Chamber and committees

The devolved responsibilities for Minister for Equalities, Migration and Refugees are published on gov.scot: Minister for Equalities, Migration and Refugees - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

To support delivery of the National Islands Plan, through the Islands Heritage and Culture Project the Scottish Government has supported the delivery of the following six projects:

• The Orkney Digitisation Project, delivered by Orkney Islands Council;
• The Angus Og Project, delivered by the Highland Archive Service and High Life Highland;
• The Shetland Culture and Heritage Hub, delivered by Shetland Amenity Trust;
• Outer Hebrides Heritage Trails, delivered by Comhairle nan Eilean Siar;
• The Aspiring UNESCO Global Geopark, delivered by Arran Geopark; and
• Opportunities for the Argyll Islands and Increased Visitor Footfall, Culture, Heritage and Arts Assembly

Each project received a grant allocation of £40,000 with the exception of the Orkney based project, which had a slight overspend, taking their allocation to £42,000.

We are supporting people who want to self-build through the extension of the Self-Build Loan Fund for up to five years from November 2022, with a further £6m recyclable loan funding available to borrowers.

National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4), adopted and published by Scottish Ministers on 13 February 2023, also supports new homes that improve affordability and choice, and address gaps in provision, including self-provided homes.

The Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 introduced a requirement for planning authorities to prepare and maintain a list of persons who have registered interest with the authority with the intention of acquiring land in the authority's area for self-build housing. A planning authority is required to publish the list and have regard to this list in preparing their local development plan. Subject to Parliamentary approval, these requirements will come into force from 19 May 2023. We are preparing further guidance on these requirements, informed by stakeholders, as part of the Local Development Plan guidance to be published shortly.

20 projects were funded through the 2022 Islands Programme resource funding to support delivery of the National Islands Plan. These can be found in the following table:

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-16876 on 25 April 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

This information is not held by the Scottish Government. Local authorities are able to purchase gift cards from the Love Local website hosted by Scotland’s Towns Partnership who are delivering the gift card scheme, working with local authorities.

No civil servants have been redeployed as part of my appointment.

In 2022-23, the Croft House Grant budget was £1.9m, with £1,675,837 distributed to successful applicants.

As a result of a high proportion of house builds being delayed due to material and labour supply issues, officials invited successful applicants to submit their grant claims earlier in the build in order to help crofters complete the work. No CHG application has been refused due to a lack of budget.

Funding under the Croft House Grant is provided retrospectively in up to three stages. Funding committed in any financial year can be claimed by applicants over a three year period.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-16876 on 25 April 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

The Scottish Government has not allocated any funding directly towards advertising Scotland Loves Local gift cards.

The Scottish Government provides funding to Scotland’s Towns Partnership (STP) to provide town centre advice and support, which since 2020 includes promoting the Scotland Loves Local Programme.

In 2020-2021, we provided funding totalling £235,000 to STP to deliver a Scotland Loves Local marketing campaign to support businesses in recovering from the impact of the pandemic in their local areas.

In 2021-22, we provided £2.1m that delivered a £1.5m Scotland Loves Local fund, as well as support for local authorities delivering the Scotland Loves Local gift card and additional phase of the marketing campaign.

In 2022-23, we provided £250,000 funding to enable digitisation of the Scotland Loves Local gift card scheme and to encourage additional business to join the scheme.