Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-11359

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 25 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many companies applied for awards from the 2021 round of funding from the Scottish Technology Ecosystem Fund, broken down by the (a) name of, (b) amount requested by and (c) amount awarded to each company, and for those companies that were awarded funding, what payments have been made to date in each case.

Name of Organisation	Amount requested	Amount Awarded	For Those Organisations That Were Awarded Funding) Payments Made to Date.
UX Glasgow	£1,000	£1,000	N/A
Product Forge	£49,750	£15,000	N/A
Digital for Good	£17,600	£0	N/A
Scotland IS	£115,000	£0	N/A
Cloud Cover	£18,300	£0	N/A
DIGIT	£50,000	£10,000	£10,000
Easthouse	£10,000	£0	N/A
FutureX	£45,000	£25,020	£25,020
Digital Scotland	£28,000	£0	N/A
University of Glasgow	£20,000	£5,000	£3,864
First Time Founder Podcast / Gigged.AI	£8,500	£8,500	N/A
Michael Boniface	£3,000	£1,000	£1,000
I to I Communications	£46,520	£0	N/A
Open Source Glasgow	£2,500	£0	N/A
HALO	£50,000	£0	N/A
Gigged.AI (separate application to above)	£3,800	£0	N/A
Proximity	£50,000	£0	N/A
Vivolution	£30,000	£30,000	£30,000
Direct Partners	£46,000	£0	N/A
Egg	£39,900	£0	N/A
Startup Grind	£45,000	£45,000	£44,942.97
Startup Grind (Separate application to above)	£6,900	£6,900	£5,707.49
Pawprint	£15,000	£0	N/A
RookieOven	£40,400	£0	N/A
SCDI	£41,490	£0	N/A
Creative Edinburgh	£30,500	£30,500	£30,500
Metta	£44,500	£0	N/A
Equity Gap	£4,000	£4,000	£4,000
Actionable Business	£35,000	£0	N/A
Digital Skills Education	£12,800	£0	N/A
CrowdX	£43,000	£0	N/A
Digital for Good / Crisis	£24,000	£0	N/A
EMEC / Islands Centre for Net Zero (ICNZ)	£46,000	£0	N/A
SIS Ventures	£48,190	£0	N/A
Women's Enterprise Scotland	£43,466	£43,466	£43,466
Scottish Business Network	£49,346	£49,346	£47,089.79
Scottish Summit	£50,000	£0	N/A
Codebase	£239,512	£0	N/A
NoCode Scotland	£14,245	£14,245	£13,496.91
Solstice Digital	£26,100	£0	N/A
Community Lab	£42,000	£42,000	£42,000
CENSIS	£3,764	£0	N/A
EdinburghJS	£3,250	£3,250	£2,979.48
Codebase (Second Application)	£42,800	£42,800	£39,836.69
Make It Happen	£36,980	£0	N/A
The Data Lab	£70,000	£50,000	£50,000
Goddess Gaia Ventures	£50,000	£50,500	£50,500
Codebase (Third Application)	£49,000	£49,000	£47,500
Traveltech for Scotland	£22,800	£0	N/A
Founder.Scot	£7,598	£0	N/A
ScotApps	£39,090	£0	N/A
Glasgow City Innovation District	£24,900	£24,900	£23,689.15
Heriot-Watt University	£47,982	£0	N/A
Robert Gordon University	£14,000	£0	N/A
Scottish Games Network	£49,425	£49,425	£49,425
Code The City	£10,500	£0	N/A
Tech Meetup Stirling	£1,000	£1,000	N/A
Exolta Capital Partners	£41,650	£41,650	£41,650
Scottish Business Network and FutureX	£29,700	£29,700	£28,091.80
University of Edinburgh - Accelerating Climate Tech Adoption	£12,600	£0	N/A
University of Edinburgh - EI Student Services: Breaking Barriers Events	£18,000	£0	N/A
University of Edinburgh - EIE	£70,000	£70,000	£69,125.75
University of Edinburgh - Fife Tech Meet up – DDE	£19,650	£0	N/A
University of Edinburgh - Health and Social Care Data Driven Innovation Community (HSCDDI)	£18,000	£0	N/A
Altra	£28,470	£0	N/A
Scotland's International Environment Centre (SIEC)	£40,000	£0	N/A
Games Jobs Live	£9,750	£9,750	£9,750
eteaket	£5,990	£0	N/A
Female Founder Squad	£38,350	£38,350	£26,428
New Norm	£3,750	£3,750	N/A
Renfrewshire Council	£5,000	£0	N/A
Ping Creates	£29,500	£0	N/A
Raising Partners	£49,875	£49,875	£49,874.52
DTLX	£33,500	£0	N/A
One HealthTech Aberdeen	£10,900	£0	N/A
Construction Scotland Innovation Centre	£49,175	£0	N/A
Turing Fest	£46,000	£46,000	£46,000
CodeCraft	£5,000	£5,000	£143.88
STAC	£48,400	£0	N/A
Eureka!Europe	£50,000	£0	N/A
AAI	£48,440	£0	N/A
Prewired	£11,918	£0	N/A
Korero Studios	£20,800	£0	N/A
DataKirk	£50,000	£0	N/A
Mint Ventures	£34,350	£34,350	£34,348.71
STEM Leaders Meetup	£6,636	£0	N/A
British Esports	£25,000	£0	N/A
Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance	£39,240	£0	N/A
Heriot-Watt University and Filament PD	£48,000	£0	N/A
Master the Curriculum	£22,000	£0	N/A
Macresco	£9,000	£0	N/A
DNA Coach	£30,000	£0	N/A
Ewa Grabowiecka	£11,000	£0	N/A
The Startup Race	£50,000	£50,000	£50,000
Niki Hutchison	£45,000	£0	N/A
Drupal Scotland	£8,600	£0	N/A
MoneyMatiX	£50,000	£0	N/A
Urban Foresight	£42,350	£0	N/A
University of Edinburgh - City Region Deal DDI Programme Office	£13,500	£0	N/A
University of Stratclyde Business School	£16,400	£16,400	£11,863.08
Scottish AI Alliance	£45,000	£0	N/A
Glasgow City of Science and Innovation	£48,600	£0	N/A
Venus and Mars Dating	£20,000	£0	N/A
A Wild Haggis	£40,000	£0	N/A

