- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 5 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on hospitality in each year since 2020, broken down by directorate.
Answer
A table showing spend by Scottish Government directorates within hospitality codes in the Scottish Government ledger in the financial years 2020-2021 and 2021-22 is as follows.
| Directorate | 2020-2021 | 2021-2022 |
| £ | £ |
| Advanced Learning and Science Directorate | 85 | 0 |
| Directorate for Agriculture and Rural Economy | 517 | 1,771 |
| Directorate for Budget and Public Spending | 0 | 128 |
| Directorate for Chief Economist | 2 | 1,080 |
| Directorate for Chief Medical Officer | 3 | 0 |
| Directorate for Chief Nursing Officer | 18 | 0 |
| Directorate for Children and Families | 2,699 | 2,256 |
| Directorate for Communications and Ministerial Support | 43,181 | 10,435 |
| Directorate for Constitution and Cabinet | 96 | 896 |
| Directorate for Corporate Transformation and Workplace | 4,016 | 0 |
| Directorate for COVID Business Resilience and Support | 0 | 17 |
| Directorate for COVID Public Health | 9 | 0 |
| Directorate for Culture, Tourism and Major Events | 245 | 22 |
| Directorate for Digital | 2,631 | 340 |
| Directorate for Early Learning and Childcare Programme | 96 | 0 |
| Directorate for Economic Development | 1,602 | 805 |
| Directorate for Energy and Climate Change | 12 | 6,786 |
| Directorate for Environment and Forestry | 0 | 713 |
| Directorate for External Affairs | 371 | 8,283 |
| Directorate for Fair Work, Employability and Skills | 8 | 9 |
| Directorate for Financial Management | 0 | 7 |
| Directorate for Health Workforce | 10,628 | 0 |
| Directorate for International Trade and Investment | 568 | 540 |
| Directorate for Legal Services (Solicitor to the Scottish Government) | 0 | 911 |
| Directorate for Local Government and Housing | 3,485 | 848 |
| Directorate for Marine Scotland | 3,082 | 25,854 |
| Directorate for Mental Health and Social Care | 9 | 3,404 |
| Directorate for People | 10,645 | 29,915 |
| Directorate for Performance and Delivery | 1,879 | 0 |
| Directorate for Population Health | 11 | 22 |
| Directorate for Primary Care | 215 | 0 |
| Directorate for Social Security | 1,405 | 0 |
| Directorate for Sustainable Land Use and Rural Policy | 0 | 337 |
| Directorate for Vaccines Policy and Strategy | 0 | 22 |
| Directorate of Equality Inclusion and Human Rights | 254 | 624 |
| EU Directorate | 115 | 238 |
| HM Inspectorate of Prisons | 75 | 418 |
| Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland | 0 | 102 |
| Justice Directorate | 793 | 541 |
| Organisational Readiness Directorate | 6,687 | 943 |
| Safer Communities | 39 | 56 |
| Scottish National Investment Bank | 0 | 52 |
| Scottish Procurement and Property Directorate | 143 | 0 |
| Tackling Child Poverty and Social Justice | 21 | 0 |
| Grand Total | 95,645 | 98,375 |
- Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 4 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many pupils in (a) Stirling, (b) Clackmannanshire, (c) Perth and Kinross and (d) Fife have received a free laptop, Chromebook or tablet to date to use at school and at home.
Answer
The following table shows how many devices have been distributed by councils to school aged children using the £25m digital inclusion funding made available by Scottish Government in 2020/21.
Local Authority | Devices Distributed |
Stirling | 1794 |
Clackmannanshire | 828 |
Perth and Kinross | 1507 |
Fife | 5465 |
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 72,000 provided as a result of Scottish Government funding.
The Scottish Government are committed to ensuring every school-aged child has access to a device to support their learning by the end of this Parliament.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 4 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many times and (b) on what dates it has met with stakeholders that are concerned with cladding remediation, including (i) insurers, (ii) mortgage lenders, (iii) the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and (iv) homeowners, regarding the cladding remediation programme, since the Single Building Assessment pilot began.
