Chamber and committees

We regularly review our temporary accommodation in order to provide the best support to our Ukrainian guests and do not want people spending any longer than necessary in temporary accommodation. Disclosing this information may result in a significant risk to the health and safety of the individuals staying in these hotels. Therefore, we currently have no plans to disclose this information.

The Scottish Government publish regular Scotland-level data and information on people displaced by the war in Ukraine. The latest data, published, 20 October 2022, can be found on our website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-statistics-october-2022/pages/welcome-accommodation/

18 To date the Scottish Government and sportscotland (National Lottery) has funded 29 projects via the Cycling Facilities Fund, seven of which have been completed. The details and amounts of this funding can be found in the following table:

The Community Cycling Fund is initially a two-year programme funded by sportscotland and EventScotland and in partnership with the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships. It is made up of two separate funding opportunities with investment awarded separately.

The development strand of the fund is administered by sportscotland. This investment will be distributed to all 32 local authorities, through sportscotland’s existing local authority integrated investment processes, to support cycling activity in their area. Awards will range from approximately £5,000 to £33,500 per authority per year, depending on population and levels of deprivation.To date, sportscotland has invested £69,274 across four local authorities and we expect further investment to be issued to local authorities in the coming months. Local authorities have the flexibility to use the fund to meet local needs, building on what is already in place, and responding creatively to what communities want. Engagement between sportscotland and each local authority will take place during the planning stage, prior to any funding request.

The events strand of the fund is administered by EventScotland. The first round of funding has resulted in a commitment of £160,000 to successful events throughout Scotland. The second round of funding is currently open to applications, until 16 November. The events strand is an open fund for local authorities and other organisations to apply, however non-local authority organisers can only apply with the endorsement of their local authority.

The Scottish Government has created a web page for the Ministerial Industry Advisory Group for rest of UK Talent Attraction; Industry Advisory Group for rUK Talent Attraction - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . Content will be updated regularly and a note of all meetings to date will be published by 1 December 2022.

This information is not collected by Scottish Government.

We do collect information for the number of people accommodated on the MS Victoria. This is published in our monthly statistics on our website. The latest publication was on 20 October 2022 and can be found via: https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-statistics-october-2022/pages/welcome-accommodation/

The Scottish Government have allocated £1 million to support local authorities to date to cover the costs of welcome activities, such as access to meals, translation services and trauma support. We recognise that costs arising may go beyond the £1 million initially made available, and we are working with COSLA and local authorities to ensure that reasonable costs associated with the super sponsor scheme are met by the Scottish Government. The full costs are yet to be determined.

The Scottish Government have committed £11.2 million to local government to increase the capacity of local resettlement teams, support refurbishment of properties and support integration work. We do not currently plan to publish a further breakdown of costs.

The member can find details on the progress of the High Level Masonry inspections and the reopening of sites on the Historic Environment Scotland website at – https://www.historicenvironment.scot/conservation-works-happening-at-our-sites/

Historic Environment continues to review the budgetary requirements as the inspections programme delivers its findings, considering both capacity needed as well as funding. Against a challenging financial backdrop, the Scottish Government will continue to support Historic Environment Scotland to maintain Scotland’s heritage and historic environment, and I will continue to engage regularly with Historic Environment Scotland to discuss the closures and restrictions.

Since the Scottish Government's £50m Ukraine Longer Term Resettlement Fund was launched on 22 September 2022, there has been two successful applications:

Aberdeen City Council has been awarded up to £6.150m for up to 500 void properties on 28 October 2022.

North Ayrshire Council has been awarded up to £0.486m for up to 30 void properties on 6 October 2022

This follows on from a pilot project, where we awarded £5m to North Lanarkshire Council for the refurbishment of up to 200 homes on 6 July 2022.

My officials are continuing to work closely with Local Authorities and Registered Social Landlords as they come forward with other proposed projects.

The Scottish Government is in the final stages of preparing a Carers Strategy which will set out our long-term approach to unpaid carers’ social and financial inclusion. This will apply to different caring situations, including unpaid older carers of adults with a learning disability. The strategy will include a focus on support made available through social security policies, the Scottish Welfare Fund and action taken by the Scottish Government on fuel poverty, employment and education. This will help support carers who are likely to be disproportionately impacted by the cost of living crisis.

We are using all the powers and resources available to us to support families with cost of living and have already invested almost £3 billion in a range of measures for households. That includes supporting energy bills, childcare, health and travel, as well as social security payments that are either not available anywhere else in the UK or are more generous, such as the Scottish Child Payment and Bridging Payment.

In addition, we uprated 8 Scottish benefits by 6% in April. Eligible carers in Scotland receive the Carer’s Allowance Supplement, funded from the Scottish Government budget and paying up to £491.40 this year on top of Carer’s Allowance. We will double our Fuel Insecurity Fund to £20 million in 2022-23, to help households at risk of self-disconnection or self-rationing energy use and to ensure support continues to protect people affected by rising energy costs.

We know that the current situation is causing anxiety for many households – and that many people may be missing out on support that is available to them. To help people understand the significant range of support that they may be able to access, we have also launched a Scottish Government “cost of living” website: https://www.gov.scot/cost-of-living-support/ . The website will help people find out what support may be available depending on their own personal circumstances, for example, unpaid carers of adults with a learning disability.