Question reference: S6W-11385

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 25 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to unpaid carers after a bereavement.

The Scottish Government is taking forward a wide range of support for all bereaved people, including unpaid carers. This comprises our new Mind to Mind website set up in partnership with NHS Inform which includes a dedicated section on grief and bereavement with information and signposting; the Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund which includes a priority for people who are bereaved; funding for the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care which develops resources and information to support people affected by bereavement, including Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief and End of Life Aid Skills for Everyone (EASE), a course which is available to anyone; and funding for CRUSE who support people affected by bereavement including specialist support to children, young people and their families.

Under the Carers (Scotland) Act, all unpaid carers have the right to a personalised plan to identify what is important to them which may include counselling and emotional support. Future needs for bereavement support can be considered as part of the process and any eligible needs for support must be met.

Local authorities must also have a carer information and advice service, usually delivered via local carer centres, to help unpaid carers access support in their area. This must include information and advice on counselling and bereavement support available to carers. In addition to information and advice services, many local carer centres provide their own counselling and support services which can include bereavement support.

We have invested an additional £20.4m for local carer support in 2022-23 via the local government settlement, bringing total investment in the Carers Act to £88.4m per year.

Question reference: S6W-11372

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 25 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what actions are being taken to raise awareness of heart health for women, as outlined in the Women's Health Plan for 2021-24.

Question reference: S6W-11439

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 25 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of felling trees close to low-voltage power lines that could be damaged in adverse weather.

Resilience of the Energy Sector is reserved and therefore the responsibility of the UK Government.

Power Companies are required to meet statutory obligations under the Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002 with respect to minimum clearances from overhead lines, wires and cables including minimum ground clearance requirements.

Under the Forestry and Land Management (Scotland) Act 2018, it is an offence to fell trees without first getting felling permission from Scottish Forestry. The clearance of windblown trees requires a Felling Permission (previously known as a Felling Licence), unless you qualify for an exemption:

Trees pose an immediate danger to people, property, or infrastructure
Windblown trees that are blocking roads

The Scottish Government contributed to the Storm Arwen Ofgem review ( Storm Arwen Report | Ofgem ) and support the recommendation that work is undertaken by the Energy Emergencies Executive Committee (E3C) to review current distribution and transmission network infrastructure standards and guidance, including those for vegetation management and overhead line designs, to identify economic and efficient improvements that could increase network resilience to severe weather events.

Question reference: S6W-11416

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 25 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-11199 by Neil Gray on 4 October 2022, whether it will list the meetings that its (a) ministers and (b) officials have had with COSLA between March 2022 and October 2022 to discuss Scotland's welcome to Ukrainian refugees.

Scottish Government officials and COSLA are working together as a partnership to ensure all Ukrainian displaced people are supported during their time in Scotland. As they are a key stakeholder in this work, the Scottish Government has regular and ongoing engagement with COSLA at Ministerial and official level.

I met with the COSLA spokesperson for Community Wellbeing this week, and details of Ministerial engagements are regularly published on the Scottish Government’s website: Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Question reference: S6W-11417

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 25 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what consultation it has carried out on its review of the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

Homes for Ukraine is the UK Government scheme and the Scottish Super Sponsor scheme works within it to offer an alternative route for displaced people from Ukraine to come to the UK.

