Question reference: S6W-11340
- Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 5 October 2022
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Current status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 October 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assurances it can give (a) local authorities and (b) the City of Edinburgh Council that capacity and financial pressures experienced as a result of supporting displaced people from Ukraine will be met by the Scottish Government.
Answer
Continued partnership is at the core of delivering and improving the Super Sponsor Scheme. The Scottish Government is grateful to the continued work of local authorities, including City of Edinburgh Council, in their support to displaced people who have had to flee their homeland.
The Scottish Government understand that arrangements underpinning the Super Sponsor Scheme have incurred costs which could be considered out of scope of the various UK tariffs. We continue to urge the UK Government to have parity of funding no matter the route through which someone arrives.
Officials are in discussions with COSLA to finalise a framework through which local authorities will be reimbursed for costs incurred due to the super sponsor scheme as well as engaging directly with City of Edinburgh council to understand and agree costs incurred by the council since the scheme opened for applications.
The Scottish Government would like to offer reassurance that reasonable costs associated with the super sponsor scheme will be met by the Scottish Government.