure that procurements attract bids from as many suppliers as possible, encouraging competition.

We continue to urge the UK Government to be flexible in their approach to funding for Project Gigabit, as there can only be meaningful supplier interest and competition if a sufficient level of funding is available to deliver coverage across all parts of Scotland.