Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government do not hold this information. Under the current constitutional arrangements in the United Kingdom immigration is fully reserved to the UK Government and is dealt with by the Home Office. If a displaced person from Ukraine has been issued a visa, they are free to travel anywhere within the UK or to leave and re-enter the UK when they wish, as long as they are meeting the conditions within their visa. The UK Government’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities publish data on arrivals in the UK, with a Scottish Sponsor Visa: Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme: Visa data by country, upper and lower tier local authority - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The Scottish Government publish the latest Scotland-level data and information on people displaced by the war in Ukraine coming to Scotland through the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme. This data can be found on our website via: Ukraine: analysis and statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-16442 on 3 May 2023 and question S6W-19380 on 11 July 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 .

Scottish Government do not provide direct funding to STV as they are an advertiser funded broadcaster.

We do however provide funding to Screen Scotland who have themselves provided funding to STV Studios. STV Studios is separate to the broadcasting element of STV and is the television production arm of the STV Group plc. They work with a range of broadcasters and streamers, not only STV. All funding decisions of Screen Scotland are made independently of Scottish Government.

In addition, all Scottish Government media buying and planning is undertaken via agencies appointed through the Media Planning, Buying and Associated Services 2019 to 2023 framework. Therefore, this is not conducted directly with STV.

We continue to support home ownership and have interventions in place to help first time buyers through our Low Cost Initiative for First-Time Buyers (LIFT) scheme which helps people on low to moderate incomes to buy their first home.

Our first-time buyer relief for Land and Buildings Transaction Tax has the effect of raising the nil-rate threshold from £145,000 to £175,000, saving first-time buyers up to £600.

No formal assessment has been carried out on the impact of increased mortgage rates on First Time Buyers (FTB’s), however we are aware that an increase in mortgage rates will make it more difficult for many FTB’s to obtain mortgage lending or in fact access it due to a decreased number of products available.

Healthcare professionals working in primary care settings play a vital role in the delivery of the national mission to reduce drug deaths and improve lives. The Scottish Government encourages these professionals to engage with the range of training opportunities available on drug use.

The Scottish Government provides funding to NHS Health Boards and a proportion of this funding is allocated for education and training. It is the responsibility of each Health Board to decide how this funding is allocated for staff training.

Scottish Government has, in previous years, provided funding to the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) to deliver the Management of Problem Drug Use certificate. This is a multi-disciplinary course aimed at professionals working with people who use drugs across primary care settings, and beyond, including General Practitioners (GPs), pharmacists, nurses, prison healthcare staff, and individuals in third-sector.

Scottish Government has agreed to provide further funding, over the next three years, to support continued delivery of the certificate.

I approved this decision as Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants' Rights.

For the reasons behind this decision, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19607 on 28 July 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 .

This is a matter for individual private and public organisations as the Scottish Government is not part of any public-private partnerships directly developing heat networks in Scotland. Other public bodies may be part of public-private heat network delivery partnerships but this information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. Therefore, the Scottish Government is not in a position to answer this question accurately.

The 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games received international recognition as an outstanding fortnight of sporting and cultural events.

The Scottish Government will of course explore if Scotland can support a multi-city, multi-partner hosting opportunity however the Commonwealth Games Federation will need time to consider next steps, and it would be premature to comment further at this stage.

The following table shows the average processing times for the cases which settled during each quarter since April 2022 and how many of those were processed within the requested timescales.

All applications to HOSF are tested for eligibility for both Mortgage to Rent (MtR) and Mortgage to Shared Equity (MtSE). Due to the circumstances of individuals there have been no Mortgage to Shared Equity cases since 2015, in particular many applicants have high levels of complex unsecured debts and low earnings.

The following table shows the number of applications received during each quarter since April 2022 and the number of applications successfully completed. Mortgage to Rent is a voluntary scheme and participation from applicants, lenders, trustees and social landlords is required for a case to succeed.