Chamber and committees

This issue affects a range of sectors, including hospitality. We recognise that delivering affordable housing in rural areas presents different challenges. We are committed to delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, of which 10% will be in our remote, rural and island communities, and are making available £3.5 billion this Parliament for affordable housing across Scotland. We will publish a Rural and Islands Housing Action Plan this autumn to help retain and attract people in rural and island communities – making available up to £25 million through our Affordable Housing Supply Programme over the period 2023-2028 to deliver homes for key workers in rural communities.

Our short-term lets regulations, including control areas, give local authorities the powers to manage high numbers of short-term lets, and our consultation on second and empty homes invites views on local taxation and existing housing to inform policy development to ensure sufficient, safe and secure housing stock.

We are also working to explore solutions to staff shortages in collaboration with the sector, through our Tourism and Hospitality Industry Leadership Group.

Specific data on job creation is not collected. Over the past ten years, the estimated numbers of manufacturing jobs in Scotland, rounded to the nearest 1,000, were as follows:

The Scottish Government is pleased to announce that the Scottish Onshore Wind Sector Deal has been launched today at the Scottish Renewables Onshore Wind Conference.

Myself and the Minister for Energy and Environment have signed the deal on behalf of the Scottish Government.

A copy of the deal will be available on the Scottish Government website – https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781835213810

As the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice updated in her statement to Parliament, local authorities have a statutory responsibility to ensure that their schools are safe for pupils, staff and their users. In line with this responsibility, they continue to carry out assessments of their school buildings, and Ministers have been clear to authorities that those must be carried out as a matter of the highest priority. At present, I am meeting with COSLA on a weekly basis to review the position.

It is imperative that there is transparency around the schools where RAAC has been identified and the mitigations that are in place. This is why, on 8 September, a list of the 16 local authorities where reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) has been found in some schools was published in a Scottish Government news release ( Local authorities publish RAAC data - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ). Local authorities have now published a list of any schools where RAAC has been identified, and it would be for those individual local authorities to decide if they publish the projected cost to remedy any issues within their school estate.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-21088 on 21 September 2023. 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 Scottish Government places great importance on indoor sport facilities, such as ice rinks. They are crucial to the wellbeing of all our country and most importantly, for our children and young people to be healthy and active.

We are aware of the current challenges and difficult financial circumstances facing many operating indoor sports facilities due to the cost of living crisis. We have repeatedly called on the UK Government to use all the powers at its disposal to tackle this cost of living crisis and to provide appropriate energy bill relief to leisure facilities.

Where indoor sports facilities are operated by the local authority or leisure trust, it is for local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities. In 2023-24 the Scottish Government provided nearly £13.5bn in the Local Government Settlement and increased the resources available to local government by more than £793 million, including £100 million of additional funding at Stage 3 of the Budget Bill, funded in part by consequentials provided at the UK Budget. This was a real terms increase of £376 million or 3% compared to the 2022-23 Budget figures. In addition, Scottish Ministers allocated a further £55m ahead of the summer. This follows on from the additional £1 billion of funding provided to Local Government in 2022-23.

The Scottish Government understand that access to facilities is necessary for a range of sporting activities. That’s why our Programme for Government for 2023 to 2024 sets out our intention to convene a working group, including representatives of sports organisations, community organisations and CoSLA, to explore how community access to community facilities, such as the school estate, can be enhanced. This will be a priority action in our refreshed Active Scotland Delivery Plan.

The Scottish Government places great importance on leisure facilities, particularly swimming pools and believes everyone should have access to these services locally.

We are fully aware that local authorities are facing challenging financial circumstances, particularly in the maintenance and operating of facilities such as swimming pools and ice rinks, largely due to energy costs and other cost of living pressures.

The Scottish Government received consequentials of £5.816m from the UK Government from their swimming pool fund. These consequentials are added to the Scottish Block as a whole and it is ultimately for Ministers to decide how to utilise available funding in the context of a challenging financial backdrop and existing budgetary pressures.

In 2023-24 the Scottish Government provided nearly £13.5bn in the Local Government Settlement and increased the resources available to local government by more than £793 million, including £100 million of additional funding at Stage 3 of the Budget Bill, funded in part by consequentials provided at the UK Budget. This was a real terms increase of £376 million or 3% compared to the 2022-23 Budget figures. In addition, Scottish Ministers allocated a further £55m ahead of the summer. This follows on from the additional £1 billion of funding provided to Local Government in 2022-23.

The funding of local sports and leisure facilities, including swimming pools is the responsibility of our local authorities and, as independent corporate bodies, it is for local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities.

The Scottish Government attaches great importance to winter sports. Scotland’s fantastic outdoors is a huge draw for visitors and sporting enthusiasts, especially over the winter months.

The snowsports sector is a key part of Scotland’s rural economy, worth an estimated £30 million per year and providing over 600 jobs. sport scotland, our national agency for sport, is providing Snowsports Scotland with an investment of £424,350 this year, an increase of 2.6% from the previous year.

We also recognise the value of ice sports in Scotland and understand the important role that ice sporting facilities play in improving people’s lives, whether it is taking part socially, developing, progressing, or achieving success. sport scotland’s annual investment of £742,300 into Scottish Curling for the period 2023-24 represents an 8.3% increase in funding from the previous year.

The Scottish Government provided a £7 million ski centre fund during the pandemic to safeguard Scotland’s commercially run snow sport centres, including four of its five mountain resorts – Nevis Mountain Range, Glencoe Mountain Resort, The Lecht Ski Centre and Glenshee Ski Centre, and four artificial snow sport centres. In addition, thirteen ice rinks across Scotland also received £2 million financial support from the ice rink support fund.

I last met with the Scottish Veterans Commissioner on 7 June 2023. Scottish Government officials have regular meetings with the Commissioner and last met with her on 22 August. There is currently no meeting scheduled between the Commissioner and I but it is likely that one will take place following the publication of her 2023 Progress Report.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service will give careful consideration to any reports of alleged criminal conduct which are submitted by the police, or any specialist reporting agency.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has no policy whereby it will not accept offences reported to by the police, or any specialist reporting agency.