Chamber and committees

As Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise I am seeking an urgent meeting with Lord Grimstone, UKG Minister of State for Investment with responsibility for the Office for Investment, to clarify the status of UKG engagement with Tesla. Scottish Enterprise officials are also engaging with the Office for Investment in addition to the planned Ministerial engagement. I visited Tesla in California previously to discuss inward investment opportunities and SDI engages with them.

Public health measures have been implemented at borders to minimise the risk of importation of the virus from foreign travel. Recently, this has included alignment on the traffic light system for international travel which came into effect on 17 May 2021. This applies to all arrivals with a few limited sectoral exemptions where necessary to ensure essential or emergency work can be resumed in Scotland. People returning from overseas charity work are currently not exempt from the restrictions and should refer to the guidance provided. All decisions regarding exemptions are kept under review by the Scottish Government and assessed in the light of the latest scientific evidence.

Coronavirus (COVID-19): international travel and managed isolation (quarantine) - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Active Nation Commissioner, Lee Craigie, was appointed to her role in December 2018 for a 3 year term. There are currently no plans to put the role on a statutory footing.

Transport Scotland published the draft Phase 1 recommendations and an update on the second Strategic Transport Projects Review on 3 February 2021. This included National and Regional Case for Change Reports which contained a list of transport options that are being considered further in Phase 2. We invited stakeholders and the public to feedback with a closing date of
‎ 31 March 2021.

As a result of our engagement we received a total of 461 responses, of which 333 are on the Phase 1 Recommendations report and 128 on the Case for Change reports. Given the substantial amount of feedback we have received we are now carefully considering how this will inform Phase 2 of the review.

We will share these key points with the Regional Transport Working Groups in the first instance, and use them to inform the ongoing appraisal, prior to publishing later in the Summer.

Domestic and international elite sporting events are permitted to take place in all strategic framework levels.

Any event organiser must comply with the protocols set out under the Resumption of Performance Sport guidance and run their event in a strict ‘bubble’. Events must have specific Covid secure plans in place and ensure that they have an appropriate testing regime; a clear statement on minimising or eliminating any unavoidable encroachment of physical distancing within the event environment; restrict movement of participants to designated accommodation, training and competition sites; and have contact only with other accredited event participants unless for other exceptional reasons such as medical need or legal requirements. Event participants must also adhere to the international travel regulations for Elite Sportspeople.

The Scottish Government and the sportscotland Institute of Sport (SIS) reviewed the comprehensive plans put forward by the World Curling Federation in advance of the event being approved.

As the National Agency for Sport, sport scotland is committed to inclusion underpinning everything it does, understanding the barriers people face and proactively addressing them so everyone has the opportunity to get involved in sport and physical activity. sport scotland works with national and local partners to understand, deliver and strengthen sporting pathways for people with disabilities.

Nationally, sport scotland works with, invest in and supports Scottish Disability Sport (SDS), the Scottish governing and co-coordinating body of all sports for people of all ages and abilities with a physical, sensory or learning disability.

Across the Highlands and Islands, sport scotland works with all local authorities, leisure trusts, local sports clubs and community organisations, as well as SDS and the Scottish Sporting Governing Bodies, to develop local and regional opportunities and pathways in sport for people with disabilities.

Phase 3 of Connecting Scotland will launch on Monday 7 June 2021.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting children and adults who have hearing loss, sight loss and dual sensory loss to access the health services and social care they need through its National See Hear Strategy .

See Hear provides a strategic framework of action for meeting the needs of people with a sensory impairment and since 2014, the Scottish Government has provided almost £4.5m to establish and support a national network of See Hear Leads and local partnerships between statutory and third sector organisations across every local authority area in Scotland. See Hear partnerships are responsible for identifying local priorities, developing work streams, timescales and implementation plans, based on local priorities and need.

In addition, the Scottish Government provides funding for the Scottish Sensory Hub, based in the ALLIANCE which was launched earlier this year. It hosts the See Hear National Coordinator, along with deafscotland, and the Scottish Council on Visual Impairment (SCOVI). It will facilitate collaboration between the Deaf, Deafened, Hard of Hearing, Deafblind and Sight Loss sectors and develop a rich resource base of expertise, skills and knowledge for people with sensory loss and those who work in this field.

The Scottish Government also continues to fund and support the contactSCOTLAND - BSL online interpreting Video Relay Service, which enables Deaf and Deafblind British Sign Language (BSL) users to telephone, via video relay interpreters, private sector numbers as well as statutory and third sector numbers, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Further, the British Sign Language (BSL): National Plan 2017-2023 sets out in detail the actions the Scottish Government is currently taking, and working towards, to help ensure deaf and deafblind BSL users are fully involved in all aspects of daily and public life. The BSL National Plan can be accessed online here: British Sign Language (BSL): National Plan 2017 to 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

At present there is little evidence to show that gamebirds are causing damage to protected areas in Scotland, however NatureScot will continue to monitor the situation closely.

Gamebird releases within European protected sites are controlled through the Operations Requiring Consent (ORC) list. This means that land managers need to apply to NatureScot for consent to release gamebirds within the boundaries of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), where this may have an impact on the special features of nature conservation interest on the site. If the SSSI overlaps with a Natura site (which can be either a Special Protection Area or a Special Area of Conservation), NatureScot must carry out a Habitats Regulations Appraisal before consent can be given.

NatureScot’s Site Condition Monitoring Programme measures the health of the notified features across all of Scotland’s protected areas, including European sites. The Programme also identifies underlying causes for unfavourable condition of features in order to inform management actions. Gamebirds are mentioned in around 0.2% of these assessments and gamebird releases have not been identified as the cause of any features on protected sites being in unfavourable condition.

As of 13 May 2021, 36,064 devices and 32,332 data packages have been provided. All Connecting Scotland customers have access to training and support. Interim results from our follow-up survey indicate that around half of Connecting Scotland customers found this support helpful in improving their digital skills.