Sharon Dowey

29 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has directly provided towards arts and culture (a) in the Aberdeen City Council area and (b) to Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums in each year from 2012 to 2022.

Answer · Neil Gray: Scottish Government policy towards local authority spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. As such, the vast majority of funding is provided by means of a block grant as part of the annual local government financ…

29 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many temporary accommodation places were available in Scotland on (a) 29 March 2022 and (b) 29 March 2019.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government collects information on the use of temporary accommodation (associated with homelessness applications). The HL2 data collection provides aggregate snapshot data on the number of households in temporary accommodation at the end of each …

29 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has made an assessment of Scotland’s foreign direct investment in China since the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999.

Answer · Ivan McKee: The Scottish Government does not hold data on the level of foreign direct investment from Scotland into China, or any other market.

29 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made and action it has taken to ensure that former Hong Kong residents who resettle in Scotland are not subjected to racism or discrimination, and what steps it has taken to collect feedback on the experiences of those people since they resettled in Scotland.

Answer · Christina McKelvie: I refer the member to the answers to questions S6W-07510 and S6W-07560 on 19 April 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/chamb…

29 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment has been made of any Chinese state (a) influence or interference and (b) investment in universities in Scotland.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: We are concerned by suggestions of foreign interference in Scottish universities. Our universities are autonomous institutions and the alliances they forge across global academic networks are a matter for them and their governing bodies. The Scottish Governm…

29 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment has been made of reported concerns that Confucius Institutes may represent a threat to academic freedoms and freedom of expression.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07562 on 19 April 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-committee…

29 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment has been made of the amount of Chinese investment in Scotland.

Answer · Ivan McKee: Information on the value of Chinese inward investments into Scotland can be found in the publicly available report Businesses in Scotland, which shows that there are currently 20 Chinese owned businesses in Scotland, with an estimated employment of 3,910 and …

29 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-07058 by Neil Gray on 14 March 2022, whether it will provide further details of the steps that it has taken to ensure that Hong Kong residents coming to the UK through the British National (Overseas) visa scheme are encouraged to resettle in Scotlan…

Answer · Neil Gray: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07513 on 12 April 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-committee…

29 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to ensure that former Hong Kong residents who resettle in Scotland are successfully integrated into local communities.

Answer · Shona Robison: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07557 on 19 April 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-committee…

29 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of any reported allegations that the Chinese Communist Party, through student groups on university campuses in Scotland, is seeking to deter certain events from taking place, and, if so, what action has been taken to address this.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07568 on 19 April 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-committee…

29 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many Confucius Institute branches are active in universities in Scotland.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07563 on 22 April 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-committee…

29 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it (a) can take and (b) is taking to ensure that the Consul General of China does not have any undue influence over local or national politics in Scotland.

Answer · Angus Robertson: Safeguarding our democracy is of upmost importance to the Scottish Government. This includes being an open, accessible and transparent government. Public officials, including Ministers, MSPs and councillors, are subject to Code of Conducts which provide a cle…

15 Mar 2022 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government how its policies and actions across government will support South Ayrshire to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

14 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates its Global Affairs Framework will be published.

Answer · Angus Robertson: Work on the Global Affairs Framework is continuing and the Framework will be published in due course.

9 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to address any rising costs associated with the Ayrshire Growth Deal.

Answer · Kate Forbes: The Scottish Government is fully committed to the Ayrshire Growth Deal and supports all the projects included within it. To that end, the £103 million commitment from the Scottish Government to the Ayrshire Growth Deal is secure. We recognise that constructi…

3 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many of Historic Environment Scotland's properties are being left, as has been reported, to "gracefully die".

Answer · Neil Gray: As reported on 21 January 2022, Historic Environment Scotland introduced new measures to manage the impact of climate change on Scotland's national heritage sites. Whilst I can confirm that inspections and analysis of some affected sites continue, let me assu…

3 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports in Private Eye (Art News, No. 1567) that 1,577 art works are missing from Aberdeen's City Council's art collection.

Answer · Neil Gray: The Scottish Government is aware of varying reports of art works missing from Aberdeen City Council’s art collection. In Scotland, local authorities operate independently of central government and therefore it is for Aberdeen City Council to carry out their o…

3 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that waiting times for the Scotland's Census 2022 helpline have been over an hour in some cases.

