 The next item of business is a statement by Neil Gray on update on displaced people from Ukraine. The minister will take questions at the end of his statement and so there should be no interventions or interruptions. I call on Neil Gray, minister, around 10 minutes please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Can I begin by saying how concerned we all are by reports of Her Majesty's health and clearly all of our thoughts and best wishes are with the Queen and of course her family at this time. Presiding Officer, Scotland continues to stand in solidarity with Ukraine and remains committed to supporting Ukrainians who have fled the war. When we opened the Super Scott-Bonser scheme, we, like others around the world, hoped that the crisis would be quickly and peacefully resolved and Ukrainians could return to safety. However, we are now over six months into the conflict and we expect the numbers of people who will find a place of safety in Scotland to continue to increase. We are now providing safety to over 16,500 people, 18.6 per cent of all UK arrivals and the highest per head of population in the four nations. Over 13,000 people have arrived through our SuperSponsor scheme demonstrating its success. To date, just under 35,000 visas have been issued to Ukrainians with a Scottish sponsor, many of whom have yet to travel. That compares to over 85,500 visas issued with an English sponsor and 8,000 in Wales. That far exceeds our initial commitment to welcome 3,000 people under the SuperSponsor scheme, which we introduced so that people could travel to a place of safety without needing to find a named private host. Presiding Officer, we want to ensure that we are able to support displaced people who are already living here, as well as the thousands who may arrive in coming weeks and months. That is why, in July, we took the very difficult decision to pause the scheme, so those who had already applied could be provided with our warm Scottish welcome. The sharp rise in applications to the Scottish scheme at the start of the summer highlights, firstly, the scheme's undoubted success and popularity. Secondly, routes into other parts of the UK where and are still becoming harder to come by. Our colleagues in Wales, understandably, took the difficult decision to pause their own scheme in June, and private matches across the UK have become scarcer. We have taken steps to ensure that we can house as many Ukrainians as possible within safe, suitable welcome accommodation. As part of that response, we have rapidly mobilised a passenger ship in Edinburgh, successfully providing temporary accommodation for up to 2,200 people with wraparound support, including from Ukrainian-speaking crew. The Ukrainian consul general welcomed the ship and we have since secured a second with capacity for a further 1,750 people. It docked in Glasgow last week. The inspection that we requested by the maritime and coastguard agency is complete. Any issues raised are being resolved and the MCA will return to confirm this ahead of the first guests being welcomed aboard in the next few days. Countries, including the Netherlands, France and Estonia, are also using ships to provide a place to live for people fleeing war. I visited the Glasgow vessel yesterday. MSPs visited the Edinburgh vessel the other week. The media has also been aboard and spoken with guests. Any fair-minded person visiting or seeing the TV coverage would conclude that both ships are comparable to high-tele accommodation, providing easy access to support in a centralised safe space and services from child play facilities to social security support. Anyone questioning this safe, secure but certainly temporary arrangement, I ask what credible alternative they would offer up that would safely support the thousands of people we are able to accommodate and who have arrived within a matter of months while we work to support people into longer-term homes. We want accommodation and support as part of our warm Scots welcome to be as good as it can be. That is why we recently contracted with the Palladium Group, an organisation with specialist experience in humanitarian support interventions, planning and logistics, to provide broad support to enhance both our delivery and the experience of displaced Ukrainians. Our support has been rolled out at pace with co-operation across national and local government and the voluntary and third sector for whom I offer my thanks for their efforts. We are grateful to everyone across Scotland who has offered rooms and properties to host Ukrainians. Scottish local authorities are working to conduct the necessary person and property checks for volunteer hosts. For hosts who have not yet had all those checks completed, we appreciate your patience while local authorities undertake those checks. After potential accommodation is checked, the matching process that then occurs is by its nature resource intensive, with multiple often highly sensitive conversations required with both the displaced person and potential host. Not all properties will be suitable for all households. A family with children may need more space while some hosts are offering a spare room. We know too that some families have been reluctant for personal or work reasons, understandable ones, to stay outside the central belt. Matching has progressed more slowly than I would wish, and I continue to urge local authorities to complete checks as quickly as possible, drawing on the funding of £11.2 million that we have made available. The challenges inherent in such a large and tragic displacement of people, which I have seen for myself when visiting Poland and Germany, are being felt all over Europe, both in provision of short-term accommodation and helping people to move into sustainable long-term accommodation. Scotland shares that experience, and we are taking action to improve and increase our support along with our partners. We have funded additional staff in local authorities to speed up the process of matching people to suitable accommodation. We are rolling out a new digital matching tool to support this, and we are planning a fresh exercise to recruit hosts, implementing what we have already learned to make it easier for people to offer homes matching Ukrainians' needs. We are introducing a user-friendly application form, which will quickly advise on a person's and a property's suitability, meaning more certainty for people offering accommodation