Maurice Golden

11 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what immediate support it can provide to properties owned by the National Trust for Scotland that are unable to support social distancing regulations, while the talks over long-term assistance are ongoing.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Government is currently working with stakeholders, including the National Trust for Scotland (NTS), to produce reopening guidance for museums, galleries and heritage attractions to advise how best to implement appropriate measures which ensure th…

9 Jun 2020 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what priorities will guide its plans for a green economic recovery.

28 May 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what access business improvement districts will have to funding to help support and implement safe shopping practices across high streets and other retail locations in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. 

Answer · Aileen Campbell: I recently announced a Towns and BIDs Resilience & Recovery Fund of up to £2 million from the Supporting Communities Fund. This will build on the £1 million BIDs Resilience Fund announced in March, but with a wider towns focus, extending support to towns whic…

28 May 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Barnett consequentials arising from the UK Government Re-opening High Streets Safely Fund in response to the COVID-19 outbreak will be ringfenced for measures to support high streets and town centres in introducing social distancing provisions.

Answer · Aileen Campbell: We are continuing to seek clarification from the UK Government on this. We have received no indication from the HM Treasury that we will receive consequentials from the Reopening High Streets Safely Fund. Despite this and before the UK Government announcemen…

28 May 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish its plans to facilitate safe shopping across high streets, town centres and other retail locations in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The Scottish Government published retail sectoral guidance on 26 May, which can be accessed at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-retail-sector-guidance/pages/overview/ . We have worked with employers and trade unions to ensure that thi…

26 May 2020 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government when a review will be carried out of the impact that the COVID-19 outbreak has had on it meeting its environmental targets.

26 May 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many unique visitors have been recorded to the managingourwaste.scot/ website on each day since it launched.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Details for number of unique visitors to the website are in the following table for date range 27 April 2020 - 27 May 2020   Date Number of unique visitors 27 April 7,529 28 April 10,855 29 April 7,003 30 April 5,347 1 May 4,704 2 May 4,396 3 …

7 May 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that COVID-19 support measures are made available to estate agents that are not solicitors and whose firms do not meet rateable value criteria.

Answer · Kate Forbes: The Scottish Government is determined to support businesses during this time, and we are delivering a package of support worth £2.3 billion for businesses who can now claim rates relief and apply for grants to help them deal with the impact of the coronavirus…

26 Apr 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the COVID-19 outbreak could have on the design and implementation of the proposed deposit return scheme, and what its position is on whether there is now a case for greater flexibility in its design.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: We recognise the significant pressures COVID-19 is placing on industry, including the businesses which will be responsible for implementing Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). We will continue to monitor closely the impact of COVID-19 on industry’s abilit…

26 Apr 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review the full business and regulatory impact assessment for the deposit return scheme in light of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The final Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), published alongside the final DRS Regulations, sets out the strong economic case for proceeding with DRS. We do not intend to review the BRIA at this stage …

26 Apr 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out of the impact on the sales of aluminium cans in multipacks of a deposit return scheme, including how many consumers it estimates will switch from such packs to larger plastic bottles if a flat 20p fee is introduced, and whether it will publish this analys…

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: As part of the final Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), published on 16 March 2020, we carried out an analysis of the potential for DRS to affect consumer choice. The BRIA can be viewed here: https://…

16 Apr 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses have received a COVID-19 Business Support Fund award, and how much has been awarded, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The number of COVID-19 Business Support Fund grants which have been paid, and their value, by local authority area, is available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-business-support-fund-grant-statistics/ .

16 Apr 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) financial and (b) people resources have been provided to each local authority to assist in the processing of applications to the COVID-19 Business Support Fund.

Answer · Kate Forbes: The Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Local Government wrote to local authorities on 20th March committing additional resources of £50 million for a Hardship Fund with no restrictions. Local authorities have flexibility in how they use the funding as part…

16 Apr 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications to the COVID-19 Business Support Fund (a) have been received and (b) are currently outstanding in each local authority area.

Answer · Ben Macpherson: The number of applications to the COVID-19 Business Support Fund which have been received in each local authority area is available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-business-support-fund-grant-statistics/ . We understand councils a…

10 Apr 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many multi-site businesses there are in hospitality, leisure and retail sector with a rateable value between £18,000 and £51,000, and what the average number of premises per multi-site business is within this range.

