Chamber and committees

The following table provides a breakdown of the spend from the main Rural and Islands Housing Fund in each year since the funds were launched in 2016-17, broken down by rural (mainland) and Islands. The Rural and Island Housing Fund plays an important role in offering support to community organisations and others while complementing the significant delivery through our mainstream programme by Councils and Registered Social Landlords in rural and island areas.

I visited Inverclyde Royal Hospital on 4 July 2022. All Ministerial engagements, including visits, is routinely published on the Scottish Government website and can be found at: www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts/ .

The Scottish Government is supportive to the shipbuilding industry which has strategic importance to Scotland’s economy and its wider manufacturing base; and we actively engage with the industry, both with individual companies through our enterprise and skills agencies and collectively through the Aerospace and Defence Industry Group.

Statistics relating to the progress of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme are published quarterly on the Scottish Government website. These figures relate to the number of approvals, site starts, and completions of social and affordable homes, and can be accessed using the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-for-scotland-new-house-building/

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13624 on‎ 20 January 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

The safety and wellbeing of all fire and rescue officers is of upmost importance to the Scottish Government.

We will continue to support SFRS as they continue to work in partnership with the FBU and Professor Anna Stec to build on the existing work of their dedicated Contaminants Group.

The Scottish Government will carefully consider any related proposals from the FBU or SFRS as a result of this important research.

The achievement of Fair Trade Nation status for Scotland, first in February 2013 and once more in March 2017, signals to the world that Scotland takes an active leadership role in challenging global poverty and recognising the dignity and rights of producers, through a commitment to fairness in international trading.

The Scottish Fair Trade Forum, which has received core funding from the Scottish Government since 2007 to take forward our work on Fair Trade, continues to engage across all sections of Scottish society from schools, colleges and universities to faith groups, businesses and charities, to raise awareness of the plight of farmers and producers in the developing world and build support for our status as a Fair Trade Nation.

This year sees the 10th Anniversary since Scotland first achieved the accolade of Fair Trade Nation status, and events are planned up and down the country during this year's Fairtrade Fortnight to mark the occasion.

The Scottish Government commends and congratulates the athletes competing at the Invictus Games in Dusseldorf later this year. The Invictus Games has been hosted in a range of locations worldwide, and has been successful in using sport to inspire recovery and support rehabilitation of injured and sick servicemen and women.

In terms of what consideration the Scottish Government has given to Scotland hosting the Invictus Games, the Scottish Government works with a range of organisations and partners, particularly VisitScotland's Events Directorate, to assess hosting opportunities to secure a strong and diverse pipeline of major events.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of financial education in order to equip young people to live independently and confidently. These topics are embedded in the curriculum in Scotland through numeracy and maths, business studies and personal and social education.

Education Scotland provide professional learning and resources for practitioners on financial education. It also features in qualifications, particularly through SCQF 4 and 5 Personal Finance awards, and through Applications of Mathematics, which provides advanced learning on a range of core and practical maths skills, including finance, up to Higher level.

At local level, schools have access to a range of organisations who visit schools to reinforce and enhance learning such as HMRC, Barclays Lifeskills, NatWest MoneySense and the Young Enterprise ‘My Money’ Talks.

The Scottish Government is also supporting young people after they leave school with a new School Leavers Toolkit which includes practical information about budgeting and finances.

The Scottish Government is committed to maintaining alignment, where possible, with developing EU standards, including those set out by the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive. Last year, Scotland became the first part of the UK to implement a ban on some of the most problematic single-use plastic products through the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Scotland) Regulations 2021. This legislation delivered Article 5 of the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive.

The Scottish Government is going further than these Regulations to deal with the problem of single-use plastics. For example, last year we announced plans to introduce a mandatory charge on single-use cups by 2025. This commitment aligns with Article 4 of the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive.

At present, the Scottish Government has not set a timetable for the implementation of Article 6 requirements. Any proposed Scottish Government action in this area will be subject to parliamentary scrutiny and public consultation. We are already taking concrete action, including by implementing a deposit return scheme and a reformed extended producer responsibility scheme for plastic packaging. With specific reference to Article 6, from 2025 drinks producers will be required to meet a 90% collection target of all in-scope drinks containers (plastic, glass, and metal).