Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10488 on‎ 8 September 2022. 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

No it has not. The Scottish Government continues to explore all options to ensure that there is sufficient and safe accommodation for any displaced people from Ukraine arriving in Scotland. This includes contingency plans for emergency accommodation as well as increasing temporary accommodation, by for example getting the second ship, which has now docked in Glasgow, prepared to safely host displaced people from Ukraine.

The Scottish Government is clear that we do not want to see people spending more time in temporary accommodation than is absolutely necessary, including on our two passenger ships.

Our priority is to ensure that people who have already arrived, and will arrive from Ukraine, are able to stay in appropriate temporary accommodation and get the right support, then move into safe, sustainable longer term accommodation.

I wrote to the former Chancellor of the Exchequer on 31 July to request that he consider providing appropriate funding for public sector pay, given that our current funding was set in last October’s UK Spending Review which was based on 3% pay uplifts. This followed a letter from the Finance Secretary and the Finance Ministers of the other devolved governments outlining their concerns, including on the cost crisis and public sector pay. This letter was sent on 15 July, following prior engagement on this when they met with the Chief Secretary in Cardiff in June. The Scottish Government is still awaiting a formal response to these letters. I raised these matters with the new Chancellor upon his appointment on 6 September and hope to receive a response from him shortly.

The contract notice with Corporate Travel Management (North) Ltd, was published on 9 August 2022. The contract is to source and provide travel-related services for displaced people from Ukraine including accommodation in hotels and on the M/S Victoria I and M/S Ambition.

The full contract has a value of up to £100 million with a start date of 8 July 2022 and an end date of 12 December 2024.

Under the current constitutional arrangements in the UK, asylum and immigration is fully reserved to the UK Government and handled by the Home Office.

This includes the issuing of visas for displaced people from Ukraine.

Under the current constitutional arrangements in the UK, asylum and immigration is fully reserved to the UK Government and handled by the Home Office.

The UK Government published quarterly immigration statistics here: Immigration statistics, year ending June 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

As the litigation is ongoing, and the costs may be affected by a number of factors, it is not possible to provide an estimate of the total costs, but as mentioned in my previous answer to question S6W-09692 we will publish external costs on a regular basis.

The new Scottish Government Office in Warsaw will be opened within the lifetime of this Parliament.

The office will be staffed by Civil Servants and Country Based Staff. Civil Servants are appointed to represent Scotland in our international offices by a recruitment panel that includes the posts’ line manager. Appointees can be recruited from existing roles within the Scottish Government or from wider UK Government departments. The Country Based Staff are recruited using the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office recruitment processes in each country.

Costs and staffing levels for the office will be finalised under future Scottish Government Budgets, in line with our priorities and within our budgetary limits.

The new Scottish Government International Office in Copenhagen operates from within the local British Embassy and is co-located with Scottish Development International.

It comprises three members of staff. Two are employed directly by the Scottish Government, while the third team member is locally employed via the British Embassy.

The two Scottish Government officials are on A-C pay bands. Due to the small number of staff members in this office, we are unable to disclose their specific pay bands as it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018.

The locally employed team member is not on the Scottish Government’s pay bandings and their salary is based on location.

The total budget for the Copenhagen office in Financial Year 2022-2023 is £598,000. This covers staffing, running costs and all activities of the Scottish Government’s office in Copenhagen including a programme of policy, trade and cultural events to promote investment and economic opportunities between Scotland and the Nordic countries.