- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 May 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 9 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update regarding the proposals to allow Ukrainian refugees settling in Scotland access to study at Scottish universities free of charge, with access to living cost support.
Answer
Ukrainians who arrive in Scotland and wish to undertake a course of study in Further or Higher Education will be entitled to home tuition fee status, free tuition and living cost support for the duration of their studies. This entitlement has been enshrined in the new student support regulations which were laid before the Scottish Parliament on 6 May 2022 and come into force on 1 August, being the start of the 2022- 23 Academic Year.
In addition, the Scottish Government also announced on 14 April, the creation of a new £1 million International Students’ Emergency Fund for international students who were facing financial hardship as a result of a significant change of circumstances.
Ukrainian students who have previously chosen to study at a college or university in Scotland and are facing financial hardship as a result of the Russian invasion will be eligible to apply to their college or university for support.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Ben Macpherson on 9 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to recent research into poverty at the end of life by Marie Curie and Loughborough University, which estimates that, in 2019, 218 people in East Ayrshire experienced poverty while in the last year of life.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to developing a national strategy for palliative and end of life care in partnership with key stakeholders including Marie Curie. It is envisioned that this will be a whole system, public health approach to help ensure that everyone who needs care or assistance can access it.
In the meantime, we are taking a number of actions within the social security powers devolved to the Scottish Government to ensure that people throughout Scotland can access financial support at this difficult time. These include:
Fast tracking disability assistance applications and removing fixed periods of life expectancy from our terminal illness definition, so that individuals are supported more quickly and for longer.
- Prioritising the rollout of Scottish Child Payment to children aged 6 to 15 to support low income families. This currently provides £20 a week per child, but will be increased to £25 when we rollout to older children.
- Guaranteeing an annual £50 payment to around 400,000 low income households each winter through our new non age dependent Low Income Winter Heating Assistance.
- Committing to increasing the amount of time Scottish Carer’s Assistance is paid after the death of a cared person, from 8 to 12 weeks following it’s transfer from DWP.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 9 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what the total cost was of building any imitation funnels and painting false windows on the MV Glen Sannox for the launch event in November 2017.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold this information.
The actual funnels were used and these were temporarily fixed for the launch then removed.
Decisions on how a vessel is prepared for launch in this way is for the shipyard to determine.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 9 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what the total cost was of the event to launch the MV Glen Sannox at Ferguson Marine in November 2017.
Answer
The costs for the event on the day of MV Glen Sannox launch at Ferguson Marine in November 2017, including sound address system, hospitality and other associated items totalled £47.5k.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 9 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how much revenue it estimates (a) it and (b) Crown Estate Scotland will receive from ScotWind leases in each of the next 10 years.
Answer
The ScotWind lease option awards process has yet to be completed and the final figure raised through option agreements is still to be confirmed. Revenues received by Crown Estate Scotland from awards made to date amount to £699m.Crown Estate Scotland may raise further lease option revenues through the ScotWind clearing process, which is currently underway.
When projects enter a lease, they become operational and commence lease payments. Projects are currently at a very early stage and potential lease payment figures will become clearer as projects are further refined and progressed through the development phase. Payments to Crown Estate Scotland under lease agreements will be received by Crown Estate Scotland and transferred to the Scottish Government.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 9 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it received advice and information on the progress of the construction of the MV Glen Sannox prior to attending the launch event in November 2017, and, if so, what the advice and information was, and when it was received.
Answer
The Scottish Government was in regular contact with all relevant parties prior to the launch and received full updates regarding progress of the build and any impact this would have on delivery.
The then Minister for Transport met with FMEL and CMAL on 3 November 2017 to discuss delivery dates and vessel progress updates.
FMEL wrote to the then Minister for Transport and the Islands, Humza Yousaf MSP, on 7 November 2017 confirming that the delivery of the MV Glen Sannox after being launched on 21 November 2017, would be delayed until winter 2018-19. Mr Yousaf subsequently wrote to the convenor of the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee (REC) on 9 Nov 2017 with this information.
- Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Clare Haughey on 9 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-05590 by Clare Haughey on 28 January 2022, what its position is on the issue of historical forced adoption in light of the responses received to its questionnaire that has now closed.
Answer
The questionnaire on the website closed on 20 April. The responses to the engagement activity are currently being analysed and considered carefully. This will help to determine the next steps and will also provide more understanding of what support is needed to help the people affected by historical adoption practices.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 9 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many complaints have been made against Police Scotland in each year since 1999.
Answer
The Scottish Government do not hold the data requested.
Since the formation of Police Scotland in 2013, Police Scotland’s Professional Standards Department have been responsible for investigating complaints against officers up to the rank of Chief Superintendent. Any complaints against senior officers are a matter for the Scottish Police Authority (SPA).
The SPA Complaints and Conduct Committee provide annual and quarterly reports on complaints. The most recent annual report covers the period 2020/21: https://www.spa.police.uk/spa-media/mq1jgwsq/spa-complaints-conduct-committee-2020_21-annual-report-final-dp-update.pdf
Further information, including archived reports are available on the SPA website: https://www.spa.police.uk/meetings.
You may also be interested in information published on Police Scotland’s disclosure log where responses to FOIs are published: https://www.scotland.police.uk/access-to-information/freedom-of-information/disclosure-log/
- Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 9 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on introducing statutory powers to apply a public interest to all landholdings above an agreed scale.
Answer
We are committed to bringing forward a new Land Reform Bill in this parliamentary session. We will undertake a wide-ranging consultation this year on proposals for the Bill, which will build on our land reform measures to date and will further tackle Scotland’s historically iniquitous patterns of land ownership - including by tackling problematic scale and concentration of ownership. The Bill will aim to ensure that the public interest is considered on transfers of particularly large scale land holdings.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 9 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what funding is being provided for mental health support in colleges through the Scottish Funding Council.
Answer
In this Academic Year (21-22) the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has provided £2.423 million to the college sector to provide additional counsellors in colleges in support of our Programme for Government commitment to provide more than 80 additional counsellors in Further and Higher Education and £4.4 million for the college sector to help colleges to further support student and staff mental health and wellbeing. These funds were allocated to the SFC by the Scottish Government.
