Chamber and committees

The significant cut by the UK Government in support for businesses with their energy costs beyond March is very concerning, particularly for the more vulnerable sectors.

Scottish ministers wrote to the UK Government at the end of last year to express our disappointment at the lack of opportunity we were given to engage in the review of the Energy Bills Relief Scheme, and to stress that any continued support should be aimed at those businesses and sectors who need it the most.

We will continue to work with stakeholders to analyse the impact of this reduced level in support upon businesses and to raise our concerns with the UK Government at every opportunity.

Since joining the Scotland + Venice project in 2016, Architecture and Design Scotland has supported the commissioning and work of external curatorial teams. These teams develop and deliver the project including engagement with communities. Architecture and Design Scotland do not generally engage directly with cities, towns and villages as part of the project.

As part of the 2020 Scotland + Venice work, Architecture and Design Scotland staff members supported the delivery of a workshop in Elgin.

Excluding staff time, the total cost to Architecture and Design Scotland of producing the Designing for a Changing Climate: Carbon Conscious Places report was £1,300. Costs related to staff time involved in producing the report are not held centrally.

Architecture and Design Scotland staff are not civil servants, however their pay and conditions are analogous with Scottish Government civil servants.

The Climate Action Towns project commenced in September 2021. The number of Architecture and Design Scotland staff working on the Climate Action Towns project is as follows:

The matter of strike action is a for Bòrd na Gidhlig to consider and to ensure that any vital services to the Gaelic community continue to be supported.

Against the backdrop of continued impacts from Covid-19, public spending constraints and the cost of living crisis, we are doing all we can to protect Scotland’s culture and historic environment, to ensure our diverse and world-class cultural scene and rich heritage continue to thrive, delivering on the vision of the Culture Strategy.

The Scottish Government will invest £278m in Scotland’s culture and heritage sector in 2023-24 which will support a range of actions set out in the Culture Strategy. Further information about the breakdown of individual budget lines will be shared in the coming weeks. Additionally, we will publish a refreshed Culture Strategy Action Plan in spring 2023, which will set out how we will continue to deliver on the aims of the Culture Strategy.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14517 on 7 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

Person-centred, safe and high-quality care for mothers and babies throughout pregnancy, birth and following birth can have a marked effect on the health and life chances of women and babies, and on the healthy development of children throughout their lives. This can help to mitigate the impact of inequalities and deprivation and their long term health and other consequences for families.

We continue to prioritise improvements to maternity and neonatal care through the implementation of The Best Start programme, in partnership with senior leaders and clinicians. For women who experience multiple disadvantage, as well as those with additional complex needs, we know that continuity of carer from a primary midwife is likely to be particularly important. That is why we have included women and families from lower Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) quintiles, as well as those from minority ethnic communities, as priority groups for the introduction of continuity of carer.

The Scottish Government has commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) to lead a national review to understand any contributing factors to the increase in neonatal mortality during 2021-22. This review will assess and determine whether there are any themes, underlying causes or safety factors that have contributed to the increased neonatal mortality rate from both a clinical and system perspective.

It is the statutory responsibility of all local authorities to manage and maintain their school estate, therefore, we do not routinely collect this information.

Information is however gathered via a Post-Occupancy Evaluation of each school constructed or refurbished through the £1.8bn Scotland’s Schools for the Future Programme, and this is a requirement of funding to ensure that lessons learned help inform future investment. A review of this feedback is currently being undertaken and will distil findings by summer 2023 to help identify any actions needed to review guidance or develop new methods for sharing best practice.

In addition, an ongoing series of shared learning events which will are open to all local authorities has also been established as a forum to work collaboratively. These will occur quarterly and include the annual Learning Places Scotland Conference in November.

We understand that BB93 is in the process of being updated and will review the new version when available. Implications arising from this will be assessed and considered for adoption within projects supported through the Learning Estate Investment Programme.

This is a question for the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland (RoS). She advises me that that, as of 31 January 2023, there are 88,826 dispositions undergoing registration.

RoS received and processed over 655,000 applications in 2022, of which 90% were completed in 20 days.

In the Land Register the legal effect of registration backdates to the date on which the Keeper entered the application onto the application record (the date of receipt) and properties undergoing registration can still be transacted upon in the usual way.