- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 12 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with Friends of the Earth Scotland.
Answer
Ministers and officials regularly meet with environmental stakeholders including Friends of the Earth.
The last time Ms Slater met with Friends of the Earth was on 17 May
Friends of the Earth were invited but unable to attend a meeting with Ms Slater and eNGO’s on 2 June 2023, to discuss the impact of the UK Government’s decision not to grant a full IMA exclusion for the Scottish Deposit Return Scheme and to consider the implications of this decision on the environment in Scotland.
- Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 12 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government which of its teams is responsible for processing contract inflation claims in relation to housing developments, and how the decision-maker on such matters can be contacted.
Answer
Projects receiving funding through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme will be considered for additional grant in relation to unforeseeable and unavoidable cost over-runs which may be identified following tender approval as outlined in our Affordable Housing Supply Programme Process and Procedures guidance – Annex E: Cost over-runs. More Homes Division within the Scottish Government is responsible for assessing and processing such claims and the grant applicant should contact their local area team to discuss projects they wish to be considered.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 12 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with the Faculty of Public Health, and what was discussed.
Answer
Scottish Government Ministers and officials meet regularly with a wide range of stakeholders, including the Faculty of Public Health, to discuss areas of mutual interest.
- Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 12 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact of any termination of the Deposit Return Scheme on local authority (a) budgets, (b) public procurement contracts and (c) waste management services.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to the benefits of our Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). However, following the UK Government's decision not to provide a full exclusion to the Internal Market Act I have announced in Parliament that we will be pushing the launch of the DRs back to October 2023.
A set of impact assessments including an Equalities Impact Assessment, Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment, Fairer Scotland Duty Assessment and Island Communities Impact Assessment were published alongside the original DRS Regulations in 2020. This included the impact on local authority budgets. Any significant changes to the scheme will most likely require further engagement with stakeholders, impact assessments and regulatory change.
Scottish Government has regular engagements with local government and other key stakeholders. Local government is represented on our Ministerial Strategic Advisory Group, and our Hospitality Sector Group, as well as on the Waste and Resources Sector Forum and joint Scottish Government/Local Government Strategic Steering group on Circular Economy and Waste with respect to wider waste and circular economy policy. They will have a role to play in the governance of the DR which will look at strategic and operational issues.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 12 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government which apprenticeship providers have delivered (a) Modern, (b) Foundation and (c) Graduate Apprenticeships in Scotland in each year since 2018-19, also broken down by occupational grouping.
Answer
This information has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre under BiB No. 64319.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 12 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how it is ensuring wider strategic alignment between the Scottish AI Alliance and its (a) Digital Strategy and (b) Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review.
Answer
The Scottish AI Alliance continue to align their work with the delivery of Scotland’s Digital Strategy and the Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review (STER) programme, to realise potential synergies in areas such as infrastructure, skills, and investment. In particular, In July 2022, the Scottish Government awarded a five-year £42m contract to Codebase for the delivery of a national network of Tech Scalers. Tech scalers are a major piece of infrastructure designed to support the creation of more tech start-ups in Scotland, and to help them to grow to scale.
Similarly, while use of AI attracts a set of AI-specific ethical questions, the Scottish Government recognises that the ethical challenges and opportunities of using data and digital technologies are interlinked. Work is currently underway across several Government directorates to identify synergies and to explore how to bring the different aspects of ethics in the digital world together while ensuring responsible use of data.
We meet regularly with colleagues from across government and further afield to ensure our work is joined up and responsive.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 12 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many civil servants are working on the development of a National Pharmaceutical Agency, broken down by (a) headcount and (b) full-time equivalent figure.
Answer
Civil servants operate flexibly across a range of policies and programmes according to the specific requirements of the work at any time. They do not, as a matter of course, record the proportion of their time that they spend working on particular matters. It is therefore not possible to say specifically how many hours were spent by civil servants involved in this work.
- Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 12 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether any design changes will be made to vessel 802, in light of the comment by the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy, during his ministerial statement on Ferguson Marine on 16 May 2023, that the vessel will no longer be value for money.
Answer
The design of the ship is the responsibility of Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow. We are aware that detailed design of Hull 802 will draw upon lessons learned during the design and build of MV Glen Sannox.
- Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 12 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether an islands community impact assessment was carried out before making the decision to continue to build vessel 802 at Ferguson Marine, and, if so, what the outcome was.
Answer
An Islands Community Impact Assessment was not completed as part of the due diligence exercise. Previous analysis of the value to island communities of ferry services was however considered.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 12 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many of the (a) 20 short-term, (b) 29 medium-term and (c) 66 total actions in its Women's Health Plan 2021-2024 have been achieved.
Answer
Wide-ranging progress has been made since the publication of the Women’s Health Plan in August 2021 and the first report on progress , published on 26 January 2023, sets this out in more detail.
Our Women’s Health Champion, Professor Anna Glasier, recently published her first blog , highlighting her initial work and priorities for the months ahead. Future blogs will be published quarterly, and provide updates on the work of the Women’s Health Champion, as well as the delivery of the Women’s Health Plan more broadly.