Answer · Kate Forbes: The valuation of all non-domestic property is a matter for the independent assessors, and local authorities are responsible for administering the system and the awarding of the grant schemes. Billing information is held by local authorities, and they provide …

10 Apr 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it would cost to support multi-site businesses in the hospitality, leisure and retail sector with a rateable value between £18,000 and £51,000 to provide them with a £25,000 grant on a per-property basis during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Answer · Kate Forbes: Businesses in the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure sectors, operating in a premises with a rateable value between £18,001 and £51,000, will be eligible for a £25,000 grant on their first eligible property. Following my announcement of Phase 2 of the Business …

10 Apr 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many enquiries it has received from businesses regarding the payment of support grants on a per-property basis during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Answer · Kate Forbes: The Scottish Government has received a large volume of correspondence on a range of topics in relation to the package of support for business in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The correspondence system does not categorise individual cases in a way which w…

12 Mar 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to exempting all small-scale renewables schemes used by businesses from non-domestic rates.

Answer · Ben Macpherson: The Scottish Government is committed to a fair and sustainable non-domestic rates system and we already offer a renewable exemption, as well as a number of reliefs for low carbon and renewables schemes. This includes the renewable energy relief which is avail…

12 Mar 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that small-scale renewables schemes of similar generation capacity and rental income have equal access to rates relief without prejudice from distortions caused by including subsidies in the rates valuation methodology.

Answer · Ben Macpherson: The valuation of all non-domestic property is a matter for independent assessors and Ministers have no locus to intervene in that process. In the 2020-21 budget, we maintained a number of measures aimed at reducing carbon emissions and supporting the renewab…

5 Mar 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that communities and businesses in the local authority areas adjacent to Glasgow are able to benefit from increased economic activity associated with COP26.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Through COP 26 Scotland will mobilise action on climate change by providing a stage for a Global response. Harnessing the will and ambition of the Scottish Government and the Scottish people to firmly positioning us as a world leader in research, technology a…

5 Mar 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that Scotland is the only part of the UK to show a decline in female employment prospects in the recent Women in Work Index.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Gender equality is at the heart of the Scottish Government’s vision for a fairer Scotland. The PWC Women and Work Index reports on data gathered across the UK from 2017 – 2018. More recent figures from Annual Population Survey (Oct 2018 to Sep 2019) show tha…

4 Mar 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria it will use to map (a) cultural engagement by national performing companies and collections and (b) local authority support for culture, as set out in the Culture Strategy for Scotland.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: A Culture Strategy for Scotland adopts a broad and inclusive view of culture as the way a society expresses itself and includes languages as well as many formal, informal, established, evolving and emerging forms of culture, heritage, creative expression and …

4 Mar 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what resources Creative Communities will provide to support community-based cultural activities, and what capacity it will have to support multi-year projects.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Creative Communities programme will provide financial and in kind support through Inspiring Scotland, working with Creative Scotland, to build capacity in local communities to support and empower individuals and communities to further develop their own cu…

4 Mar 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what role it believes community councils and other community groups can play in decision making regarding the cultural life of the areas that they represent.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Government encourages and supports participation in local democracy and values the role of Community Councils who undertake a wide range of activities for the benefit of their community. Community groups play an important role in the cultural li…

4 Mar 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many organisations in the creative industries sector that do not commit to paying a living wage are in receipt of regular public funding.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Through our flagship Fair Work First policy, we are extending Fair Work criteria, which includes payment of the real living wage, to as many funding streams, business support grants and public contracts as we can by the end of this parliament. We are developi…

4 Mar 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many members the GlobalScot network has, broken down by region.

Answer · Ivan McKee: As at 11-3-2020 there were 755 GlobalScots, of which, 401 are based in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, 115 are based in Asia (including Australasia) and 239 are in the Americas. This represents a 13.5% increase over the past 10 months.

4 Mar 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the awards that have been made by the Broadcast Content Fund, and what estimated expenditure has been generated by these awards.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Broadcast Content Fund is run by Screen Scotland, the dedicated partnership focused on growing our TV and film industry. Since Screen Scotland launched the fund in 2018, they have allocated 52 awards totalling £5,985,781. Of these awards, 19 were for deve…

4 Mar 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government by what date Creative Scotland will announce details of the contract to convert the Pelamis building in Edinburgh into a film studio.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The announcement was made on 10 March 2020 and details of the announcement are available online at: https://www.screen.scot/news/2020/3/green-light-for-studio

4 Mar 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of Scottish Enterprise grants awarded to organisations in the creative industries in each of the last three years had Fair Work First criteria attached.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn:  As part of our flagship Fair Work First policy, Scottish Enterprise are attaching Fair Work criteria to large business support grants, starting with those awarded from April 2019. The award of grants to specific industries is an operational matter for Scott…

4 Mar 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how Scottish Enterprise's most recent strategic framework will support the creative economy.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise and I have therefore asked the Chief Executive to respond to you directly.