Chamber and committees

Scottish Enterprise is responsible for the operational management of its portfolio of investments. Scottish Enterprise remains in regular discussion with Liberty Steel regarding the loan.

The agreed transaction structure secured the earliest realisation of the commercial and wider economic benefits of the deal and prevented the closure of the last remaining steel plant in Scotland and the loss of hundreds of highly skilled jobs.

The Scottish Government does not have a procedure in place to report collisions between its Marine Protection Vessels and cetaceans, basking sharks and other marine mammals. There have been no known incidences of collisions and so no procedure has been developed. Should an incident occur, our crews would assist where possible and report to the British Divers Marine Life Rescue and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, both of which crews have worked with before to assist stranded cetaceans.

I have asked Janet Egdell, Chief Executive of National Records of Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:

National Records of Scotland have today published: ‘Scotland’s Census 2022: Education, labour market and travel to work’.

Scotland’s Census results are designated as Accredited Official Statistics and form an integral part of the statistical system in the UK. The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR), the independent regulatory arm of the UK Statistics Authority, awards Accredited Official Statistics designation based on the quality, good practice and comprehensiveness of official statistics.

More detail about the schedule for future reports can be found here.

The information requested on how many full-time equivalent nurses there were in 2023-24 can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at: NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting bereaved parents and tackling funeral poverty.

We have removed child burial and cremation fees for children under 18 years old and for stillborn babies, financially supporting bereaved parents.

Parents whose baby sadly dies after it was born, or is stillborn, may be eligible for Best Start Grant Pregnancy and Baby Payment. If the parent is under 18 or a dependent aged 18 or 19, they do not need to receive any benefits to be eligible.

Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay and Leave is reserved to the UK Government.

The Scottish Government publishes figures relating to the supply of affordable homes across Scotland, on a quarterly basis, which can be found online at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-for-scotland-new-house-building/.

The following table provides a breakdown of mid-market rent homes delivered with Scottish Government funding in each local authority area between April 2019 and end March 2024. The figures include Registered Social Landlord mid-market rent and Council mid-market rent homes. The figures also include other mid-market rent homes delivered through programmes such as National Housing Trust, Local Affordable Rent Housing Trust, Places for People Capital MMR Initiative and Rural and Island Housing Funds.

While we have no such plans given the important role that homes for mid-market rent play in the wider housing system, we will continue to work across the Scottish Government and with local and UK Government to respond to the housing emergency and to deliver on our target of 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 – of which at least 70% will be for social rent.

As set out in Programme for Government 2024-25 we are making a new long-term commitment of £100 million, to grow with institutional investment to at least £500 million, supporting the construction of around 2,800 mid-market rent homes by making public funds go further.

Our Green Industrial Strategy is published today and is available online at https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781836016847. This strategy will ensure that Scotland gets the maximum possible economic benefit from the opportunities created by the global transition to net zero. To create good, well-paid jobs we need to translate Scotland’s huge strengths into competitive advantages in a global race: that is why this strategy provides a clear direction and focus to create confidence and encourage investment. We will use all the powers at our disposal to make Scotland a fantastic place to invest in the green economy opportunities which the strategy identifies.

The Scottish Government has today published the Violence Prevention Framework for Scotland: Annual Progress Report 2023-2024. This can be accessed on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781836017684.

The report highlights work undertaken by our partners in the first year, over 2023-24 to implement the actions set out in the Violence Prevention Framework for Scotland to prevent violence and reduce its harm when it does occur.

Further Progress Reports will be published on an annual basis.