Chamber and committees

Questions regarding day-to-day operational matters of Historic Environment Scotland, including information relating to grants and awards for conservation repairs, are best answered directly by Historic Environment Scotland.

Information on grants that have been awarded can be found online on the Historic Environment Scotland website at https://www.historicenvironment.scot/grants-and-funding/grants-awarded-by-us/

I have asked Historic Environment Scotland to respond directly to the member with a full reply to his question in writing.

Following the last meeting with Hourglass Scotland, officials have explored relevant funding across the Scottish Government. Currently there are no suitable Scottish Government funding options that are open for bids. There may be alternative funding opportunities available via the live database Scotland - News - Grants Online. This database includes a range of funding opportunities from charitable trusts/foundations, churches, councils etc. as well as large grants for family support organisations. One of these is the Robertson Trust which offers large grants for charities including those dealing with trauma. Another grant that Hourglass may want to apply for, is the Hugh Fraser Foundation, which will open for bids in February 2023 for the current round and is open to any charity.

All individuals have a healthcare consultation with an NHS healthcare professional within 24 hours of arrival.

Whilst in prison individuals can self-refer to see the NHS Healthcare team and where needed, SPS staff can also refer prisoners to the healthcare team.

The SPS Drug & Alcohol Strategy, currently under revision, aims to reduce re-offending and drug-related deaths by adopting the principles of recovery to reduce the supply and demand of illegal substances and the harm caused by problematic substance use. The revised Strategy will reflect the national approach to embed Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) Standards across SPS.

The regulation of consumer protection is reserved to the UK Government which includes the work of Trading Standards Scotland.

The Scottish Government does not hold the requested information.

The Council Tax (Dwellings and Part Residential Subjects) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2021 introduced a 70-day per financial year letting requirement for premises to be classed as self-catering holiday accommodation, in addition to the previous requirement that they be available for let for 140 days or more. If a property does not meet the requirements set out in the regulations for self-catering holiday accommodation entered on to the valuation roll, then it will instead be classed a dwelling included on the Council Tax Valuation List.The Non-Domestic Rates (Scotland) Act 2020 provides for civil penalties for failure to respond to assessor information notices, however this is not directly related to The Council Tax (Dwellings and Part Residential Subjects) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2021. The Scottish Government does not hold information on any civil penalties issued under this Act.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022 requires licensing authorities to maintain and publish a public register of short-term let licences on their website, or other website established for that purpose. The register is required to include a note of the kind and terms of each licence granted by the licensing authority, as well as other information set out in paragraph 13 of Schedule 2 of the Licensing Order.

Licensing authorities are also required to share content of their public register with the Scottish Government on a quarterly basis for statistical analysis purposes. We expect to receive the first quarterly return for processing and analysis early in the new year. This initial return will include data relating to the number of short-term let licence applications received by 31 December 2022, and the status of those applications.

The Scottish Government is continuing to consider options for the delivery of a National Towns of Culture scheme. As this progresses, the Scottish Government will consult with the culture and creative sectors and community groups to help inform its decision making.

Four bids were submitted for Creative Scotland’s recent tender for a partner organisation to deliver ‘Youth-led Arts Funding For Young People’. The successful organisation will be announced early in the new year.

The R100 contracts are far surpassing our superfast commitment by delivering gigabit capable infrastructure right across rural Scotland. Delivering this connectivity to rural communities requires the construction of new spine infrastructure, comprising many miles of new ducts and cables which link back through distribution points and exchanges into a core network.

This is a huge civil engineering undertaking that takes time but will ensure a resilient, future-proofed network for decades to come. Once contract build is completed, we expect over 114,000 premises to be connected with 12,000 of those located in island communities. A number of key areas were mandated as part of the bidding process for the R100 contracts, this included the Uig/Timsgarry area.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. NHS orthodontic services are provided by independent contractors/high street orthodontists and any management information on waiting times will be held by each practice. There is no central consolidation of this information, nor definition of waits in orthodontics.