Chamber and committees

Scottish Government has a long standing commitment supporting local communities to become more resilient, sustainable, empowered and grow local wellbeing inclusive economies. This is delivered through a range of well-established programmes and funds that include the Regeneration Capital Grant Fund, the Scottish Land Fund and sponsorship of the Community Ownership Support Service.

The First Minister announced that Kathleen Jamie is to be Scotland’s next Makar at an event at the Scottish Poetry Library on 18 August and issued a news release which sets out all the details. This is available at: New Scots Makar - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

We are aware that Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Development International, the Scottish National Investment Bank and Screen Scotland have each had some engagement with PSL Land and Scottish Government officials attended a small number of meetings. According to Companies House records, PSL Land Ltd (SC491629) was dissolved on 29 Dec 2020.

The Scottish Government welcomes private and public sector projects to develop film studio infrastructure in Scotland. With our enterprise and development agencies, we will continue to offer support with various aspects of business planning, including to secure financing, land and specialist advice, while respecting commercial confidentiality.

The ransomware attack on SEPA at Christmas Eve last year was very serious and has had a significant impact upon SEPA’s IT infrastructure and networks. It was a striking reminder of the threat posed by cyber criminals and the need for everyone in Scotland – businesses, the public sector and individuals – to take that threat seriously.

In the days following, SEPA worked with Police Scotland and the National Cyber Security Centre as well as Scottish Government officials to respond to what was complex and sophisticated criminal conduct and took steps to share the indicators of the compromise to ensure that measures were put in place to mitigate any broader attack across the public sector.

The Scottish Government continuously reviews its cyber security protocols following any cyber incidents, in collaboration with the UK National Cyber Security Centre and did so on this occasion. In addition, the reports of a number of reviews into the incident are awaited and we will consider these fully and use them to inform our wider public sector cyber resilience work programme and to review our own cyber security protocols again.

The Scottish Government’s Grassroots Music Venues Stabilisation Fund (GMVSF) provided grassroots live music venues with emergency funds to help address the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and prevent closure. In total, £6.2 million of support was awarded to 85 venues throughout Scotland through two rounds of the GMVSF.

The recipients of the first round of GMVSF funding, awarded in September 2020, can be found here, broken down by (a) venue and (b) amount received: https://www.creativescotland.com/what-we-do/latest-news/archive/2020/09/funds-reach-grassroots-music-venues

The recipients of the second round of GMVSF funding, awarded in February 2021, can be found here, broken down by (a) venue and (b) amount received:

https://www.creativescotland.com/what-we-do/latest-news/archive/2021/02/funds-reach-grassroots-music-venues

Scottish Government support for film production since 2007 has been included in grant-in-aid channelled, and not disaggregated, through Creative Scotland and, prior to the establishment of Creative Scotland in 2011, through one of its predecessor bodies, Scottish Screen. Creative Scotland includes the dedicated screen partnership, Screen Scotland, since it was launched in August 2018. Creative Scotland operates on an arms-length principle whereby Ministers do not intervene in individual funding decisions. Since Scottish Government does not hold the detailed information requested I asked Creative Scotland to provide me with the detail required for me to respond fully.

Screen Scotland currently supports the production in Scotland of films intended for theatrical release through two funds, the Film Development and Production Fund and the Production Growth Fund. Funding awarded via Screen Scotland through these funds comes from both the Scottish Government and National Lottery funding

The Film Development and Production Fund aims to support the production of distinctive and high-quality feature films that promote Scotland’s culture, creativity and diversity, and that have the potential to engage and entertain audiences in Scotland, the UK and internationally”. It offers development and production funding for feature length films and documentaries being made by filmmakers based in Scotland. Its 2021/22 budget is £4 million.

The Production Growth Fund aims to help grow Scotland’s screen production sector, creating employment opportunities for Scottish crews, encouraging the use of production facilities, providing significant opportunities for the professional development of producers and freelance crew based in Scotland and delivering a direct and significant economic benefit to Scotland. It seeks to do this by attracting large scale productions into the country, and maximising spend in Scotland. Its 2021/22 budget is £2 million.

As almost all films produced in the UK are produced via a “special project vehicle” or SPV, a company formed in the UK as the legal entity responsible for the film’s production, including the making of applications to Screen Scotland, the most efficient way to distinguish between domestic UK productions and those made for international production companies in Scotland is to look at the two distinct funding routes.

The Production Growth Fund awards funding to high-end TV productions as well as film production companies. The fund has been running since 2015 and £9.9 million in total has been awarded, which is estimated to have generated an economic benefit to Scotland of more than £140 million. Of the total awarded, £5.8 million has been to film production companies with an estimated economic benefit to Scotland in excess of £75 million.

Since 2012, the Film Development and Production Fund, together with its precursors operated by Creative Scotland, has awarded £37 million in aggregate towards the development and production of feature films (including feature length documentaries) by production companies and filmmakers based in Scotland. Before 2012, the systems used were those of Creative Scotland's predecessor bodies Scottish Screen and the Scottish Arts Council and data regarding the origin of applicants is not currently available. However, £19.4 million was awarded via equivalent production and content funding routes between 2007 and 2011.

Screen Scotland’s Screen Commission also offers specialist support to a wider range of international productions than those that secure funding, for instance with recce funding, which helps projects understand the quality and range of locations, infrastructure and crew available in Scotland.

The next meeting of the Convention of the Highlands and Islands is scheduled to take place on Monday 25 October 2021.

As per the answer to your previous question S6W-00644, it is not possible to provide an individual cost breakdown for this single piece of infrastructure built as part of the overall Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) Highlands and Islands contract.

The Scottish Government published the outcome of its review into Physical Distancing on 22nd June and it is available through the following link: Coronavirus (COVID-19): review of physical distancing in Scotland - June 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Build through the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) Highlands and Islands contract - including the subsea cable between Ormsary and Jura - was delivered through a combination of funding from Scottish Government, UK Government, Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), Local Authorities and BT.

However, it is not possible to provide a breakdown for a single piece of infrastructure.