Answer · Angus Robertson: The Scotland’s Census 2022 contact centre experienced high volumes of calls in its first few days of operation and we are aware that some callers have experienced longer than average wait times at peak points during the day. National Records of Scotland apolo…

3 Mar 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address any challenges associated with digital poverty in relation to Scotland's Census 2022.

Answer · Angus Robertson: Everyone living in Scotland is included in the census and we understand that not everyone will be able to, or wish to, complete their census online. That is why paper copies are available upon request by anyone who needs them, either by calling our helpline o…

28 Feb 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to the National Performing Companies.

Answer · Neil Gray: The Scottish Government has provided funding of £22.5m for the five National Performing Companies for 2021-22, and maintained their International Touring Fund of £350,000. The same amount of funding is in the 2022-23 budget. The breakdown of funding is below…

23 Feb 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is offering to the people of Ukraine through its Humanitarian Emergency Fund.

Answer · Neil Gray: While the Scottish Government's £1 million per year Humanitarian Emergency Fund is fully committed for 2021-22, we have made an additional £4 million in humanitarian funding available to support the people of Ukraine. As part of this £4 million commitment, w…

23 Feb 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it (a) can offer and (b) is offering to the people of Ukraine through any means.

Answer · Angus Robertson: The Scottish Government is taking a range of immediate steps to help Ukrainian families fleeing conflict, through financial humanitarian aid and medical equipment. We have committed £4 million in humanitarian aid through aid agencies to help provide basic hum…

23 Feb 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many free bikes have been provided to school pupils in (a) East Ayrshire and (b) South Ayrshire to date.

Answer · Patrick Harvie: In this government’s first 100 days, we established six pilot schemes to provide free bikes for school age children who cannot afford one. A further four pilots were then established by the end of 2021. These pilots will run for up to 12 months, testing diffe…

23 Feb 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the (a) laptops and (b) tablets due to be provided to school pupils in (i) South Ayrshire and (ii) East Ayrshire are yet to be delivered.  

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The following table shows how many school-aged children are in each local authority (as at September 2020) and how many devices have been distributed by councils using the £25m digital inclusion funding made available by Scottish Government in 2020-21. Local…

23 Feb 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) laptops and (b) tablets have been delivered to school pupils in (i) South Ayrshire and (ii) East Ayrshire to date. 

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The following table shows how many devices have been distributed by councils to school aged children using the £25m digital inclusion funding made available by Scottish Government in 2020-21. Local authorities across Scotland have a range of approaches to pr…

23 Feb 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the (a) laptops and (b) tablets delivered to school pupils in (i) South Ayrshire and (ii) East Ayrshire have (A) been damaged and (B) had to be replaced.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Funding for devices was provided to local authorities by the Scottish Government. As such, local authorities undertook their own procurement exercises and devices purchased became assets of, and are managed by individual local authorities. Decisions on their …

23 Feb 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications to the COVID-19 Cancellation Fund for Creative Freelancers have been made, also broken down by how many have been (a) approved and (b) paid in full.

Answer · Neil Gray: The Cancellation Fund for Creative Freelancers opened on 6 January and closed on 21 January. It provided much-needed support to creative freelancers experiencing cancellations due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant. The total number of applications r…

22 Feb 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the report in The Scotsman on 6 February 2022, what action it is taking to support independent publishers deal with rising costs for items such as printing and materials.

Answer · Neil Gray: The Scottish Government is aware of the increased production costs faced by independent publishers and their impact across the publishing sector. It is providing a range of business support through activities delivered by our enterprise and creative agencies.…

21 Feb 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing in 2022 for independent music festivals.

Answer · Neil Gray: The Scottish Government understands the important role independent music festivals play in Scotland’s cultural scene, and wants to help ensure festivals will be able to take place in 2022. Support for music festivals that is provided in 2022 builds on the pre…

21 Feb 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether decisions related to common good assets should include councillors, regardless of political party, given their role as trustees for such assets in their locality.

Answer · Ben Macpherson: As a trustee the Council holds and administers common good property for the benefit of the local community. Accordingly, they must make decisions for the benefit of the community. As locally elected representatives, Councillors are well placed to make these d…