Questions and answers

Question reference: S6O-01373

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what action it is taking to improve the reliability and resilience of Scotland’s ferry network.

Question reference: S6W-10497

Asked by: Paul McLennan, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the terms of reference are for its Women in Enterprise Review, and when the review is scheduled to be published.

Responding to a recognised gender gap in business participation, Kate Forbes, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy commissioned Ana Stewart, entrepreneur and investor, to deliver an independent Review on widening access to entrepreneurship for women.

The Stewart Review, due to publish later in the year, will identify the root causes of the continuing under-representation of women in enterprise and propose specific actions required to address the needs of female-led businesses in Scotland.

The expected themes of the review are to include, but not be limited to:

Access to Finance
Networks, mentoring and role models
Advice and Support
Education

The response of the Scottish Government to the Review will be mindful of existing activity and align with NSET recommendations on transforming the Scottish economy through widening business participation under the Entrepreneurial People and Culture programme.

Question reference: S6W-10355

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many fixed penalties for the offence of littering have been issued in each year since 2007, and how many of these have been paid.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the number of fixed penalties issued for the offence of littering, nor information on how many of these have been paid.

This detailed information can be obtained by contacting individual issuing authorities. Authorised officers from Local Authorities, Police Scotland and Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park can issue Fixed Penalty Notices for the offence of littering.

Question reference: S6W-10365

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is the case that Confucius Classroom Hubs in Scottish schools received funding from (a) the Scottish Government and (b) the Chinese Government in 2021-22, and, if this is the case, how much was received from each body.

Confucius Classroom Hubs do not receive funding directly from the Scottish Government or the Chinese Government. Hubs in local authority schools are funded by the Confucius Institute for Scotland’s Schools (CISS) via local authorities. Specialist classrooms (such as at Edinburgh Zoo), and Jordanhill School receive their funding directly from CISS.

In 2021-22, the Scottish Government provided CISS with a grant of £490,573. CISS publishes a joint annual report with Scotland’s Centre for Languages (SCILT) which includes information about funding and spending (available at: About Us (scilt.org.uk) ) . According to the 2021-22 annual report, approximately £400,000 was allocated from China in that year.

It is the responsibility of local authorities and schools to choose which languages to teach, and to determine what resources to draw on and partners to work with in order to support learning. Schools and teachers also remain responsible for curriculum making and the teaching in the classroom.

Question reference: S6W-10356

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to increase the £200 fixed penalty fine for the offence of fly-tipping.

The Scottish Government recently consulted on proposals for our new National Litter and Flytipping Strategy, including measures to strengthen enforcement measures.

The Scottish Government aims to deliver a strong and consistent enforcement model across Scotland that is fit for purpose, promotes positive behaviours and acts as a proportionate deterrent and effectively stops people from littering and flytipping

We will publish the final Strategy later this year, taking account of consultation responses.

Question reference: S6W-10354

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to increase the £80 fixed penalty fine for the offence of littering.

The Scottish Government recently consulted on proposals for our new National Litter and Flytipping Strategy, including measures to strengthen enforcement measures.

The Scottish Government aims to deliver a strong and consistent enforcement model across Scotland that is fit for purpose, promotes positive behaviours and acts as a proportionate deterrent and effectively stops people from littering and flytipping.

We will publish the final Strategy later this year, taking account of consultation responses.

Question reference: S6W-09385

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment has been carried out through the National Improvement Framework regarding the allocation of money from pupil equity funding to Police Scotland for police officers in schools.

This information does not fall within the scope of data gathered through the National Improvement Framework. The 11 key NIF measures assess progress towards closing the attainment gap using indicators from pre-school to school leavers. These are supplemented by 15 sub-measures that reflect the key stages of the learner journey and the breadth of issues that can impact on attainment. Together these provide a wide range of measures covering school leaver attainment and literacy and numeracy but also other, broader, measures such as health and wellbeing, school attendance rates and school leaver destinations.

Question reference: S6W-10426

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many Home Owners' Support Fund applications it has processed on an exceptional basis where (a) an eviction notice has been served and (b) a trustee intends to force the sale of the property, broken down by each year of the fund's operation.

Question reference: S6W-10238

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-08749 by Shona Robison on 14 June 2022, and in light of the Bank of England increasing the base rate to 1.75%, when the review (a) began and (b) will complete, and how it will announce the findings and outcomes of the review.

Question reference: S6W-10239

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) budget and (b) expenditure of the Home Owners' Support Fund has been in each of the past six years, broken down by the (i) Mortgage to Rent and (ii) Mortgage to Shared Equity schemes, and whether any underspend (A) has been carried forward to 2022-23 and (B) can be carried forward to 2023-24.

The following table shows Home Owners Support Fund (HOSF) budget and expenditure for each of the last six years broken down by Mortgage to Rent (MTR) and Mortgage to Shared Equity (MTSE). HOSF is a demand led scheme and any difference between budget and actual spend reflects demand in that year and so there is no underspend or carry forward.

Financial Year	HOSF Budget	HOSF MTR Actual Expenditure	HOSF MTSE Actual Expenditure	Total Expenditure
Financial Year	(£m)	(£m)	(£m)	(£m)
2016-17	5.000	2.980	0.000	2.980
2017-18	3.000	1.127	0.000	1.127
2018-19	2.500	1.536	0.000	1.536
2019-20	2.500	1.191	0.000	1.191
2020-21	2.000	0.303	0.000	0.303
2021-22	Figures will be published shortly
Total (£m)	15.000	7.137	0.000	7.137

Budget and expenditure figures for 2021-22 will be published shortly.

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