S6W-27918

Asked by: Regan, Ash (Alba Party - Edinburgh Eastern)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of any funding that it has provided to (a) the City of Edinburgh Council and (b) (i) other public sector organisations, (ii) charities, (iii) other voluntary organisations and (iv) social enterprises in the Edinburgh Eastern constituency, in each of the last three financial years, and what the funding was intended to be used for.

Answered by Robison, Shona - Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance

The information requested on the funding provided to City of Edinburgh Council in each of the last 3 financial years is set out in the following table.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on funding to other public sector organisations, charities, other voluntary organisations and social enterprises broken down by parliamentary constituency.

S6W-27914

Asked by: Regan, Ash (Alba Party - Edinburgh Eastern)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-27515 by Ivan McKee on 23 May 2024, whether it will provide a breakdown of the work undertaken by the consultancies that were awarded funding in the 2022-23 financial year.

Answered by McKee, Ivan

Following on from the answer to S6W-27515 where a list of 132 Scottish Government consultancy suppliers total annual spend was provided. Due to the high volume of transactional data that provides the breakdown of this spend (1,199 in total) and the work that would need to be carried out to provide the line level detail would be a substantial piece of work. To help to provide additional information to support the ask, a further breakdown on the top 10 suppliers has been provided which includes the number of annual transactions again for FY22-23. This captures approximately 83% of the total annual spend.

S6W-27907

Asked by: Ruskell, Mark (Scottish Green Party - Mid Scotland and Fife)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on any impact of its Infrastructure Investment Plan on it meeting its climate ambitions.

Answered by Robison, Shona - Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance

On 17 January, the Scottish Government published a carbon assessment of the Infrastructure Investment Plan for Scotland 2021-22 to 2025-26, drawing on a range of evidence, including results from a taxonomy assessment. Through this assessment, there is clear and consistent evidence that supports the assessment that the Infrastructure Investment Plan contributes positively to the achievement of Scotland’s emissions reduction targets. This assessment can be found here: Infrastructure investment plan 2021-2022 to 2025-2026: carbon assessment - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The publication of the Infrastructure Investment Plan Annual Report and Pipeline Reset has had to be postponed due to the timing of the UK General Election. Scottish Ministers will now consider a revised publication date, and will inform Parliament in due course. The outcomes of the carbon assessment published in January 2024 will be reviewed in conjunction with these publications.

S6W-27902

Asked by: Greene, Jamie (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - West Scotland)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the operation of the short-term lets licensing legislation, in light of reports that, despite a growing black market in short-term lets, no breaches of the legislation have been recorded by the police.

Answered by McLennan, Paul - Minister for Housing

The Scottish Government has worked closely with Police Scotland during legislation development and implementation. It is important to remember that we are still within the transitional period of implementation and licensing authorities are processing thousands of licensing applications. We are aware authorities are working in partnership with local Police Scotland teams to investigate complaints about unlicensed operators, adopting an educate and encourage approach, with enforcement as a last resort. This is a supportive approach to businesses in a new regulatory environment and an approach advocated for by trade bodies representing the sector.

Operating without a licence ultimately is a criminal offence, which may attract a maximum fine of £2,500, and which may also invalidate insurance and other policies if premises are used without a licence. We have already announced that we will legislate to increase the level of the maximum fine and this is still the intention once the scheme is embedded.

S6W-28008

Asked by: Briggs, Miles (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Lothian)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many short-term lets it estimates are currently operating without a licence.

Answered by McLennan, Paul - Minister for Housing

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested. I also refer the member to the answer to question S6W-27902 on 11 June 2024. 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 

S6W-27940

Asked by: Regan, Ash (Alba Party - Edinburgh Eastern)

Question

Answered by Brown, Siobhian - Minister for Victims and Community Safety

Edinburgh Eastern has received £1,903,792 from the Cashback for Communities fund since 2008.

Eight CashBack Partners have delivered projects within Edinburgh Eastern Constituency from 2008 to 2024. They are: Boxing Scotland; Edinburgh Young Carers; Scottish Football Association; Scottish Rugby; SportScotland (Facilities Fund); Street Soccer Scotland; Youth Scotland and YouthLink Scotland.

S6W-27987

Asked by: Burgess, Ariane (Scottish Green Party - Highlands and Islands)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to NatureScot's reported view that the community engagement process carried out by Trees for Life and Forestry Land Scotland regarding the Glen Affric beaver translocation proposal was above and beyond what is required.

Answered by Fairlie, Jim

The Scottish Government are aware there has been significant and extended community engagement regarding the Glen Affric beaver translocation proposal, but as NatureScot have not received an application, they have not yet been able to form an opinion of the community engagement in its entirety.

As with all beaver translocation applications, the Scottish Government and NatureScot would expect an application to address the issues highlighted by the community engagement and the work needed to manage or mitigate any legitimate concerns raised.

We understand Trees for Life and Forestry Land Scotland are still considering these aspects.

S6W-28010

Asked by: Briggs, Miles (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Lothian)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many reports of short-term lets operating without a licence have been received by each local authority to date.

Answered by McLennan, Paul - Minister for Housing

The Scottish Government does not hold the information that has been requested. Local authorities will have local arrangements in place for managing reports of licence breaches and non-compliance. I also refer the member to the answer to question S6W-28008 on 11 June 2024. 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

S6W-27952

Asked by: Sweeney, Paul (Scottish Labour - Glasgow)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has modelled the potential impact on public revenue in Scotland of reducing the VAT registration threshold to £30,000, which would be the same level as projected for 2027 under Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment, from the current £90,000 threshold.

Answered by Robison, Shona - Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance

VAT is a reserved area and the powers to set the VAT Registration Threshold sit with the UK Government.

The Scottish Government has not modelled the impact on public revenue in Scotland of a reduction of the VAT Registration Threshold to £30,000.

We encourage the UK Government to engage with devolved administrations and stakeholders to ensure that changes which affect all parts of the UK are fully considered as part of the assessment of impacts.

S6W-27787

Asked by: Greer, Ross (Scottish Green Party - West Scotland)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Mental Health in Schools Working Group, which last met in August 2021, will be reconvened.

Answered by Gilruth, Jenny - Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills

The Scottish Government is working with COSLA on arrangements to reconvene the Mental Health in Schools Working Group in Autumn 2024.