Chamber and committees

In the most challenging budget settlement since devolution, we are providing nearly £13.5 billion in the 2023-24 Local Government Settlement. The settlement includes £436.9 million for Aberdeen City Council to fund local services, which equates to an extra £27.1 million to support vital day to day services or an additional 6.6 per cent compared to 2022-23. All local authorities will also receive a fair share of the currently undistributed sum of £329.8 million and have a range of revenue raising powers that are not available to other public services.

We are proud to have supported Sistema Scotland with annual funding since 2012, contributing to the Government-wide priority of tackling child poverty.

We are pleased to confirm that the Scottish Government will ensure that Sistema will get the funding they need to continue to deliver their programmes, including Big Noise Torry, which we understand is around £1.5 million.

Wastewater Treatment Works provide appropriate treatment to sewage year round. The methods used to treat sewage is a matter for Scottish Water to consider to ensure regulatory standards are met in an efficient manner. As noted previously, UV treatment is energy intensive hence the need for a proportionate approach.

Local Authorities are a key partner in delivering the ambitious aspirations set out in the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy. However, at the present time, they have a limited role in biodiversity monitoring. Some Local Authorities do host Local Records Centres, who gather biodiversity data from volunteer groups and individuals and make it available to a range of users. The Scottish Government and NatureScot are currently funding the Better Biodiversity Project, which aims to encourage community involvement in biodiversity data collection and put Local Records Centres on a more sustainable footing for the longer term. This in turn supports Local Authorities in meeting their Biodiversity Duty.

The Single Building assessment process has started for the 27 buildings in the original pilot. The pilot has been extended to 105 building. As the programme continues we expect further buildings to be identified and assessed. As we survey and undertake these further assessments we will have clearer information on the time-frame for the completion of all surveys on buildings with potentially unsafe cladding.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15654 on 14 March 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

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15654 on14 March 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

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15654 on 14 March 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

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15654 on 14 March 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

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15654 on 14 March 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

In general, the data received from Police Scotland for producing the National Statistics on Recorded Crime, is a simple count of the number of crimes and offences which the police have recorded and cleared up. As such we are unable to separately identify back to 1999 which recorded crimes of fraud were committed online.

However we recently introduced a new chapter within the National Statistics, which estimates the volume of recorded cyber-crime in Scotland based on a sample of police records. Under this approach, the number of recorded frauds which involved the use of cyber technology in any way (including cyber-enabled or cyber-dependent crimes) was 2,690 in 2018-19 (the first year of available data) and 3,450 in 2019-20. It then increased significantly to 8,580 in 2020-21, before falling slightly to 8,010 in 2021-22. At least part of the increase in 2020-21 may be due to the significant impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and government instructions to limit social contact. For example in their ‘ Crime in England and Wales: year ending March 2021 ’ release, the Office for National Statistics noted that an increase in fraud and computer misuse offences could reflect perpetrators taking advantage of behavioural changes during the pandemic, such as increased online shopping.

Further information on the new chapter referenced above is available as part of Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2021-2022 in particular Table A11. Figures for 2022-23 will be published in June.