- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 31 January 2022
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 1 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to support those communities affected by Storm Malik and Storm Corrie, including addressing the impact on the provision of services such as public transport.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 1 February 2022
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Ash Regan on 28 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether its short life working group on tackling prostitution will seek to develop (a) policies and (b) support services for sex workers in Scotland.
Answer
A short life working group, comprising of key public bodies and third sector representatives, has been established to consider the fundamental principles which will underpin a model for Scotland to effectively tackle and challenge men’s demand for prostitution. These principles will embed equality, human rights and support our efforts to tackle men’s violence against women. Draft principles will be consulted upon later this year.
As part of this work, the group are considering a range of issues which includes support services and how this will be reflected within the model’s principles.
A key aim of this work is to reduce stigma and criminalisation experienced by women involved in prostitution and improve access to services at local and national levels.
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Ash Regan on 28 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether its short life working group on tackling prostitution will consider all options, including a decriminalisation model.
Answer
The remit of the short life working group expressly omits the merits of different models to tackle prostitution .
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Ash Regan on 28 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether its short life working group on tackling prostitution will include representation from sex worker-led organisations.
Answer
Lived experience will be captured within the short life working group’s membership as many of our third sector organisations work directly or indirectly with women involved in prostitution. The consultation on draft principles will also enable further voices to feed into this process.
In addition, recognising that prostitution may be experienced alongside other forms of gendered violence, we have agreed that a Reference Group is convened with opportunities to input into the development of the draft principles work. This membership spans across a number of Scottish Government portfolio areas, the wider public sector, third sector and those with direct lived experience.
We have also commissioned a central piece of national lived experience research which aims to understand current support service provision and the needs of service users better. This is being taken forward by an independent research team and is crucial in the forward look towards re-design of support services.
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 21 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 27 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-04664 by Mairi Gougeon on 9 December 2021, what percentage of land holdings are estimated to be above a threshold of 2,500 acres, broken down by (a) tenanted crofts, (b) owner occupied crofts, (c) tenanted farms and (d) owner occupied farms.
Answer
Less than two percent of agricultural holdings in Scotland, covering 52 per cent of agricultural land, are estimated to be above a threshold of 2,500 acres. Less than one percent of owned or tenanted holdings with crofts are above 2,500 acres in size. Five per cent of tenanted holdings without crofts and two per cent of owner occupied holdings without crofts are above 2,500 acres in size.
The data presented in the paragraph above refers to data collected as part of the June Agricultural Census 2021. The data included contains holdings with a registered croft, not all crofts have registered holdings and are therefore excluded from this analysis. A small number of large holdings include a registered croft on the holding. As these figures relate to the land area of the holding and not the croft these areas will have a large impact on reported area of crofts. A single holding may comprise both rented and owned land, these categories are based on majority area for the holding.
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 January 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 27 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to protect the pay, conditions and employment rights of workers in the hospitality sector, in light of reported allegations against the MacMerry 300 and Abandon Ship hospitality group regarding mistreatment of its workforce.
Answer
While many aspects of employment law and particularly pay legislation are reserved to the UK Government, promoting fair pay is a key element of the Scottish Government’s Fair Work policy. Scottish Ministers believe that all workers should receive a fair pay for the work they do, regardless of their age and status.
The Scottish Government is committed to using all the levers it has at its disposal to promote fair work practices across Scotland including payment of the real Living Wage. We firmly oppose the inappropriate use of zero hours contracts and other non-standard types of employment that offer workers minimal job or financial security. We have set out our position in our Fair Work First approach and within our National Tourism Strategy; Outlook 2030 which states our commitment to support and enable the adoption of fair work practices in Scotland’s tourism sector.
The Scottish Government has made a clear commitment to promote collective bargaining through the inclusion of an employee voice indicator, measured by collective bargaining coverage, within the National Performance Framework. Our Fair Work Action Plan confirms our subsequent commitment to work with the STUC to achieve increased coverage focusing on four key sectors one of those being hospitality.
The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting strong Trade Unions in Scotland for the benefit of workers and our economy and have provided funding of £250,000 for the last six years to STUC to help unions embed the Fair Work Framework in workplaces in Scotland.
We also support Unite’s FH Charter which helps to promote fairer working practices for its members and all workers across the wider hospitality sector as Scotland recovers from Covid and beyond.
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 20 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that the views of people, who may be affected by the transition to net zero, will be heard by the Just Transition Commission.
Answer
The remit for the Just Transition Commission set by the Scottish Government tasks them with “undertaking meaningful engagement with those most likely to be impacted by the transition, hearing from a broad range of representative voices and advising on how to ensure these can shape and contribute to just transition planning work in Scotland.” The Commission is independent of Government and will be responsible for setting out a work plan that fulfils the remit they have been given.
To further ensure a range of voices are heard in the Commission’s work, the membership announced on 15 December brings together a broad range of expertise and experience. This includes those with a background in industry, trade unions and environmental organisations, with collective expertise in areas such as gender equalities, community empowerment, economic development and worker support.
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 January 2022
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 20 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its discussions with the UK Government regarding the resettlement scheme for Afghan refugees who may be resettled in Scotland.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 20 January 2022
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 December 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 11 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the changing situation with the COVID-19 pandemic, what additional support it will make available to mitigate any financial hardship faced by taxi drivers in (a) Dundee and (b) Scotland as a result of the pandemic's impact on their ability to earn a living, and what assurances it can provide that any support will be made available to taxis drivers in a timely manner.
Answer
We recognise the pandemic’s impact on the economy and businesses across a wide range of sectors. So far, the Scottish Government has provided £79.3 million directly to taxi and private hire drivers and operators in response to the pandemic. Further support of up to £28 million was announced on 5 January 2022 from within the £375 million package of funding announced on 21 December 2021, bringing total support for the sector to over £107 million. The Scottish Government is also calling on the UK Government to re-introduce schemes such as the Self-Employment Income Support Grant in order to make further support available. We work closely with delivery partners to make payments to eligible businesses at the earliest opportunity, which is of course our established approach.
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to implement in full the recommendations in the report, Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis, prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and, if so, what steps it will take to do so.
Answer
The latest report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shows the very real threat and heightened risk the climate emergency poses to the planet - but it also makes it clear that with immediate, concerted international action to reduce emissions, global temperature rise can still be limited to 1.5°C in the longer term.
Scotland is leading the way. We will end our contribution to climate change by 2045 at the latest, reducing emissions by 75% by 2030 along the way – a world-leading target. In December 2020 we updated our Climate Change Plan which sets out how we will deliver on this ambition and published Scotland’s indicative Nationally Determined Contribution in July 2021 outlining the actions we are taking to help meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. The global evidence provided by IPCC reports, as well as the independent expert scientific advice provided by the Climate Change Committee on what this evidence means for Scotland, will be part of the evidence base that informs development of Scotland’s next Climate Change Plan and Climate Change Adaptation Programme.
