Chamber and committees

The Headquarters of Social Security Scotland is currently situated in Dundee, and will remain so.

As at 31 July 2020, under the Scottish Growth Scheme, £258.9 million of investment has been unlocked for SMEs, in the form of debt and equity, for 441 companies. The Scheme continues to deliver much needed finance for SMEs, in the form of microfinance (up to £25,000), debt/loan (£25,000 to £100,000) and equity (up to £2m).

Following my announcement on 28 August of a new £59 million package of support for the culture and heritage sectors in Scotland, the total announcements arising from the £97 million consequentials is now £81.47 million.

A breakdown of this funding is as follows:

We are aware of the increased concerns about single-use face coverings and glove littering. Littering of any kind is a criminal offence and completely unacceptable.

Face coverings and gloves used by the general public are not classified as hazardous waste. Disposable face coverings and gloves can, and should, be disposed of in a general waste or litter bin. Scottish Government’s Coronavirus (COVID-19) Phase 3: Staying Safe and Protecting others guidance has been updated to include information for the public on the correct disposal of face coverings and gloves.

Zero Waste Scotland have developed additional communication material encouraging use of reusable face coverings and appropriate disposal of single-use face coverings and gloves.

Extra precautions on disposal of personal waste are necessary if someone in a household has, or suspects that they have, Covid-19. These precautions are set out in relevant Health Protection Scotland and NHS Inform guidance and the Scottish Government’s Phase 3: Staying Safe and Protecting others guidance.

There would only be a need for pop-up or separate PPE bins if this type of waste needed to be segregated, which is not generally necessary. The face coverings or gloves worn by members of the public can safely be disposed of in the general waste bin. There are, as you would expect, separate disposal procedures in place for healthcare settings.

Extra precautions on disposal of personal waste are also necessary if someone in a household has, or suspects that they have, Covid-19. These precautions are set out in relevant Health Protection Scotland and NHS Inform guidance and the Scottish Government’s Phase 3: Staying Safe and Protecting others guidance.

We have published the list of organisations who informed the consultation and this can be found in the Framework for supporting people through Recovery and Rehabilitation during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic, which is available to read on the Scottish Government’s website. The National Advisory Board for Rehabilitation is to be determined and will be chaired by the Chief Allied Health Professions Officer and supported by the new Allied Health Professions Adviser. The Advisory Board will be formed to provide expert advice to Scottish Government and support leadership in NHS Boards, Integration Authorities, Local Government, Independent and Third Sector. We will be considering the role that technologies will play in supporting rehabilitation and recovery and have already highlighted that we recognise that people affected by coronavirus (COVID-19) can benefit from providing care and support in different ways including online rehabilitation services.

The Brand Scotland collaboration supports the Scottish Government and key partners in presenting Scotland as the best place to live/work, study, visit and do business. The collaboration builds Scotland’s brand value by promoting our strengths with a clear, consistent narrative and suite of marketing collateral.

Brand Scotland’s business pillar partners use the marketing collateral to support both inward investment and international exports, particularly to our top 15 priority markets as outlined in A Trading Nation, including our trade with the rest of the UK. Business pillar partners are currently developing fresh campaign material and a toolkit of sector specific collateral that will give our network of offices outside of Scotland access to the materials they need to promote Scotland’s trade and investment capacity. This campaign and toolkit will be launched to further help promote Scotland’s key business sectors as part of the Economic Recovery. This is aimed at building brand value internationally and across the rest of the UK.

The Scottish Government’s enterprise agencies are implementing economic recovery plans with significant programmes of support aimed at supporting Scottish exporters and attracting inward investment from across the UK. This includes ensuring optimal coordination of support, working with external stakeholders and partners (including Department of International Trade, CBI, Business Gateway, Scottish Chambers and Scottish Universities) both nationally, regionally and globally. This helps ensure the export support available to businesses in Scotland is co-ordinated with each stakeholder and partner playing a clear and well-defined role.

As announced on 20 August, indoor activities for children and young people (unregulated) can begin from Monday, 31 August, subject to adhering to the guidance for these activities. This guidance, for activities that are voluntary, third sector, parent or peer led, is currently being developed and its principles will apply to home educators.

The guidance on re-opening school age childcare services , small and micro businesses guidance and Phase 3: staying safe and protecting others is also applicable for home educators.

The delivery of Internet of Things (IoT) service offerings will be market driven, however to encourage their delivery, the Scottish Government invested over £269,000 in the IoT Support Programme which operated from March 2019 to March 2020. The programme was co-designed with the Innovation Centre for Sensor and Information Systems (CENSIS), and promoted IoT in the health, cities, tourism, food and drink and transport sectors. CENSIS identified these five as priority sectors as all have clearly defined applications and were assessed as having strong IoT growth potential. The programme consisted of several interlinked components including workshops, publications, an IoT starter kit for businesses, market scoping reports and development and delivery of Scottish use cases.

We can confirm that work with Scottish Futures Trust on developing the strategy with the datacentre and international connectivity industry has started.

It is currently expected that the strategy will be published by the end of this year.