Chamber and committees

The Scottish Ministers will consider any applications for approval of a proposed short-term let control area in accordance with the relevant legislation and the considerations set out in Planning Circular 01/2021.

This information will be published on 15 March 2022 as part of the 'Supplementary Statistics on schools in Scotland' statistical release.

Data on teachers will be published here Teacher census supplementary statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Data on support staff will be published here School support staff statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The 2019-20 Scottish Budget included a £29.5 million provision for implementing the Scottish Government’s commitment to extend free personal care to all those under 65 who need it. The allocation given to each local authority in 2019-20 is included in the following table. This funding has been baselined into the Local Government Settlement.

The Scottish Government is aware of the impact the necessary public health restrictions have had on businesses and our £375 million package of support for businesses was targeted at those who were the most immediately affected by measures introduced to control the spread of Omicron.

We announced an £80 million Covid Economic Recovery Fund for local authorities to support local economies and cities recover from the pandemic. This fund empowers councils to consider the needs of local businesses, communities and households and to target support to maximise economic recovery in their areas The flexibility of this fund ensures councils can provide support where they know the need is greatest and this has been welcomed by COSLA. Officials are working with local authorities on delivery arrangements, and funding will be transferred to local authorities in their General Revenue Grant in the last two weeks of March.

Since May 2020, the Scottish Government has invested over £48 million in our Connecting Scotland programme, which provides people on low incomes with a device, connection with unlimited data for two years, as well as training and support. Since programme launch 60,000 digitally excluded people in total have been brought online. We are now working on an extension to the programme to reach 300,000 people by the end of this Parliament.

The programme is part of our wider package of support to help everyone in Scotland benefit fully from the advantages of the digital world – from broadband connectivity to digital skills training and support for schools and business.

Anyone concerned about the standard of care provided by a registered service can raise a complaint with the Care Inspectorate, the independent scrutiny and improvement body for social care and social work across Scotland. The Care Inspectorate have a statutory duty to deal with complaints made about registered care services, including private care homes. Complaints upheld are published on the Care Inspectorate’s website.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-06791 on 8 March 2022. 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 .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04826 on 13 December 2021. 26 Projects received recommendations of support totalling up to £24,145,384 as result the 2020 round of the fund.

No projects from Midlothian, East Lothian, Dumfries and Galloway, East Ayrshire or South Lanarkshire Council were recommended from the 2020 round.

Projects supported in Scottish Borders, South Ayrshire and North Ayrshire Council are detailed in the following table with figures taken from the applications for funding made in 2020. These are ongoing capital projects.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-06791 on 8 March 2022. 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 .

The Scottish Government recognises the threat that bycatch and entanglement in fishing gear can pose to our iconic marine life. We therefore welcome the Scottish Entanglement Alliance project which improves understanding of entanglement of sensitive marine species in Scottish waters, and will consider its findings as we explore what further work may be required in terms of the development and testing of mitigation measures. This aligns with actions within the developing UK Dolphin and Porpoise Conservation Strategy and the Future Fisheries Management Strategy.

The Marine Fund Scotland will shortly set out its priorities for funding 2022-23 and we would encourage exploration of these opportunities by the creel sector.