Chamber and committees

Ministers did not direct officials or CMAL to enter into the contract; nor did officials or CMAL seek such a direction or “written authority” from Ministers. Transport Scotland and CMAL ensured that Ministers were informed of, and accepting of, the risks associated with this contract following which Ministers provided some additional assurances sought by CMAL. These exchanges have been set out in the public record since 2019.

The Auditor General confirmed last week that Audit Scotland was “clear in our judgment that there was no formal written authority”.

All farmed fish, including cleaner fish, are protected by the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006, which places a duty on fish farms to ensure their needs are met. Fish farms must keep mortality and veterinary records by law and these are inspected by the Scottish Government’s Fish Health Inspectorate. Significant cases of poor welfare observed during inspection are reported to the Animal and Plant Health Agency.

The Sustainable Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC), receives public funding and supports research on the health and welfare of cleaner fish, and how their natural environment and behaviours can be encouraged on fish farms.

The Farmed Fish Health Framework Steering Group, which includes fish vets, regulators, the sector, and Scottish Government and which is chaired by the Scottish Government Chief Veterinary Officer, provides the appropriate forum within which future policy relating to the health and welfare of farmed fish will be developed.

Health Boards and Health & Social Care Partnerships are responsible for considering local health needs and taking population growth and infrastructure expansion into account when providing general medical services.

The Scottish Government's NHS Capital Investment Group meets on a monthly basis to consider investment proposals submitted by Health Boards.

The Vaccination Transformation Programme covers all routine immunisations that are delivered in Scotland. From the 1 st of April, NHS territorial Health Boards have responsibility for the delivery of vaccination programmes, with models varying across Scotland to align with local requirements. This allows Health Boards the flexibility to arrange vaccination centres at community venues, delivering through existing health teams (such as Midwives or Community Pharmacies), or establish new clinics to meet local needs. Some Health Boards may continue to utilise GP practices to provide vaccination services by local arrangement.

Since May 2020, the Scottish Government has invested over £48 million in our Connecting Scotland programme, which provides people on low incomes with a device, connection with unlimited data for two years, as well as training and support. Since programme launch 60,000 digitally excluded people in total have been brought online. We are now working on an extension to the programme to reach 300,000 people by the end of this Parliament.

The programme is part of our wider package of support to help everyone in Scotland benefit fully from the advantages of the digital world – from broadband connectivity to digital skills training and support for schools and business.

This is a matter for Local Authorities. The information requested is not held centrally.

Licensing authorities will recover the costs of establishing and running the licensing scheme in their area through licence fees.

The Scottish Government does not collect data on the cost to local authorities for housing homeless households in temporary accommodation. This information would need to be requested from each local authority directly.

Funding for local authorities is provided by way of a block grant. It is the responsibility of each local authority to manage their own budget and to allocate the total financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities, including any funding to combat homelessness, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

Scottish Government lawyers provide legal services and advice to the Scottish Government and its agencies only. As such, Ukrainian-speaking lawyers have not been specifically recruited in order to assist the resettlement process.

To support the settlement process of Ukrainian refugees, the Scottish Government has provided £36,000 to JustRight Scotland to provide free, confidential legal advice to Ukrainians and their family members seeking safety in Scotland. We have also provided £7 million to Local Authorities to meet longer term needs. In addition, we have provided £1.4 million to the Scottish Refugee Council for the expansion of its Refugee Integration Service.

In order to support older and disabled people in meeting this new legislation, we have provided a total of £1.1 million in 2021-22 to Care and Repair Scotland.

We also provided £1 million to SFRS for their Home Fire Safety visits to help those most vulnerable to the risk of fire to meet the new standard. The general principle is that owners are responsible for the cost of looking after private property. Our targeted funding is reaching those most at risk and least able to do the work themselves. There are no currently plans to provide further funding.

The Scottish Government published a statement in partnership with COSLA on 21 January 2022 confirming that local authorities will take a proportionate and measured approach to compliance and individual circumstances will be taken into account.

Whilst we encourage homeowners to install these alarms at their earliest opportunity to protect lives and possessions, we have emphasised consistently that there will be no penalties for non-compliance.