Chamber and committees

The First Minister announced on 17 December that funding will be made available to businesses in the food and drink chain supply chain, including food and drink wholesalers, who were affected by hospitality cancellations as a result of the additional public health measures introduced in December.

We are in the process of developing funding criteria and guidance in collaboration with the Scottish Wholesale Association, and we will ensure this information is publicised widely as soon as we can so that businesses can consider whether they may be eligible to apply.

The Minister for Higher Education, Further Education, Youth Employment and Training met with Amazon on 2 September 2021. In his previous role as Minister for Business, Fair Work and Skills he met Amazon on several occasions to discuss Fair Work issues, emphasising the benefits of Fair Work for both Amazon staff and the organisation.

The Scottish Government remains committed to promoting Fair Work across the economy and encourages all employers to adopt fair work practices, including paying workers at least the real Living Wage and providing appropriate channels for effective voice, such as trade union recognition.

The Scottish Government agrees with Amnesty International on the importance of meeting international human rights law and standards, and welcomes the recommendations in the report. Both public authorities and private enterprises have a responsibility to ensure that human rights are respected and protected in the workplace. These rights include the right to join and form trade unions, and to enjoy safe and healthy working conditions.

The Scottish Government notes that Amazon acknowledges these obligations, which are further underlined by the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. It is important that such commitments are given practical effect in a manner that ensures the rights of employees are properly respected across all aspects of a company’s operations, both in Scotland and in a global context.

The Scottish Government is very clear that trade unions are social partners and play an essential role in promoting good employment practice and in ensuring that Scotland’s workers have an effective voice.

Under the current constitutional settlement, employment law (including trade union law) is reserved to the UK Parliament. The long-standing position of the Scottish Government is that employment law should be devolved, so that all necessary action can be taken in Scotland to protect and improve workers’ rights and to create fairer and more inclusive workplaces.

Support under section 9 or section 10 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 was placed on a statutory footing on 1 April 2018. This can include accommodation, assistance with day to day living, medical advice and treatment, language translation and interpretation, counselling, legal advice, help accessing other services and, if the victim wishes, repatriation.

Although asylum is a matter reserved to the UK Parliament and is the responsibility of the Home Office, in individual circumstances it is possible for people supported under section 9 or section 10 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 to be housed in asylum accommodation.

The detailed information requested is currently being collated. I will write to the member as soon as the information is available and a copy will be placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib number 63102).

In Scotland there are key categorised responder organisations, defined in the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (CCA), such as the blue light services, health boards, local authorities, and SEPA that are responsible for ensuring the effective management of emergencies. They are required by the CCA to be part of one of three Regional Resilience Partnerships (RRPs) who are supported by staff provided by Scottish Government.

Resilience Division leads on civil contingencies and resilience planning within Scottish Government, though all policy areas are responsible for risks that sit within their portfolio, such as Health for public health outbreaks, and Animal Health and Welfare for animal health outbreaks. Resilience Division supports internal and external partners to prepare, respond and recover from emergencies such as severe weather, major incidents and public health outbreaks.

The Scottish Government has not provided direct or specific funding for businesses damaged by Storm Arwen.

I appreciate that the aftermath of Storm Arwen will have created difficult operating conditions for affected businesses. Information on available business support offered by public sector organisations can be found at the Find Business Support website - https://findbusinesssupport.gov.scot/

Following Storm Arwen, the Scottish Government activated the Bellwin Scheme to provide additional revenue support to local authorities to assist with immediate and unforeseen costs that meet the scheme’s qualifying criteria.

For the 2021-22 tax year, the Scottish Fiscal Commission forecast that there will be 417,800 Scottish taxpayers in the Higher Rate band, and 18,000 in the Top Rate band.

This is a matter for Zero Waste Scotland, which is a company limited by guarantee that is independent from the Scottish Government.

The information requested is not held centrally.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

There were a total of 53 deaths in SPS custody during 2021.

The SPS publishes information regarding all deaths in our custody in calendar years on the SPS website. This information is updated on a quarterly basis and can be accessed using the following link: Prisoner Deaths (sps.gov.uk) . The next quarterly update will be published on the SPS website in January 2022 which will provide information on deaths in custody that occurred between October-December 2021.

The report Towards a Scotland that cares , which proposes the new National Outcome on Care for the National Performance Framework, will be fully considered as part of the Review of the National Performance Framework that will commence this year. As the National Outcomes are cross-cutting, this will ensure that the report’s findings can be considered holistically across the full range of outcomes that impact on care. This addresses the report’s recommendation that the Scottish Government further consults on the proposals, as blueprints, outlined in the report during the upcoming public engagement on the NPF.