Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government works closely with CyberScotland Partners including Police Scotland and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to help protect the public from cyber threats and supports the publishing of a regular CyberScotland Bulletin which references content from Police Scotland, NCSC, SCVO, Scottish Business Resilience Centre, GetSafeOnline, Take5, Trading Standards Scam Share and Neighbourhood Watch Scotland.

On 19 March 2021, we published Scotland’s Scams Prevention, Awareness & Enforcement Strategy, which will facilitate a more coordinated approach to tackling scams in Scotland. The strategy introduces a new framework for tackling scams, with an emphasis on: disrupting scams at source; building capacity, skills and resilience amongst individuals to avoid the risk that scams pose; streamlining the reporting and advice landscape so that people can access the right support at the right time to meet their needs; and improving coordination and intelligence sharing between frontline advice providers, enforcement bodies and wider advocacy organisations.

We encourage anyone who identifies a suspicious email to forward it to [email protected] and to report any suspicious scam websites using the NCSC Scam Website Reporting Service ( https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/section/about-this-website/report-scam-website ). Any victims of online scams or fraud should report to Police Scotland by calling 101

We recognise the massive role that SMEs and micro businesses play across public procurement in Scotland and regard their success as key to unlocking opportunities for all, through fostering apprenticeships, jobs and economic growth.

£13.3 billion worth of public procurement spend in 2019-20 has been analysed. We know the size of the supplier for £11.7 billion of spend and £5.4 billion (46.2%) of this went to SMEs.

The Small Business Survey Scotland 2019 Small Business Survey Scotland 2019 found that 24 per cent of SME employers in Scotland had actually done business for the public sector in the past 12 months compared to 22 per cent for the UK as a whole Small Business Survey UK 2019 . This survey found that, of those SME employers in Scotland that have worked for the public sector in the past 12 months, the greatest share (55 per cent) reported that local authorities were their main customer. This is higher than the UK as a whole at 44 per cent.

A copy of the table detailing the value of core Scottish Government procurement spend with small to medium sized enterprises for the period 2007-2008 to 2020-2021 within UK local authority areas, based on data contained in the Scottish Procurement Information Hub, has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 62701).

The Scottish Government continues to work with partners to safeguard vulnerable people through the implementation of the National Missing Persons Framework for Scotland. Over the past three years we have developed return discussion training for professionals across Scotland to build understanding about the reasons a person went missing and reduce the risk of future missing episodes.

We have worked with young people who have experience of being missing and invested £40,000 to develop an education resource for young people, hosted on the Runaway Scotland website, to build understanding of risks and where support can be accessed. We have also provided £242,000 of funding since 2016 to Missing People charity to raise awareness of their Runaway helpline service (call 116 000 or visit www.runawayhelpline.org.uk ) for people who are thinking about running away, have already run away or have been away and want to come back. Ninety-nine percent of people who go missing in Scotland are returned safely.

We remain committed to the delivery of East Linton station as early as practicable in Control Period 6 (2019–2024). Network Rail announced on 7 September that local authority planning approval had been received. They are awaiting a final construction programme and will announce an intended completion date as soon as possible.

We continue to work closely with train operators to develop a timetable which will meet the needs of passengers in East Lothian. We will communicate that information widely, including the frequency and stopping patterns, when it has been finalised.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02466 on 28 September 2021. 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

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02466 on 28 September 2021. 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

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02466 on‎ 28 September 2021. 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 Scottish Marine Energy Research Programme (ScotMER), a Scottish Government initiative, is actively developing the evidence base required to facilitate the sustainable development of offshore wind. This programme works with key stakeholders and scientific experts to identify and address priority evidence gaps across environmental and socioeconomic interests.

Under this programme, the implications of underwater noise and efficacy of mitigation techniques have been identified as key evidence gaps, and we are working with industry and academia to deliver new research to inform future planning, consenting and licensing of offshore wind.

More information on ScotMER is available on: https://www.gov.scot/policies/marine-renewable-energy/science-and-research/

From March 2020 to 25 August 2021, the Scottish Government has received 26 offers from MSPs (25), MPs (0) and councillors (1) on behalf of a company offering assistance with the making and supply of PPE. Of these offers, 20 were made on behalf of named companies and 6 were speculative contacts that did not name a specific company.

The Scottish Government did not enter into a contract or arrangement for the supply of the equipment with any of these companies.

Further information on the companies which have supplied the Scottish Government with PPE and hand sanitiser since 2020 is detailed in the linked Parliamentary Question, S6W-02212 on 31 August 2021.

From the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Scottish Government has worked with the NHS, and on a four-nation basis to ensure Scotland has adequate supplies of PPE. At no point during the pandemic did Scotland run out of PPE, and our robust stocks allowed us to provide PPE in mutual aid to other parts of the UK during the first wave. PPE supply is now stable, as it has been since summer 2020, and Scotland currently has 4 months’ worth of PPE stockpiled and approved for medical use

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

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02964 on 28 September 2021. 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