Chamber and committees

Two Scottish Government civil servants from Planning, Architecture and Regeneration Division are involved in the Scotland + Venice project on a varying part time basis.

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.

The Lockerbie bombing remains the worst terrorist atrocity ever committed on UK soil and the effects continue to be felt around the world. The investigation into this terrible atrocity has been conducted jointly by Scottish and American prosecutors and law enforcement for 34 years. 270 people lost their lives that terrible night and 21 countries lost citizens. It has always been an international investigation and I welcome the significant step taken by the United States in obtaining custody of Mr Masoud.

Having been transferred to US custody, Mr Masoud will stand trial in a United States Court, subject to United States laws. That does not diminish the loss suffered by Scotland and many other countries. The 190 American lives lost that night give the United States of America criminal jurisdiction to prosecute Mr Masoud, just as the scene of this terrible crime in Lockerbie and the lives lost here, gave Scotland jurisdiction to prosecute Mr Al-Megrahi and Mr Fhimah under Scots law at Kamp Zeist.

There are no current criminal proceedings in Scotland against Mr Masud. Scottish prosecutors and Police Scotland are dedicated to supporting the US prosecution, just as American counterparts, with assistance from countries around the world, supported the trial at Kamp Zeist to its successful conclusion in 2001.

In December I travelled to Washington DC where I attended a memorial ceremony and met with the US Deputy Attorney General. We discussed how we can continue to work together to obtain justice for all of the victims and their families, and I assured the Deputy Attorney General of Scotland’s unwavering support in this international effort.

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.

As part of a continual cycle of feedback and sharing lessons learned, Scottish Government and COSLA jointly published ‘Scotland’s Learning Estate Strategy - Connecting People, Places and Learning’ in 2019. This includes information from a findings report which draws out experiences from projects in the £1.8bn Scotland’s Schools for the Future (SSF) Programme.

Information is gathered via a Post-Occupancy Evaluation of each school constructed or refurbished through the SSF 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.

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.

In the last five years NatureScot have taken regulatory action under section 10(2) of the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996 five times. Prior to this, notice of section 10 emergency measures have been issued on at least three occasions.

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.

The following table sets out a breakdown of Architecture and Design Scotland budget allocations for 2022-23.

Following the PCS ballot results, Scottish Government officials held regular meetings in the run up to the strike action with Chief Executives of those employers in the Scottish Administration where PCS had a mandate for strike action, including with the Keeper of Registers of Scotland. All employers provided business continuity plans ahead of the strike action, considering the impact of any action on the operation of their services. Registers of Scotland confirmed they had robust contingency plans in place to keep all customer-facing services running, and they would continue to accept applications to the registers they manage and provide a customer support service. Services continued to operate at Registers of Scotland during 1 February 2023.