Answer
Since the start of the pilot in June 2021 Scottish Government has met individually with:
Association of British Insurers 5 times
- on 13 August 2021, 19 August 2021, 6 October 2021, 11 November 2021,
3 March 2022,
UK Finance 6 times
- on 13 July 2021, 18 August 2021, 19 August 2021, 22 February 2022, 6 April 2022, 21 April 2022
SFRS 2 times
- on 9 July 2021, 15 September 2021
High Rise Scotland Action Group
- 15 times on 30 July 2021, 13 August 2021, 16 August 2021, 19 August 2021, 2 December 2021, 10 December 2021, 17 January 2022, 11 February 2022, 18 February 2022, 4 March 2022, 25 April 2022, 26 April 2022, 9 May 2022, 11 May 2022, 6 July 2022.
Pilot building homeowners association representatives
The Scottish Government has met with all stakeholders collectively at meetings of the Cladding Stakeholder Group. It has met on these dates:
2021
- 30 June, 19 August, 15 September, 20 October, 17 November, 15 December.
2022
19 January, 16 February, 16 March, 20 April, 18 May.
Officials have also met with the SFRS regularly, at times daily, and likewise for homeowners affected by the cladding crisis. It is impossible to attach a figure to these meetings.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 4 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will confirm which islands it plans to include in the eligibility criteria for its proposed Islands Bond.
Answer
The specifics of the Islands Bond are still being carefully considered in light of the strong feedback we have received from island residents, and within the new context of the current energy crisis and rising living costs which are being experienced by many islanders.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 4 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding has been allocated to support the work of Scotland’s Makar in each year since the position was created in 2004.
Answer
The Scottish Government has allocated funding to support the work of Scotland’s Makar in each year since the position was created in 2004, as follows:
Year | SG Funding Allocation for Makar/National Poet for Scotland |
2004 - 2010 | £5,000 per annum |
2011 - 2015 | £10,000 per annum |
2016 | £11,000 per annum |
2017 | £12,000 per annum |
2018 - 2020 | £13,000 per annum |
2021 - 2022 | £18,000 per annum |
- Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 4 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many properties in (a) Stirling and (b) Clackmannanshire are eligible for the main voucher portion of the Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme for properties that will not receive broadband services under the R100 programme.
Answer
The R100 programme is a combination of the following three strands of activity – the £600 million R100 contracts, the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme and continued commercial coverage.
As of 21 July 2022, 1,472 properties in Stirling and 280 properties in Clackmannanshire are eligible for a main voucher worth up to £5,000 through the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 4 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what data is held on the number of people who died alone in hospital in each year since 1999.
Answer
This information is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 4 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent by NHS boards on operations carried out by the independent sector in each year since 1999.
Answer
Scottish Ministers are absolutely committed to a publicly owned and operated NHS, and for the people of Scotland to have free and timely access to health services. Our NHS in Scotland makes very limited use of the independent sector for targeted services and to supplement NHS capacity, where necessary.
In 2020-21, use of the independent sector in NHS Scotland represented just 0.5% of the frontline health budget. For NHS England, use of the independent sector was 7%, £12.2 billion, of the English health budget for the same period.
Total spend with independent providers is published annually in NHS Board accounts which are available on each Board’s website. Detail not included in the accounts would require to be requested from Health Boards.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 4 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many times it has met with Homes for Scotland regarding the development of the Scottish Safer Buildings Accord; what progress has been made with the Accord, and whether it will publish minutes and papers relating to the development of the Accord.
Answer
The Scottish Government has met 8 times with Homes for Scotland directly related to the development of the Scottish Safer Buildings Accord workshops.
We are making significant progress, to date focused around collaborative service design of the high level principles and scope. We are working at pace with our design cohort to refine specific technical criteria and build up granularity to the Accord.
Officials, in keeping with good collaborative working and Service Design, continue to meet regularly with Homes for Scotland out with design workshops and it is impracticable to attach a figure to these.
Discussions are sensitive and of a commercial, financial and legal nature. These will understandably not be published due to the confidential nature of discussions.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 4 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what consideration has been given to removing plastic bottles from sale in the Scottish Parliament canteen, and switching to more sustainable packaging choices for soft drinks.
Answer
Although single use plastic bottles are not part of the recent Single Use Plastics Ban in Scotland, we are actively exploring with our supplier (Sodexo) on how to remove or reduce plastic bottles from sale within the canteen and other catering outlets at Holyrood. We have asked for a full impact assessment of alternative products to establish if alternative products will deliver a reduced overall carbon footprint and hope to have received this by the end of September. We are also anticipating the launch of the Deposit Return Scheme in Scotland and provided we still use plastic bottles or cans by next summer, will seek to have a reverse vending machine at Holyrood.
