Chamber and committees

We know that it has been very difficult for our faith communities to be unable to come together in their places of worship, including churches. This was of course necessary due to the pandemic and I appreciate the understanding and patience our faith communities have shown in abiding by restrictions, which have been vital to ensure safety and stop the spread of the virus.

Working with our faith communities and guided in particular by evolving scientific and health advice on transmission risks, the First Minister announced on 9 July that, with appropriate mitigations in place, places of worship could reopen from 15 July.

The Scottish Government has remained engaged with our faith communities and will continue to work closely with them as we develop guidance to support places of worship to re-open safely, with physical distancing and hygiene safeguards.

Our community theatres and performing arts venues and organisations, their staff and the talented freelancers and volunteers who work with them are an essential part of the fabric of Scotland’s culture and communities and we are determined that they will survive and be able to thrive again.

On 3 July, the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture announced the new Scottish Government £10 million Performing Arts Venues Fund which will support theatres, who were among the first to close and will be among the last to reopen. The Fund aims to remove the threat of insolvency prior to the end of March 2021; allow for specialist/core staff to return from furlough or avoid redundancy to work on future sustainability plans; and increase the opportunities for commissioning and employment of freelance artists and creative practitioners. Details of how the fund will operate will be published by Creative Scotland and funding made available as soon as practicable.

A number of community theatres have benefitted from the Third Sector Resilience Fund to date including Aberdeen Performing Arts, Alhambra Theatre and Eden Court. As of 10 July 2020 our total investment in the third sector has helped save organisations that have a collective annual turnover of c£0.5bn with over 14,000 jobs saved. Grants totalling £21.68 million have been made to over 1293 organisations, including over £2.3 million to over 118 organisations within the creative industries. In addition seven other theatres have benefitted from the Wellbeing Fund including Pitlcochry Festival Theatre, Inverclyde Youth Theatre (Koyos) and Greenock Arts Guild Ltd. We also recognise that there will be a need for further support for the third sector and we are considering this as part of our approach to Recovery. This will include the consideration of the impact of different phases of lockdown. Details will be announced in due course.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-30635 on 26 July 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 .

Amusement arcades will not be able to open on 15 July along with other parts of the tourism and hospitality industry. The reopening of amusement arcades will be considered with other indoor entertainment venues for later in Phase 3. The Scottish Government recognises the importance of businesses reopening, however public health is paramount. We will move to reopen Scotland’s amusement arcades as soon as it is safe to do so.

The Scottish Government and our agencies had no involvement in Aviva's decision.

Since the decision was announced, Scottish Enterprise has offered engagement to provide advice on fair work practices and flexible working arrangements in order that employees are fully supported.

No public funds were involved in the construction of Maxim Business Park.

The Scottish Government and our agencies have no stake in the facility's ownership.

The Small Business Support Grants and Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants are administered and awarded by Local Authorities. The Scottish Government collects data on a weekly basis pertaining to the total number of business support grant applications made and the total number of grants awarded by each local authority. Data pertaining to the number of business grant support applications that may have been reassessed is not held centrally.

Available data is published weekly at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-business-support-fund-grant-statistics/ , and we continue to work with local authorities to best reflect scheme information.

The changes to basic disclosure under Part 2 of the Management of Offenders (Scotland) Act 2019 Act ("the 2019 Act") require operational changes to the system of disclosure certificates issued by Disclosure Scotland.

Disclosure Scotland activated their business continuity plan in light of Covid-19 and are focusing on their vital safeguarding role during these challenging times. This means commencement could not take place as had been planned for the summer of 2020. Disclosure Scotland and the Scottish Government have been working to set a new implementation date for the delivery of these important changes.

The Scottish Government is hopeful that Part 2 of the 2019 Act will be able to be commenced at some point in 2020, but that very much depends on the current situation. Once I am able to, I will announce when commencement of Part 2 of the 2019 Act will take place.

The Scottish Government is currently working with stakeholders, including the National Trust for Scotland (NTS), to produce reopening guidance for museums, galleries and heritage attractions to advise how best to implement appropriate measures which ensure their ongoing compliance with the physical distancing rules, which are necessary and proportionate to the scale of the threat we are experiencing. The guidance will be published shortly.

As I have indicated in response to the Member’s question S5W-29857 on 22 June 2020, a team from the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise is currently exploring, with the NTS, options for support and has asked NTS for further details.

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

Following the meeting on 26 May 2020 between Scottish Enterprise (SE), the Scottish Government and the National Trust for Scotland (NTS), Scottish Enterprise wrote to the NTS on 27 May suggesting that it produce a turnaround plan outlining its strategy for recovery including the costs and timings of reopening its properties, resuming activities and associated resourcing.

This Plan will be used as the basis for future discussions and enable the team to assess what specific support measures may be required to get the organisation to that point while minimising job losses and property closures. The NTS acknowledged that email on 29 th May and said that it would seek to provide a turnaround plan in
‎ 2-3 weeks. Once officials and SE have received this information, they will meet again with the NTS to discuss it and explore the options available.

Following discussions with Prospect, I have also written to the NTS encouraging it to apply Fair Work Principles and to involve the unions in its forward planning.