Chamber and committees

Scottish Government officials meet regularly with counterparts from other UK administrations and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), as the UK regulator, on general pesticide policy and specific points of interest. Sustainable methods for the control of bracken and the 2023 application for the Emergency Authorisation of Asulox has been regularly discussed at these meetings.

Stakeholders have the opportunity to raise and discuss pesticide issues, including bracken control, at the quarterly Pesticide Stakeholder Group meeting with Scottish Government officials. I regularly attend these meetings and bracken control has been discussed. The Scottish Government also continues to listen to views presented by the Bracken Control Group (BCG), and other stakeholders, on appropriate methods for the future control of bracken.

The Access Data Short-Life Working Group is currently due to report to the Access Delivery Group in September 2023.

Fundamentally, access to education is an issue of fairness. Scotland has a truly world-class higher education system, perhaps the most powerful weapon there is to combat socioeconomic inequality. It is our firm belief that Scotland has a moral, social and economic duty to tackle this inequality. We remain committed to the principle that access to education should be based on the ability to learn and not the ability to pay.

With regards to the cost of living crisis, we are committed to providing a student support system that is agile and supportive and prioritises support for those who need it most. We have taken positive steps to reform the student support landscape and made significant progress to deliver a student support package equivalent to the living wage. The most vulnerable students, including estranged and care experienced students, can now access up to £9,000 per year through bursaries and loans. Scottish Government have also reaffirmed their position that, unlike elsewhere in the UK, tuition fees for Scottish students studying in Scotland are free.

We understand that this is a challenging time for many students. We have provided £16.8m in hardship funding to higher education students studying in colleges and universities for the current academic year to support students experiencing financial hardship. We have also provided £135m in student support for FE students attending college in the current academic year. Colleges can use these funds flexibly to meet demand across FE student bursaries, childcare and hardship funding.

As outlined in response to question S6W-14224 on 24 January 2023 it remains a priority for the Scottish Government to ensure the important work undertaken by Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels continues. NatureScot, Scottish Forestry and Forestry and Land Scotland are currently providing core funding for the roles of the Grey Squirrel Officers (GSOs) as part of the Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels partnership project.

The Scottish Government and partners will continue to be involved in discussions on taking forward the work currently being undertaken by Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels.

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

The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) is currently the national measure of progress on widening access to higher education. This was recommended by the Commission on Widening Access in its final report, A Blueprint for Fairness, in 2016, and Ministers committed to adopting the recommendations in full. We recognise that there may be other suitable measures to work alongside SIMD, which is why Scottish Government officials are chairing an Access Data Short-Life Working Group to investigate this.

The Royal Bank of Scotland’s Report on Jobs is one of several sources of evidence that the Scottish Government monitors, in the context of wider developments in the labour market. The Report draws on a monthly survey of recruitment agencies, and offers insights into broad trends and developments around recruitment.

The latest edition of the Report indicates reductions in staff placements, along with reduced staff availability and increased demand for permanent staff. The latest labour market data for Scotland from ONS indicates that Scotland’s employment rate remains high, while unemployment rates are at close to record lows.

The National Strategy for Economic Transformation sets out our approach to ensuring that employers have a pipeline of skilled workers and makes clear that employers must invest in the skilled employees they need to grow their businesses. We are taking forward a range of measures, including working with business organisations to promote Fair Work; providing a range of employability support to help people to enter the labour market; and developing our Talent Attraction programme and Migration Service to attract workers with the skills that Scotland needs.

The Hydrogen Innovation Scheme is part of the Scottish Government’s £180m Emerging Energy Technologies Fund (EETF), which was announced by Scottish Ministers in the Climate Change Plan Update (December 2020). The EETF will support the development of the hydrogen sector and carbon capture and storage (CCS), including Negative Emissions Technologies (NETs) in Scotland by providing capital support until 2026 to accelerate low carbon infrastructure projects that will be essential to deliver net zero. The fund will make £100 million available to support hydrogen projects in line with our Hydrogen Policy Statement. The funding offered to the 32 successful applicants to the Hydrogen Innovation Scheme is the first tranche of this hydrogen funding programme.

All four settlement cases were dealt with in accordance with the procedure set out in the Scottish Public Finance Manual. Business cases for the proposed settlements were submitted to the relevant Cabinet Secretary at that time: Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills (Shirley Anne-Somerville) and Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport (Jeanne Freeman). The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Economy (Kate Forbes) was also sighted on all cases.

Since August 2005, when Interface was established, it has played a role in facilitating 3,410 collaborative projects with 2,144 unique businesses. Between August 2018 and April 2023, Interface brokered 1,528 collaborations with universities, research institutes and colleges in Scotland. The regional breakdown of collaborative projects is 331 for Highlands and Islands, 353 for Glasgow City Region, 107 for South of Scotland, 359 for Edinburgh and the Lothians, 90 for Central and 288 for the North East. In 2021, an independent evaluation of Interface activity showed that the contribution to the Scottish economy from research and development projects between businesses and academics enabled by Interface was £88.9m GVA (gross value added) supporting 1,595 jobs, with expectations to reach £222.3m GVA and 3,193 jobs.

The Scottish Government did not make a decision on the re-instatement of shared cabins. This decision was taken by the ferry operator following their own internal review.