Chamber and committees

In December 2012, through the Scottish Partnership for Regeneration in Urban Centres (SPRUCE) a loan of £9.6 million was granted contributing to the development of 110 Queen Street. The loan was fully repaid in September 2014. The completed building provides over 140,000 square feet of space which is fully occupied, supporting the creation of over 1,000 jobs.

This is an operational matter for National Museums Scotland and the Board of Trustees.

National Museums Scotland has advised officials that it is not looking to acquire one of the lifeboats from the RMS Queen Mary for the National Collection.

NMS does not actively collect full sized aquatic vessels in its transport collection. Space and storage limitations would prevent them from being able to care appropriately for an object of this size.

There has been no specific assessment and it is important to note that these data only reflect Considerate Contractor members.

Scottish Government monitor the market dynamics through our data dashboard which was developed by the Construction Leadership Forum (CLF) and can be viewed on the CLF website https://www.constructionforum.scot/ .

We work closely with the construction industry through the Construction Leadership Forum (CLF), chaired by myself, which is the main forum for Scottish Government/Industry interaction and meets every two months.

We understand from regular contact with colleagues in UK Government that the third round of the Levelling Up Fund is in development however we have no further information or clarity on when or how the funds will be allocated.

The Scottish Government maintains that this funding should be devolved to us to distribute in line with our regional economic policy arrangements.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service will give careful consideration to any reports of alleged criminal conduct which are submitted by the police, or any specialist reporting agency.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has no policy whereby it will not accept offences reported to by the police, or any specialist reporting agency.

Specific data on job creation is not collected. Over the past ten years, the estimated numbers of manufacturing jobs in Scotland, rounded to the nearest 1,000, were as follows:

All Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) have distinct methodology and approaches for the attraction of inward investment, impacting each IPA’s reporting and monitoring of country-level or sub-national inward investment performance and securing of inward investment global market share. Without a full and detailed knowledge of how other IPAs approach this, including the approach adopted by the IDA Ireland, it would be inappropriate for the Scottish Government to comment on comparative inward investment agency performance.

However, the Scottish Government does take an evidence-based approach to inward investment attraction and performance, which we keep under regular review. According to the most recent independent, industry recognised EY Annual Attractiveness Survey 2023, Scotland has been the most attractive foreign direct investment (FDI) location outside of London for the last eight years, providing clear evidence that our Team Scotland approach to attracting good quality inward investment is working.

For ease of reference I’ve included a link to EY’s independent Annual Attractiveness Survey 2023 if you would like to know more Scotland’s foreign investment grows with record results | EY UK

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-20714 on 19 September 2023. 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

Our ambitious work on suicide prevention is underpinned by a significant funding commitment of £2.5 million in 2023-24. This includes funding of approximately £1.9 million specifically focused on the delivery and implementation of the Creating Hope Together Action Plan and ongoing research to inform future suicide prevention activity and targeted support. Funding of approximately £600,000 has been allocated to taking forward priority programmes initiated under the previous plan including our bereavement support service pilot and the improvement of suicidal crisis responses.

The £2.5 million ring-fenced for suicide prevention is part of the core mental health budget. However, other elements of the mental health budget also support suicide prevention work. For example, our £15 million per annum Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults supported nearly 300 suicide prevention projects in 2022-23. Likewise, wider Scottish Government spending contributes to tackling the inequalities which can contribute to suicide.

The Scottish Government, through our National Delivery Lead, will be tracking national spend against the annual delivery plan and £2.5 million budget. We will not be tracking local spend. It is for local authorities and NHS teams to agree local action plans which meet local needs and agree resources to support these. As at the national level, there is recognition that suicide prevention involves a broad range of services and budgets including housing, money advice, alcohol and drug services, and it is therefore not possible to determine the full funding picture. We will however be actively working with our local partners, including NHS Boards and local authorities, to identify opportunities to co-ordinate action and share practice and learning so that our collective plans and resources work to prevent suicide.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-20714 on 19 September 2023. 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