- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 September 2022
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 8 September 2022
To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government plans to take in light of reported figures showing that sexual and violent crime in Scotland has risen significantly over the last five years.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 8 September 2022
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 August 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 5 September 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many (a) Ukrainians who came to Scotland through (i) its Super Sponsor Scheme, (ii) the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme and (c) seasonal worker visas and (b) Afghans who came to Scotland through the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) have since become homeless, also broken down by local authority area.
Answer
Under the current constitutional arrangements in the United Kingdom immigration, including data related to arrivals, is fully reserved to the UK Government and is dealt with by the Home Office.
The UK Government published quarterly immigration statistics here:
The Scottish Government do not currently correlate the visa routes and homelessness status regarding displaced individuals from Ukraine or Afghanistan.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 August 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what the reasons are for its decision to end child fares on trains at 16 rather than 18 years old.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not set the age ranges for child fares on the railway, and has not made any decision to end child fares for any group. These fares are defined in the GB-wide Ticketing and Settlement Agreement – over which the Scottish Government does not have control.
In Scotland, young people aged 16-18 (and full time volunteers up to the age of 25) can obtain discounted rail travel using their Young Scot National Entitlement Card, offering one third discount on most rail fares and a 50% discount on weekly and monthly season tickets.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 August 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 19 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what meetings (a) it has had recently (b) are planned with COSLA to explore all options available regarding the funding by local authorities of any pay increases.
Answer
A series of meetings to explore the issues and options available were held between officials on 30 June, 13 July and 1 August.
Following these meetings, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government and myself met with a delegation of COSLA’s political leadership on 3 August and held a further meeting with their Resources Spokesperson on 8 August.
Those discussions resulted in the Scottish Government committing an extra £140m on a recurring basis to support councils and COSLA with the local government pay negotiations.
We again met with representatives of COSLA’s political leadership on 17 August.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 August 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 17 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether a summit between unions and COSLA could be held to facilitate further discussions on potential pay increases for public sector workers
Answer
Pay for council workers, excluding teachers, is determined through negotiations at the Scottish Joint Committee (SJC). These negotiations take place between the trade unions (UNISON, Unite and GMB) and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), who act on behalf of Scotland’s 32 councils.
The Scottish Government continues to urge both parties to continue negotiations via the SJC in order to achieve a negotiated settlement which avoids industrial action.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 18 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 15 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether a system could be introduced to monitor the impact on people's welfare of the operation of the asylum and detention system in Scotland.
Answer
Asylum and immigration are matters reserved to the UK Parliament. This includes the operation of the UK asylum system and immigration detention.
An effective system to monitor the impact of the asylum system or immigration detention on people’s wellbeing would require access to personal data and information about people seeking asylum or in immigration detention. This data is held by the Home Office, and the Scottish Government does not have access to it.
Many third sector organisations have direct knowledge of the negative impact the asylum system can have on people’s welfare, through their work supporting people within communities. The complexity of the asylum system, the low level of support provided by the Home Office and the continuing uncertainty of waiting for a decision are often combined with previous trauma and vulnerabilities. Evidence from the third sector, and people with lived experience, indicates that the asylum process itself can be re-traumatising.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 June 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 3 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it is providing to local authorities regarding gender-neutral toilets for children within (a) primary and (b) secondary schools.
Answer
It is the statutory responsibility of local authorities to manage their school estate. Therefore, it is for them to determine what facilities are appropriate, while complying with the School Premises Regulations and in full consultation with the school community.
In August 2021, the Scottish Government published Supporting transgender young people in schools: guidance for Scottish schools. This guidance sets out the position on support for and provision of single-sex spaces within Scottish schools.
Our Learning Estate Strategy, which sets out the strategic approach for managing Scotland’s school estate, makes clear that good consultation about learning environments, direct engagement with learners and communities about their needs and experiences, and an involvement in decision making processes should lead to better outcomes for all.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 18 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Christina McKelvie on 2 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government which schools in the Glasgow region are running the Equally Safe at School programme.
Answer
Our Equally Safe Strategy for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls emphasises the importance of challenging the underpinning attitudes which enable such violence to take place. Education settings have an important role in challenging these attitudes through teaching children and young adults about healthy relationships, consent and gender stereotypes which drive gender-based violence.
Our Equally Safe at School (ESAS) project, developed by Rape Crisis Scotland and Zero Tolerance, applies a whole school approach to inequality and gender-based violence in schools. Rape Crisis Scotland have reported that 3 schools in the Glasgow region are currently registered for an ESAS account. This year, Rape Crisis Scotland anticipate the number of schools registered for ESAS will grow as they continue to focus on the promotion of ESAS and work both nationally and with local authorities to develop ESAS implementation strategies.
The Scottish Government also funds and supports other education-based programmes and initiatives aimed at preventing gender-based violence such as our Mentors in Violence peer education programme, the Gender Equality Taskforce in Education and Learning, the Gender-Based Violence in Schools Working Group and Rape Crisis Scotland’s national sexual violence programme for secondary schools
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 04 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 2 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will support the grassroots music industry through ventures such as the Music Venue Trust, which seeks to raise funds to build community ownership of grassroots music venues to ensure a sustainable and resilient model of support of grassroots music across the UK.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that there is a thriving music industry in Scotland, including grassroots music venues, which are key to supporting emerging Scottish talent.
That is why the Scottish Government’s Grassroots Music Venues Stabilisation Fund (GMVSF) provided grassroots live music venues with £6.2 million of emergency funds to help address the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and prevent closures. Music venues were also able to apply to the £25m Cancellation Fund for Cultural Organisations in early 2022, which supported creative businesses which had been adversely financially impacted by cancellations or postponement of activities due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
The Scottish Government is content to engage further with the Music Venue Trust to discuss their new initiative to build community ownership of grassroots music venues, including in Glasgow.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 June 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 July 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether there are any new (a) primary and (b) secondary schools being built with exclusively gender-neutral toilets for children.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold this information. It is the statutory responsibility of local authorities to manage their school estate.
