Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has committed to invest £500million into the £1.13 billion Glasgow City Region Deal. As part of this Deal, detailed options to improve surface access to Glasgow Airport are being progressed by Glasgow City and Renfrewshire Councils

Any further improvements relating to surface access to airports can be considered as part of the second Strategic Transport Projects Review which will look at future transport infrastructure projects for the whole of Scotland.

Following the EU Referendum result the Scottish Government embarked on an extensive programme of engagement with businesses in order to listen to concerns and offer reassurance. One of the prevailing messages received from businesses was to emphasise the continuing importance of trade with and access to EU markets. That is why the Scottish Government has called on the UK Government to deliver full single market membership in the forthcoming negotiations, preferably for the UK as a whole and certainly for Scotland.

In advance of the 2016 procurement process, discussions took place, including telephone and written correspondence, at the request of a private operator regarding the potential of a privately-operated, non-subsidised ferry service between Gourock and Dunoon.

We expect the STAG report from our consultants by the end of February and hope to be able to make a decision on the mainland port as soon as possible thereafter.

The Scottish Government’s Ferries Plan 2013-2022, stated that we are willing to assume responsibility for all lifeline ferry services in Scotland, should the authority currently responsible wish to transfer and subject to agreement being reached on the terms of a transfer. Following an approach made in 2016 by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) to Transport Scotland, I agreed in principle to the transfer of responsibility for the Gourock-Kilcreggan ferry service from SPT to Transport Scotland.

Transport Scotland and SPT are working together in order to establish a mutual agreement on the formal terms of the transfer. This is a complex process given the amount of information being considered, which includes service levels, finances and infrastructure. SPT have recently announced an award of a new contract for the service which ensures continuation of the Gourock-Kilcreggan service whilst negotiations are ongoing.

The draft Scottish Government budget for 2017-18, which has now received parliamentary support at Stages 1 and 2 of the Budget Bill provides for the allocation of £53.8 million to support Alcohol and Drug services.

As in previous years, the funds provided directly from the Scottish Government budget sit alongside funds provided from other NHS sources (including NHS baseline funding), statutory partners and the third sector, which collectively makes up the resource package for this important work.

This Government wants every child and young person in Scotland to grow up free from bullying and to develop respectful, responsible and confident relationships. Bullying of any kind is unacceptable and must be addressed quickly, whenever it arises.

Incidents of bullying are not recorded at a national level. Bullying incidents are recorded and monitored at a local level. This enables establishments to identify where improvements can be made to support the wellbeing of all children and young people. This allows organisations to ensure that an appropriate response and follow up actions have been made. This information helps organisations monitor the effectiveness of their policies and practice, review and improve where appropriate and also help identify professional learning opportunities.

We have established and wholly fund respectme, a national anti-bullying service, to build confidence and capacity to address bullying effectively, aligned to the National Approach to Anti-bullying for Scotland's Children and Young People. respectme provide direct support to local authorities, schools, youth groups and all those working with children and young people.

The refreshed National Approach to Anti-Bullying, which is due to be published later this year, will take an holistic approach to addressing bullying. The refreshed guidance makes clear of the role of all adults and children and young people in preventing and dealing with bullying.

Bullying of any kind, including homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying, wherever it takes place, is unacceptable and must be addressed swiftly and effectively whenever it arises.

The National Approach to Anti-bullying for Scotland’s Children and Young People is currently being updated. This sets out a common vision and aims to make sure that work across all agencies and communities is consistently and coherently contributing to anti-bullying in Scotland. LGBT Youth Scotland and Stonewall Scotland are part of the working group. This will be published later in 2017.

There is no legal definition of bullying in Scotland and as such, bullying is not a crime. However, certain incidents can often be more serious and criminal in nature. It is important to ensure that there is a clear distinction between bullying and criminal offences such as hate crime. There are laws to protect children and young people from this very serious type of behaviour. Following an investigation by the Police, the decision to proceed will rest with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

The Scottish Government established and wholly funds 'respectme', a national anti-bullying service, to build confidence and capacity to address all types of bullying effectively, aligned to the National Approach to Anti-bullying in Scotland. 'respectme' provide direct support to local authorities, schools, youth groups and all those working with children and young people.

The UK Government published their 132-page consultation document on 23 January 2017. The consultation is grouped around ten ‘pillars’: investing in science, research & innovation; upgrading infrastructure; improving procurement; delivering affordable energy & clean growth; driving growth across the whole country; developing skills; supporting businesses to start & grow; encouraging trade & inward investment; cultivating world-leading sectors; and creating the right local institutions. We are currently working through the detail of the paper to see where the proposals can be strengthened to benefit the Scottish economy.

The Scottish Government produce estimates of international exports in the Export Statistics Scotland publication. The latest figures, for 2015, show Scottish exports to Australia were worth £555 million; to New Zealand were worth £55 million; to Canada were worth £470 million; and to the rest of the Commonwealth were worth £1.7 billion.

The Scottish Government continues to prioritise improving trade links with a number of potential markets. As highlighted in the Scottish Government’s Trade and Investment strategy, Scotland’s export base needs to broaden beyond EU markets and Scottish Development International works closely with a range of overseas partners to identify and deliver international opportunities in growth sectors and growth markets. SDI has a network of global field offices, with over 100 sales professionals promoting Scotland across the world. Since 2012, SDI has opened new offices in Saudi Arabia, Ghana, Canada, Brazil, China and India.

Canada is one of the Scottish Government’s priority countries and on 23 December 2016 we published a refreshed Engagement Strategy which reflects some of Canada’s priorities, matched with Scotland’s expertise and interests.