and helping local authorities to direct resources and efforts towards housing most likely to support a match. We are also working with social landlords and partners to secure additional long-term housing. That is in addition to 300 homes being made available through the Wheatley housing group and the refurbishment of 200 properties in North Lanarkshire. We are mindful that we are supporting those fleeing war. We are also listening to Ukrainians on their experiences in Scotland and hopes for the future. In engagement events with Ukrainians, we heard that, like all of us, they are keen to see their children enrolled in school, register with a GP and find work. Those are accordingly key parts of our response for new arrivals, both in temporary accommodation and as they move into longer-term homes. The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Councillor Tony Buchanan, Cosla's spokesperson for children and young people, jointly wrote last week to all directors of education affirming Ukrainian children's right to education and setting out available support, including specialist modules for teachers to support pupils dealing with trauma. Ukrainians here through the Homes for Ukraine, Ukraine family or Ukraine extension schemes who want to study at a college or university in Scotland from this academic year will be eligible for free tuition and living cost support. For those who want access to English language classes in addition to Scottish Government ESOL funding through colleges, we are calling on the UK Government to make the £850 per adult ESOL tariff provided for Afghans and Syrians available for Ukrainians, too. We have made sure that displaced Ukrainians are able to access to the Scottish Government's full range of employment support services such as Fair Start Scotland and employability services offered with local authorities and local employability partnerships. Work coaches from the DWP are also providing vital support. The Scottish Government is working closely with business organisations including the Scottish Chambers of Commerce to ensure that Ukrainians are able to access business-led job matching support as well. We are also providing health services, ensuring that Ukrainians understand how to access primary care and providing advice and access to Scottish social security benefits. All families with young babies and pregnant women are entitled to a baby box with boxes ready at major welcome hubs for new arrivals in need. Beyond those formal activities as part of evident solidarity with Ukraine, we have seen people across Scotland bringing our warm Scottish welcome to life. From offering up their homes to fundraising and donating toys, people have embraced those arriving from Ukraine and equally we have seen a community spirit of Ukrainians arriving in Scotland so that they want this to be a temporary home. We do more than provide support to those we welcome here. We are providing £4 million in humanitarian aid to help to provide humanitarian assistance in Europe, including health, water and sanitation, and shelter for those fleeing Ukraine. We are working with the Ukrainian Government to provide medical supplies worth around £2.9 million and £65 million in military support. As announced in the programme for government we will build on that by investing a further £300,000 in a project led by the Halo Trust to respond to the risk of explosive remnants of war in Ukraine, enhancing security and reducing the risk of death and injury. In conclusion Scotland's response to this Europe-wide challenge has been remarkable and displays the best of us in our whole-hearted response. I thank all those who have played their part to respond as quickly and effectively as possible to this humanitarian crisis. While we continue to welcome and prepare for those still to arrive, we reiterate our call for the end of Russia's illegal invasion and the restoration of peace in Ukraine. Finally, I have a direct message for our friends from Ukraine. Scotland is your home and will be for as long as you need it to be. Thank you, minister. The minister will now take questions on the issues raised in his statement. I intend to allow around 20 minutes for questions after which we will move on to the next item of business. It would be helpful if those members who wish to ask a question were to press the request-to-speak buttons now and I call on Donald Cameron. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Can I thank the minister for advance sight of his statement? Can I associate those benches with his opening remarks? The daily horror that we continue to witness in Ukraine as a result of Putin's invasion remains deeply troubling and must continue to be condemned. The UK remains a firm friend and ally of Ukraine and I am pleased that the new Prime Minister has reaffirmed our commitment to supporting Ukraine and its people in any way that we can. People across Scotland have opened their doors to families fleeing Ukraine and that generous spirit continues even in these trying times. The minister's statement shows that 35,000 sponsored visas have been issued in Scotland but only 13,000 people have arrived under the super sponsorship scheme implying that over 20,000 sponsored refugees have yet to arrive here. In other words, we might soon be seeing refugee numbers increase significantly. The minister last month stated that over half of Scots who expressed an interest in hosting Ukrainians have withdrawn that interest, which is concerning. I appreciate that this is a fast-moving situation but there are clearly significant issues with the super sponsor scheme. Can I ask the minister given the need to provide certainty to refugees, hosts and local authorities what timescales can he give for the amount of time it will take from a refugee arriving in Scotland to actually being physically placed with a sponsor? Minister. Thank you very much. I thank Donald Cameron for his introduction to his question and the tone with which he has approached this situation. The point that I made around less than half of those who'd initially expressed an interest in being a private host for a displaced Ukrainian Mr Cameron suggests that those people have withdrawn. There are various reasons why either people have withdrawn or their property is not suitable themselves. Their properties may not have passed checks so there are a number of different reasons for why we are fishing within a pool that is smaller than