Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Super Sponsor scheme is designed to provide a quick and safe route for displaced people from Ukraine to come to a place of sanctuary by removing the need for applicants to be matched to an individual sponsor prior to being given permission to travel to the UK.

Once people have arrived, a national matching service, delivered by COSLA, will match those settling here with longer-term accommodation across Scotland.

Displaced people from Ukraine are asked to complete a short questionnaire that captures key information and preferences. This information is then used to find suitable longer-term accommodation, which will be offered as a choice.

All 32 of our local authorities are taking part in this programme, and hosts have offered up their homes right across the country. The national matching service will ensure that people are offered settlement opportunities across Scotland, recognising that people will have different preferences and available housing is limited in some local authorities.

The Scottish Government recognises and supports the generous offers from the people of Scotland to privately sponsor Ukrainians through the UK Government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme, as well as the work of the many charities and groups across the country who are facilitating matches between displaced Ukrainians seeking accommodation and volunteer hosts.

On Tuesday 24 and Tuesday 31 May we delivered public webinar sessions on host guidance in collaboration with the Scottish Refugee Council. A final session will take place on Thursday 9 June. These sessions allow us to address questions on our recently published guidance for hosts on our website, which includes a range of information on safeguarding, property checks, matching, funding and the roles of hosts and their guests.

The Super Sponsor scheme is designed to provide a quick and safe route for displaced people from Ukraine to come to a place of sanctuary by removing the need for applicants to be matched to an individual sponsor prior to being given permission to travel to the UK.

Once people have arrived, a national matching service, delivered by COSLA, will match those settling here with longer-term accommodation across Scotland.

Displaced people from Ukraine are asked to complete a short questionnaire that captures key information and preferences. This information is then used to find suitable longer-term accommodation, which will be offered as a choice.

All 32 of our local authorities are taking part in this programme, and hosts have offered up their homes right across the country. The national matching service will ensure that people are offered settlement opportunities across Scotland, recognising that people will have different preferences and available housing is limited in some local authorities.

Local authorities across Scotland have a range of approaches to the provision of technology in schools, including some councils who have undertaken to provide cohorts of their school population with devices using their own budgets.

The latest information we have from councils indicates that almost 280,000 devices have been, or are in the process of being, rolled out to learners across Scotland. This includes the 72,000 provided as a result of Scottish Government funding. We do not have additional information regarding device rollout in either South Ayrshire or East Ayrshire beyond that included in the answer to S6W-06933.

This question was answered on 20 December 2021.

We were pleased to receive the report and recommendations from the National Partnership for Culture, and recognise that the broad themes in the report align with our priorities across Scottish Government. Scottish Government officials are working together across the Health and Culture portfolios to review the Health and Wellbeing recommendations. Our response to the National Partnership for Culture recommendations will be published shortly.

As referred to in response to S6W-08593 on 1 July 2022, we were pleased to receive the report and recommendations from the National Partnership for Culture, and recognise that the broad themes in the report align with our priorities across Scottish Government. Scottish Government officials are working together across the Health and Culture portfolios to review the Health and Wellbeing recommendations. Our response to the National Partnership for Culture recommendations will be published shortly.

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

Child abuse is a broad term that doesn't have a specific legal definition. For context the World Health Organisation has defined 'Child maltreatment' as ‘the abuse and neglect that occurs to children under 18 years of age. It includes all types of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect, negligence and commercial or other exploitation, which results in actual or potential harm to the child’s health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power'. ( Child maltreatment (who.int) )

In general the Scottish Government does not hold information centrally on those convicted of crimes against children, as the Official Statistics on criminal proceedings do not include details on the age of the victim. This would include cases of non-sexual violence such as assault, and some sexual crimes such as rape and attempted rape. We can however provide this information for those crime types where it is clear from the legislation used that the victim was either a child or the intention of the perpetrator was to target a child.

We have received a clarification from the member who indicated they were interested in the Sexual assault of older child (13-15); Sexual assault of young child (under 13) and Sexual Abuse of trust of person under 18 crimes only. This is presented in the table below, showing convictions that did not result in a prison sentence for the years 2010-11 to 2019-20. The 2020-21 criminal proceedings Official Statistics will be published on 21 June.

People convicted for the Sexual assault of older child (13-15); Sexual assault of young child (under 13) and Sexual Abuse of trust (where main crime), excluding custodial sentences, 2010-11 to 2019-20 .

To enable the building to be commissioned, the hospital will be fully equipped to treat orthopaedic patients around 3 months prior to the opening date.

Our manifesto committed to opening NTC Ayrshire and Arran in 2025. We are currently finalising the design of the hospital and we are exploring and reviewing timelines associated with the NTC with a view to having the centre operational earlier than our manifesto commitment.