Chamber and committees

A table showing the number of supported living projects and the number of homes delivered in each local authority area since 1999, which received support from the Affordable Housing Supply Programme or its predecessor programmes, has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib Number 64694).

We have interpreted ‘supported accommodation’ as including sheltered, very sheltered and supported accommodation and homes delivered for people with dementia.

We do not hold information on supported living developments where we did not provide funding.

To note that here have been a number of IT system changes and coding changes since 1999.

The Scottish Government continues to deliver on its commitment on building the case for an independent Scotland within the EU, through the development of a prospectus to give people the information they need to make an informed choice about their future, and I can confirm that today we are publishing “Our marine sector in an Independent Scotland”.

This is the eighth paper in the Building a New Scotland series, which focuses on Scotland’s marine sector, describing how independence would allow it to achieve its full potential to get the support it needs and the prioritisation it deserves. It includes proposals for how an independent Scotland in the EU would benefit fisheries and seafood businesses, coastal communities and marine science sector, and how Scotland could make a constructive contribution to the development of current and future EU strategic priorities such as reforms of the Common Fisheries Policy, the transition to renewable energy and growing the blue economy. It also sets out details of how Scotland would have a voice on the world stage, with the ability to negotiate for fisheries and other interests at international level, join international bodies and work in partnership with other countries on global marine agendas in our own right.

The Scottish Government is continuing to prepare further papers in the Building a New Scotland series and more will follow shortly.

Building a New Scotland: Our marine sector in an Independent Scotland is available to view on the Scottish Government website from today at www.gov.scot/newscotland

The Scottish Government has not carried out a specific assessment of the potential impacts of renewable energy projects on food production.

National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) policy 5 ‘Soils’ is clear that that development proposals on prime agricultural land, or land of lesser quality that is culturally or locally important for primary use, as identified by the local development plan, will only be supported in limited circumstances.

Those circumstances include: for essential infrastructure where there is a specific locational need and no other suitable site, and for renewable energy generation. In all circumstances the policy is clear that the layout and design of the proposal minimises the amount of protected land that is required.

All renewable energy applications are considered on a case-by-case basis, and a careful balance must be struck between the potential impacts of the proposed development and the associated environmental, economic, renewable energy and climate change benefits.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-22241 on 13 November 2023 which provides an overview of the scope of the review. 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

The process of recruiting a Chair for the independent review is underway and an advert is currently live. The advertisement will be live for 5 weeks and will close on 27 November 2023, with interviews expected to take place in December.

In a meeting between myself and Lord Brodie on 15 November 2023, Lord Brodie provided an update on the Inquiry’s progress and the forthcoming hearings on both Edinburgh and Glasgow hospitals. Whilst no date for presenting recommendations has been published, the Chair provided assurances of his dedication to concluding the Inquiry promptly whilst ensuring the focus remains on fulfilling the Inquiry Terms of Reference.

It is the statutory responsibility of local authorities to manage and maintain their school estate, and Scottish Government funding is intended to augment, not replace, local authorities’ own investment in their schools.

East Lothian Council have been awarded financial support through the £2bn Learning Estate Investment Programme (LEIP) for their Wallyford High School and Whitecraig Primary School projects.

In addition, through the previous Scotland’s Schools for the Future Programme, the Scottish Government awarded East Lothian Council with funding of £9.5m towards 2 school projects.

As a result of investment by this government, the proportion of schools in “good” or “satisfactory” condition in Scotland has increased from 61% in April 2007 to almost 91% in April 2023. LEIP investment will build on this progress.

We will continue working with COSLA, local authorities and Scottish Futures Trust to explore how we can deliver further improvements in the school estate.

Nobody in our society should ever be subjected to Islamophobia, and we recognise we need to do more to tackle it in Scotland.

We previously consulted with communities affected by Islamophobia on whether adoption of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) or some other definition of Islamophobia would be helpful. Although communities were broadly supportive of a definition, there was no consensus on the APPG definition.

Our Hate Crime Strategy sets out our strategic priorities for tackling hate crime in Scotland, including Islamophobia. It was informed by communities with lived experience of hate crime, including Muslim communities.

Our Hate Crime Strategy Delivery Plan, published this week, commits to a range of meaningful, ongoing and participatory engagement. We will continue to engage with Muslim communities in Scotland to understand the issues of importance to them as we move into strategy delivery.

The general policy of the Scottish Government is to advise MSPs to directly approach public bodies and organisations for information held by them which is not held by the Scottish Government, and although acting to collate non-Scottish Government held information may have happened in the past, it is not currently viewed as practicable.

Boats that are moored in one location for weeks or months, primarily as a safe haven, will not be liable for a visitor levy, if a local authority introduces one. We continue to discuss and explore with all relevant stakeholders the full implications of a visitor levy applying to boat moorings and berthings.

The Scottish Government continues to fully cooperate with the UK Infected Blood Inquiry and has provided significant input to the Inquiry to date, including by providing hundreds of relevant files as evidence, through provision of written statements and oral evidence, and by providing a detailed closing submission to the Inquiry, which can be found on the Infected Blood Inquiry’s website at SUBS0000056 - Closing submissions to the Infected Blood Inquiry by the Scottish Government - 16 Dec 2022.pdf .