may have initially been anticipated. In terms of timescales as I set out in my statement we are looking for people to be in temporary accommodation for as short a period as possible. People in private homes I am very grateful and thankful for those that have already provided sponsorship for those in private homes and those that are still willing to do so. As I said in my statement I am keen for people to remain patient while some of those checks are completed and the process is sped up. I myself would agree that staying in somebody else's home would also by its nature be a temporary situation. That is why, as I have set out in my statement and as the review that is going on during the scheme's pause is looking to achieve we are looking to get more longer term accommodation available as quickly as possible and there are a number of steps that I hope that we will be able to take in short order to help to achieve that. I call Sarah Boyack. I thank the minister for advance sight of his statement and for his willingness to engage with MSPs on a cross-party basis since the invasion of Ukraine in February. I also want to put on record my thanks to the Ukrainian community in Edinburgh and across Scotland. To those who have volunteered to host Ukrainians in their homes the third sectors and charities and last but not least in my own area, Edinburgh Council has done not just with their staff in their rival hub, which has been crucial but also in the schools or businesses across the city who have opened their arms to help. Minister, I do want to ask where is the investment now to support our councils across the country and why have we not seen more forward planning given that it's more than six months on from the invasion. The issue of supporting people from Ukraine is centre stage for our councils but they need the support now to deliver the homes to work with communities to provide the schools, the transport costs access to English speaking courses and advice to enable Ukrainians to recover. Being in a warm home getting the access to the support they need now and crucially being able to use their skills and knowledge to work and support themselves and their families is what those people who have arrived in Scotland want and need. Yesterday the Deputy First Minister said that the cost of supporting Ukrainians requires us to find another 200 million which was not planned for at the time of the budget just as the invasion began. So could the minister clarify today how the investment is going to take place? He mentioned investment in 500 more homes but don't we need many many more new homes than that? I know for example in Edinburgh councils case we are now talking about £1 million across the piece of funded one-off costs but over 5 million unfunded recurring costs. So when will the councils actually get the money promised for supporting Ukrainians because they are providing that support now and they desperately need that investment? Thank you and I thank Sarah Boyack and I absolutely reiterate her thanks to all those that she addressed in her initial remarks, not least Edinburgh City Council with whom I have had incredibly good working relationships with. They have really gone above and beyond as many other local authorities have as well but obviously given the nature of where people are arriving to our involvement with Edinburgh City Council has been intensive and I'm a great appreciative to the officers and their team for everything that's been done there. In terms of direct council support Sarah Boyack will be aware of the £11.2 million that we made available very early on in the process to allow local authorities to ensure that accommodation could be made available to help support them through the matching process as well. We've also provided additional funding £1 million for local authorities for some of the welcome arrangements. She will also be aware of the £10,500 tariff that the UK Government is responsible for. I have taken the representation that has been made to me by local government around the adequacy of that and I have sought to do what I can to appeal to UK ministers to invest further than that £10,500 and also to provide a parity of support regardless of how people arrive which scheme they arrive on a parity of support between the homes for Ukraine and the family schemes to ensure that our local authorities are adequately supported through this process. As always, I'm more than happy to discuss that as Sarah Boyack alluded again in her introduction to engage further with Sarah Boyack, her council colleagues in Edinburgh or elsewhere if there are further challenges that require further Government intervention either through the Scottish Government or the UK Government, whichever is required. I call Fulton MacGregor to be pulled up by Sharon Dowie. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and I welcome the statement from the minister. Given the vast majority of those who have come here are women and children and that many displaced people are being housed together in high-rise facts such as those in Coatbridge in my constituency what steps are the Scottish Government taking to ensure that this vulnerable group is being afforded to best security and support, as he said, on Scotland? I'd like to thank Fulton MacGregor not just for his question but for his proactive engagement on the work that's on going in North Lanarkshire and North Lanarkshire Council for its work as well in coming forward with the potential for those properties to be refurbished. Ensuring the wellbeing and safety of displaced people arriving from Ukraine is our absolute priority. We set that right at the start of our scheme. Through our supersponsor scheme we are ensuring that people are able to stay in appropriate temporary accommodation and receive the right support before moving on to safe, sustainable longer-term accommodation that meets their needs. An initial triage of all guests needs takes place at the Welcome Hub. Local authorities are equipped to support the individual needs of displaced people and our best place to direct people to local advice services for women and children. We've also provided £1.3 million to the Scottish Refugee Council to support arriving Ukrainians many of whom have experienced significant trauma but, as I've reiterated previously to Fulton MacGregor as with other colleagues in the chamber if there is anything further that I can do that would be helpful for him and