Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government held several roundtable meetings to bring together partners to discuss the prevalence of spiking and a range of initiatives and information available on spiking.

Representatives from COSLA and SOLAR (Society of Local Authority Lawyers and Administrators in Scotland) Licensing Committee were invited to the roundtable discussions.

We have also separately engaged with the SOLAR working group membership and the National Licensing Standard Officers (LSO) Forum to better understand the scale of spiking in Scotland within venues and consider whether any further actions are required. Previous discussions have not suggested any moves to introduce mandatory reporting conditions, however, under existing licensing laws it is possible for Licensing Standards Officers to submit reports, objections or representations on various matters to Licensing Boards. Where appropriate, LSOs may also be required to submit applications for a review of premises licences. More generally, we would expect independent Licensing Boards to co-operate and liaise with Police Scotland where required to ensure that consistency with the licensing objectives is upheld in the operation of the licensed premises at all times.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14206 on 2 February 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 .

Non-Executive Board members are required to undertake mandatory training at local level as a part of their local induction process. This is set out in the Director Letter DL(2019)21 - Induction process for Non-Executive Board Members . In addition, NHS Education for Scotland has a range of learning material available to Board Members. Current eLearning modules include: “Finance”; “Audit and Risk”; and, “Equality and the Role of Board Members in Meeting the Public Sector Duty”. These modules, whilst not mandatory, are recommended.

There was minimal impact, and no disruption to any of VisitScotland's services as a result of the Public and Commercial Services Union industrial action, on 1 February 2023.

I refer the member to the answers to question S6W-06004 on 10 February 2022, and question S6W-06005 on 8 February 2022. 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 Royal College of Physicians Intercollegiate Stroke Working Party (ICSWP) is leading development of the 6th edition of the National Clinical Guideline for Stroke. The next edition of the guideline is expected to be published in April 2023.

The Scottish Government continues to consider the use of Artificial Intelligence in health and social care through Scotland's AI strategy and the forthcoming Data Strategy for Health and Social Care.

The SPCB is pleased to be able to confirm that it is a member of Capital Credit Union. SPCB staff and staff employed by MSPs are reminded that they can make regular monthly deposits into their savings account directly through payroll and a link to the Capital Credit Union website is provided to all staff on the SPCB’s payslips platform.

The SPCB is committed to supporting staff with the cost of living and as part of a range of measures to support staff it is actively working with Capital Credit Union and Work and Save Scotland to develop a range of resources designed to promote the benefits of credit union membership.  Further details will be shared with SPCB staff and MSP staff in due course.

There was minimal impact, and no disruption to any of VisitScotland's services as a result of the Public and Commercial Services Union industrial action, on 1 February 2023. No sites managed by VisitScotland were closed, as such, no costs were incurred as a result of the strikes.

The Scottish Government holds this information by local authority area and not by constituency area. A table showing the number of social and affordable completions by local authority area can be accessed using the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/affordable-housing-supply-programme-completions-updates/

The homes provided through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme comprise homes for social rent, for mid-market rent and for low cost home ownership. These homes take various forms including; new build homes, rehabilitation projects, conversions and off-the-shelf purchases of both new and second hand homes.

Work on the subsequent two year report was suspended due to the Covid19 pandemic and the need to prioritise assessing and arranging emergency funding for the culture sector.

The National Performing Companies all publish information on their websites about their community and education programmes, financial figures and key artistic achievements.