Chamber and committees

There are no plans to extend the Air Discount Scheme to cover travel by apprentices. Where employers and learning providers are unable to fund travel and subsistence costs for apprentices attending off job formal learning opportunities, Skills Development Scotland will reimburse the costs for residents of Shetland and other Highlands and Islands areas. This would include the full cost of air fares where no public transport alternative is available.

No plans were made for the First Minister, or any other Minister, to attend the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

The Minister for Environment and Land Reform represented Scotland at the Under 2 Coalition General Assembly, held during the recent 'Climate Week NYC'. Further details of this engagement will be reported to Parliament shortly.

Overseas visits undertaken by Scottish Ministers help protect and enhance Scotland’s interests, improve global networks, unlock new economic and trading opportunities and create domestic opportunities and benefits for the people of Scotland. For security reasons we do not comment on the future travel plans of the First Minister.

A new funding round of the Food Processing and Marketing Cooperation Grant Scheme (FPMC) ran in late 2021 to support food processors in developing local supply chains and transitioning to net zero operations. This ultimately saw £7.3m being awarded across 29 projects.

A further funding round, with a budget of £10.2m for new projects, was opened on 9 May 2022, and closed on 19 June 2022, with 65 applications having been received from the food processing industry. The assessment process has now concluded, and businesses will be notified of the outcome of their applications imminently.

This year’s Programme for Government was published in the context of the most severe cost crisis of our lifetimes, and for that reason, the nature and immediate focus of this Programme for Government is different. As well as facing uncertainty created by the inaction of others, we face difficult choices ourselves, both as a nation and as a government and the 22-23 Programme for Government clearly sets out immediate steps this government will take to help families and businesses to get through this crisis. It is also important to note that the Programme for Government does not cover all of the work being taken forward by the Scottish Government, and that we remain committed to supporting businesses to grow and expand, whilst contributing to the development of local supply chains, and supporting the transition to net zero emissions.

Adult Disability Payment opened for new applications across Scotland on 29 August 2022, following successful pilots that began in March.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission is responsible for forecasting spending on Adult Disability Payment and publishes estimates on the number of people expected to receive Adult Disability Payment in each financial year. In their May 2022 forecast, the Scottish Fiscal Commission estimated that there would be 34,000 recipients of Adult Disability Payment in 2022-23 in Scotland. This would include successful new claims and cases transferred from Personal Independence Payment and Working Age Disability Living Allowance. They attached a high degree of uncertainty to their estimates and they have indicated they will revise the assumptions as more data becomes available.

The Commission does not forecast the number of new claims per month for Adult Disability Payment. However, internal Scottish Government analysis estimates that approximately 44,000 new claims for Adult Disability Payment will be received by the end of February 2023.

The Scottish Government’s absolute priority is ensuring the wellbeing and safety of displaced people from Ukraine. Our aim is to reduce overall hotel stay lengths and for people to be settled in accommodation in communities as soon as possible and for as long as they wish to stay.

The contract notice with Corporate Travel Management (CTM) (North) Ltd, was published on 09 August 2022. The contract is the primary route used to source and provide travel-related services for displaced people from Ukraine including accommodation in hotels and on the M/S Victoria I and M/S Ambition.

The full contract has a value of up to £100 million with a start date of 8 July 2022 and an end date of 12 December 2024.

A number of papers covering the opportunities of independence will be published over the coming months as part of the Building a New Scotland prospectus series. The series will be published in good time before an independence referendum takes place, to allow the people of Scotland to make an informed choice over their future.

As the First Minister has previously set out, papers to come later in the series will cover matters including currency, the public finances, pensions and social security, EU membership and trade, and defence and security.

Figures for the area of woodland and the areas of new planting / restocking in Scotland on land owned by the Scottish Government and/or its agencies are published annually as National Statistics by Forest Research and are available from the Forest Research web site at https://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-8w3lv3 .

We are putting in place robust plans to deliver our replacement for Winter Fuel Payment from winter 2024 and we will consult on the proposals for this replacement in due course. Our priority in taking on full responsibility for all the devolved benefits is a safe and secure transition so that people continue to receive support at the right time and right amount.

From this coming winter (2022-23) the Scottish Government’s new Winter Heating Payment will guarantee an annual £50 payment to around 400,000 low-income households each winter. This is not dependent on age but will be targeted, reliable financial support to those most in need, including those in receipt of Pension Credit.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10787 on 3 October 2022. 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 .