Chamber and committees

The existing exclusivity agreement is in place until 31 December 2020. Discussions between Flamingo Land Ltd and Scottish Enterprise are continuing and it is not yet possible to confirm what, if any, agreement may be in place after that time.

In March, in response to coronavirus, the Scottish Government announced a £350 million emergency package for communities. Before opening the current £40 million Community and Third Sector Recovery Programme (CTSRP), the Scottish Government had already awarded over £22 million in grants to 1,349 organisations through the Third Sector Resilience Fund (TSRF).

Adapt and Thrive is part of the CTSRP and aims to support charities, community groups, social enterprises and voluntary organisations, through working with advisers, to develop plans and implement changes to adapt how they raise income so they can operate sustainably through the move from lockdown to recovery. As well as support, grants between £5 and £25k and loans of £25K+ are also available to implement the plans.

More information is available at Community & Third Sector Recovery Programme – SCVO

Since the start of the crisis, we have invested over £2.3 billion to support businesses of all types across Scotland. In addition to the support offered through the Strategic Framework Business Fund, we recently announced a further £185 million to help impacted businesses through winter. More details will be announced shortly.

I refer the member to the oral evidence provided to the Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints and related correspondence. This sets out that the then Director of Safer Communities, Gillian Russell, provided Judith Mackinnon, Head of People Advice, with a contact in the Public Protection Specialist Crime Division of Police Scotland to seek generic advice on handling cases of sexual harassment. The meeting was in December 2017 and in attendance were three Police Scotland officers and Ms Mackinnon.

The Scottish National Investment Bank (the Bank) and Scottish Enterprise are working closely together to align their activities and minimise duplication to deliver maximum benefit for businesses and the Scottish economy. As part of this and to avoid confusion, the Scottish Investment Bank, ‘SIB’, brand is no longer being used and the investment activities of Scottish Enterprise (SE) are now being carried out under the SE brand. Work is also underway to identify investments made by SE under the SIB brand which may transfer to the Bank as part of its role in consolidating existing public sector investment activities.

I have made clear my opposition to the UK Government’s pay freeze, which misjudges the value of frontline efforts throughout this pandemic. The forthcoming Scottish Public Sector Pay Policy for 2021-22 will directly impact 50 public bodies, and act as a benchmark for wider public sector workforce groups across Scotland, including NHS Scotland, renewing pay deals for 2021 and beyond.

We will continue to take a principled approach to public sector pay awards as we work towards rebalancing our economy – building on our progressive approach of recent years that has both restored pay to pre-2010 levels for the lowest paid and consistently paid more across frontline services than the UK Government.

The funding made available to support the Hotel Support Programme is £14m. Enterprise Agencies, VisitScotland and SDS are also drawing in their wider support products and services to assist companies on the Programme. The number of Expressions of Interest received by local authority area is set out in the following table:

Safety of staff in schools is paramount. Teachers are entitled to feel safe at work and we expect schools and local authorities to make sure appropriate arrangements are in place for them.

Our latest guidance on reducing coronavirus (COVID-19) risks in schools, published on 30 October, says schools and local authorities should follow the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists advice to try to keep the risk of exposure as low as is practically possible to pregnant women, particularly in the third trimester. Normal pregnancy risk assessments should also be undertaken, and appropriate attention paid to mental health and wellbeing.

The Scottish Government has committed to identifying a preferred corridor by Spring 2021. A full timetable can only be established once a preferred corridor is known and the nature of the infrastructure works can be more clearly defined.

Michael Matheson: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-33622 on 10 December 2020. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

Transport Scotland is in the process of analysing around 650 responses received from the public consultation. It is expected the consultation findings, including responses to occurring themes where relevant, will be published on the Transport Scotland website in early 2021.

In the meantime, Transport Scotland has published information on the emerging themes from the consultation on its website at https://www.transport.gov.scot/projects/a83-access-to-argyll-and-bute/project-details/ .