The review convened a number of experts from across national and local government, academia and the third sector. It also took account of the perspectives and experiences of Ukrainians who participated in focus groups.

Findings from the review are being taking into consideration when developing the next steps to enhance our ability to provide appropriate and sustainable longer-term support to those who are here, as well as those who are still to travel. I will provide a statement to Parliament soon to update on the findings of the review.

Question reference: S6W-11406

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 25 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has established the short life working group tasked with making recommendations on how clinically-appropriate use of Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) equipment in the provision of NHS community eyecare services can be more effectively supported, and, if so, what the membership of the group is, and when the group last met.

Question reference: S6W-11448

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 25 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason its Budget allocation for the Young Patients Family Fund was reportedly reduced from £5 million in 2021-22 to £4 million in 2022-23.

25 October 2022

The Young Patients Family Fund (YPFF) was launched on 26 July 2021 and the 2021-22 budget was based on estimated maximum spend based on analysis of the number of families likely to claim support.

The 2022-23 budget has been based on prior year outturn, noting that this was the fund’s first year of operation. The fund is demand led and the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring sufficient funding to Boards to support all valid YPFF claims.

Question reference: S6W-11477

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 25 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much money it expects to spend on the use of private companies in undertaking contracts for work relating to the establishment of a National Care Service in the financial year of (a) 2022-23, (b) 2023-24 and (c) 2024-25, broken down by the purpose of any such spending.

Please see the following table of contracts which have been awarded so far by year, as part of the National Care Service Programme.

Currently, there is no additional budget specifically allocated for procuring external advice from private companies, although the National Care Service Programme will retain flexibility to procure external expertise as necessary to deliver the National Care Service.

Contract	Supplier Awarded Contract	Contract Duration	Contract Dates	Total Contract Value	Contract Purpose
Financial Controls Review	AAB	4 months with the option for a 4 month extension which can be used purely for time to complete, not to add monetary value	25-04-22 – 25-08-22	£45,504 exc. VAT	To provide advice to the NCS finance team on recommendations for improvement where necessary on the financial controls in place, the capacity and capability of the finance team, and the methodology used to provide estimates set-up and running costs for the NCS.
VAT Advice	AAB	12 months	Spring 22-23 – Spring 23-24	£46,749 exc. VAT	To provide advice on necessary VAT preparations for the establishment of a NCS. To provide advice on the VAT impact of different NCS scenarios and recommend any options and/or solutions that could potentially achieve a VAT neutral outcome.
Operating Model and Business Case production	KPMG	18 months	13-12-21 – 13-06-23	£546,000	To produce a Current Operating Model for the current social care sector, a Target Operating Model for the National Care Service and a Programme Business Case.
Provision of Consultation response analysis	PwC	3 months	Dec 21 – Feb 22	£68,360	Contract to undertake analysis and the production of a report for the public consultation on A National Care Service for Scotland. Contract now complete.
National Care Service Operating model design	PwC	2 months	03-09-21 – 03-11-21	£107,020.80	Contract for advice and the production of a report on programme governance arrangements and a Design Authority within the National Care Service Programme. Contract now complete.
Landscape review	Socitim (Society for Innovation, Technology and Modernisation)	12 months	14-02-22 – 14-02-23	£412,624 exc. VAT	A review of the technology and digital architectural landscape across the public, private and third sector organisations who are involved in the delivery of social care services in Scotland to understand what will and will not work in the system
User research	Storm ID	2 months	21-02-22 – 27-04-22	£47,300 exc. VAT	User research to explore how people experience interacting with services in Scotland, and is particularly focussed on what data is important to them. Contract now complete.
International research	Capgemini Invents	2 months	24-02-22 – 15-04-22	£49,000 exc. VAT	Research to understand what digital approaches, services and products have enabled similar services outside of Scotland and what lessons can be learned from both successful and unsuccessful digital projects and programmes. This will focus on the technical and practical elements of work rather than the policy drivers. Contract now complete.
Technical architecture partner	Capgemini Invents	12 months	15-08-22 – 15-08-23	£338,730 exc. VAT	Research to understand in detail how data is currently flowing in the social care and health system and a technical architecture review of existing national digital assets to make a technical assessment to inform design decisions and inform the re-use of assets where appropriate.

Question reference: S6W-11466

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 25 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much it expects to recoup from asking Integration Joint Boards to return any unspent COVID-19 funding.

The majority of Integrated Joint Board reserves are earmarked for specific purposes, in particular the ongoing response to COVID-19 and cannot be used to fund new spending commitments.

Further Covid funding has not been available from the UK Government for Covid related pressures in 2022-23.

Further work will be carried out to assess the amounts to be re-couped from IJBs in line with Covid requirements

More than £1.6 billion has been provided for social care and integration in 2022-23in addition to support for Covid, and we are committed to increasing spend in social care by at least 25% by the end of this Parliament, an increase of over £840 million.

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