Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government continues to be deeply concerned by reports of serious, widespread and systemic human rights abuses committed against members of the Uyghur and other minority ethnic communities in Xinjiang, as well as by China’s overall record of human rights violations, including in Tibet and in Hong Kong.

Neither Scottish Ministers nor Scottish Government officials have any plans to attend the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

The £2 million committed to Loss and Damage will be financed through Scottish Government’s Climate Justice Fund. £1 million has been allocated to a grant partnership with the Climate Justice Resilience Fund to help some of the world’s most vulnerable communities adapt to climate change, tackle structural inequalities and recover from climate-induced loss and damage. In this and in programming the remaining £1 million, the Scottish Government will work collaboratively with partners to identify and address the needs of communities suffering the acutest impacts, to establish learning and best practice on Loss and Damage programming and finance, and to create further momentum on loss and damage.

The participation of competitors, including Scottish competitors, at the Olympics and Paralympics is a matter for the British Olympic Association and British Paralympic Association, which are required to operate independently of Government under International Olympic Committee regulations.

The Scottish Government shares the concerns which have been widely expressed in relation to China’s human rights record, including the reports of serious, widespread and systematic human rights violations being committed in Xinjiang.

Scottish Government officials met with representatives from the National Union of Students (NUS) Scotland on 14 October to discuss the shortage of available student accommodation this academic year. The matter was also discussed at the meetings of the Covid Recovery Group and the Purpose Built Student Accommodation Steering Group on 20 October, and at the Student Accommodation Group meeting on 4 November. The issue of housing capacity was highlighted in these meetings, and proposals for dedicated meetings with universities and accommodation providers from areas experiencing particular problems in this academic period were explored, and will be taken forward.

The Scottish Government has no direct role in the provision of student residential accommodation whether the accommodation is managed by universities or private sector organisations. However, we remain committed to working further with universities and student associations to develop solutions to the present shortfall in renting opportunities for students.

Our Programme for Government commitment to review Purpose Built Student Accommodation and our 100 days commitment to establish the next stage of this, is already underway and will be taken forward in parallel with work to ensure rent affordability and improving standards across the private rented sector.

The eligibility criteria for the new round of Climate Justice Fund will be set before programming starts from April 2022. It is likely that the focus of the Fund for programmes run by the Scottish Government will be on Scotland’s three partner countries of Malawi, Rwanda, and Zambia.

All children and young people have an entitlement to a learning journey which they experience as a coherent whole, with smooth and well-paced progression to best support their individual experience and outcomes. There is no national guidance which states the pace or time at which a child should transition through the stages of their ELC journey, and it is for individual settings to determine arrangements for moving children between stages depending on the needs of each individual child and their setting’s circumstances.

The Care Inspectorate’s new draft inspection framework includes guidance on how transition experiences will be inspected and states that where possible children should be supported to transition when it is appropriate for them to do so, rather than based upon their age.

The national practice guidance for the ELC workforce, ‘ Realising the Ambition: Being Me’, has a full chapter on transitions which highlights the importance of positive well managed transitions for children’s development. It helps practitioners to plan and support child centred transitions with children and their families at the heart of all decision making.

The Scottish Government through Transport Scotland has engaged with Renfrewshire Council to discuss and agree the design of Transport Scotland’s proposals for upgrading the existing path alongside the A8 from West Ferry to Langbank and how this will integrate with the route along the local road network.

The current extent of the upgrade to the Clyde Coastal Path is within Renfrewshire Council area therefore no engagement with Inverclyde council has taken place.

Further engagement with other stakeholders will be undertaken as part of the detailed design.

Our 2018 Guidance on Due Diligence: Human Rights sets out how the Scottish Government, our executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies should undertake appropriate due diligence on companies, including their human rights record, before entering into an investment relationship with them. Building on this, Scottish Enterprise’s Customer Due Diligence Procedure, introduced in 2019, sets out the process that it follows to undertake human rights due diligence checks on companies it works with. Such checks are based on a rigorous process and independent evidence. Scottish Enterprise is confident that it has acted in full accordance with this Procedure.

The Scottish Government supports implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and agrees with others in the international community that Israeli settlements are illegal under international law; making it harder for a peaceful two state solution to be reached.

In 2018, the Scottish Government published Guidance on Due Diligence: Human Rights [1] , setting out how we, our executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies should undertake appropriate due diligence on companies, including their human rights record, before entering into an investment relationship with them. This list of 112 companies identified by the UN Human Rights Office as being involved in activities related to illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine, during the period from 1 January 2018 to 1 August 2019, is one piece of information to be considered in that due diligence process.

Existing policy guidance on procurement outlines actions that public bodies can take if they believe there are grounds to exclude companies active in any illegal settlements from bidding for public contracts [2] .

I have asked officials to write to the Chief Executives of relevant public bodies to remind them of the policy guidance, make them aware of this UN list and ask them to provide information to officials on any relationships they have with companies on this list. Following this, I will write to any companies, thus identified, seeking an update on their activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and what they are doing to cease those specific activities- as identified by the independent international fact-finding mission, which provided the basis for their inclusion in this list.

On account management services or other support, as noted in response to question S6W-00182, Scottish Enterprise is confident that it has acted in full accordance with their internal due diligence procedure, introduced in 2019. This procedure follows from the 2018 Scottish Government guidance.

As policies and procedures on due diligence and procurement are updated the Scottish Government takes account of the latest findings and recommendations of international bodies such as the UN.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

[1] https://www.gov.scot/publications/due-diligence-checks-good-practice-guidance/

[2] https://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20160106214501/http:/www.gov.scot/Topics/Government/Procurement/policy/SPPNSSPANS/policy-notes/SPPN2014/SPPN42014

The Scottish Government supports implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and agrees with others in the international community that Israeli settlements are illegal under international law; making it harder for a peaceful two state solution to be reached.

In 2018, the Scottish Government published Guidance on Due Diligence: Human Rights [1] , setting out how we, our executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies should undertake appropriate due diligence on companies, including their human rights record, before entering into an investment relationship with them. This list of 112 companies identified by the UN Human Rights Office as being involved in activities related to illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine, during the period from 1 January 2018 to 1 August 2019, is one piece of information to be considered in that due diligence process.

Existing policy guidance on procurement outlines actions that public bodies can take if they believe there are grounds to exclude companies active in any illegal settlements from bidding for public contracts [2] .

I have asked officials to write to the Chief Executives of relevant public bodies to remind them of the policy guidance, make them aware of this UN list and ask them to provide information to officials on any relationships they have with companies on this list. Following this, I will write to any companies, thus identified, seeking an update on their activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and what they are doing to cease those specific activities- as identified by the independent international fact-finding mission, which provided the basis for their inclusion in this list.

On account management services or other support, as noted in response to question S6W-00182 on 27 October 2021, Scottish Enterprise is confident that it has acted in full accordance with their internal due diligence procedure, introduced in 2019. This procedure follows from the 2018 Scottish Government guidance.

As policies and procedures on due diligence and procurement are updated the Scottish Government takes account of the latest findings and recommendations of international bodies such as the UN.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

[1] https://www.gov.scot/publications/due-diligence-checks-good-practice-guidance/

[2] https://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20160106214501/http:/www.gov.scot/Topics/Government/Procurement/policy/SPPNSSPANS/policy-notes/SPPN2014/SPPN42014