his community and his constituency then I'm happy to do that once again. Home Office figures show that only 75 Ukrainians have arrived in South Ayrshire but council officials tell me that the real figure is closer to 500 with the bulk of those arrivals occurring through the supersponsor scheme and staying in temporary accommodation. Councils want to help but when they are close to breaking point they need more help and they need more information about the timing and quantity of arrivals. Can I ask the minister what efforts he is making to improve communication with local authorities so that they can best co-ordinate their response? Minister. We are also obviously reliant on information that comes through the Home Office and border force around potential arrivals. We proactively try to contact people who have received a visa in order to get more intelligence when they may potential arrive and what their requirements will be ahead of their arrival. Obviously we are, as I said in previous answers, working very closely with local authorities to give as much information as we possibly can to ensure that they are able to prepare themselves for those arrivals and if the member has particular concerns on behalf of her local authorities she would want to pass on. I'm more happy to do what I can to assuage those concerns. Evelyn Tweed to be followed by Mark Griffin. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. To ask the minister what provisions are being made to ensure that Ukrainians are supported when homes for Ukraine hosts are no longer in a position to host after the initial six month period. Minister. The UK Government is contacting Ukrainians and hosts who are approaching six months of hosting under the Homes for Ukraine private sponsorship route to encourage hosts to consider extending their stay of hosting another family. I would encourage any Ukrainians who would not be staying with their hosts to speak to their local authority about what support is available within their local area. This is a three year visa scheme yet the UK Government has only confirmed funding so far for one year and we continue to urge the UK Government to provide clarity on the funding of future years of the scheme and I would support the now minister for refugees Richard Harrington's recent call for the UK Government to double thank you payments for hosts to £700 and Evelyn Tweed can be assured that I will be looking to have an early meeting with whoever the new minister has responsibility for Ukrainian refugees and also with Treasury ministers as well to ensure their continued support for these schemes. I call Mark Griffin to be followed by John Mason. Thank you, Presiding Officer. If the minister is able to say whether he's happy with the level of communication and co-ordination between national and local government because what I've been hearing from council colleagues is examples where there hasn't quite been a level of communication that has been up to scratch. Bus loads of disblessed Ukrainian people going to Dumfries and Galloway late in the night but officials in that local authority getting very, very late notice of those bus loads of people of schools occasionally with parents and children turning up on the first day of term again with authorities having no prior notice that those Ukrainian children were going to start term that day. I wonder finally if he's had any information from local authorities of any instances of homelessness as a result of hosts who are no longer able to accommodate Ukrainian families. Minister. I thank Mark Griffin for his questions. He would understand and expect that I have regular meetings and correspondence and engagement with local authority partners direct to individual local authorities as well as through COSLA as do my officials who I have to put on record my thanks to the whole team of officials in the Scottish Government who have bent over backwards and done everything possible throwing all their energies making sure that this scheme works well and I pay tribute to them alongside local authority officials as well and the official to official relationship is also very strong between the Scottish Government and local authorities where there has been last minute arrivals or arrivals where we have not been aware of that happening obviously by its nature the scheme where we do not have overall control of the visa system there are going to be points where there are going to be communication difficulties and I place on record once again my thanks to those hosting authorities for the work that they are doing and we are sharing everything possible we can in terms of information with local authorities around family composition that we have to ensure that local authorities are able to plan as best as possible and that welcome hub arrival point is important for that though not everybody comes through the welcome hubs and again if there are individual issues that Mark Griffin would want to raise with me about any of those areas or areas where he feels that we could do better than I'm more than happy to hear that at any stage and I'll obviously do what I can to make sure that those improvements are made before I call the next speaker could I just point out that we have another six members who are hoping to ask questions so could I make a plea for more succinct questions and answers I call John Mason to be followed by Alex Cole-Hamilton The minister or questioners have already mentioned a variety of accommodation that might work for Ukrainian-displaced people like private homes, the ships and council accommodation I wonder if the minister can give any examples of what kinds of accommodation he is looking for and for example would small bed and breakfasts and hotels be an option Pithiness personified from John Mason Work continues to procure a range of accommodation to meet the needs of people from Ukraine This is a humanitarian crisis that requires a whole of Scotland response The Scottish Government has sourced suitable temporary accommodation for displaced people including hotels, apartments, student accommodation and passenger ships Key to decisions about what temporary accommodation can be used is ensuring that appropriate support can be put in place for those accommodated by the local authority and beyond immediate temporary accommodation We have arrived over the past few months We are working closely with councils and the housing sector to bring forward longer-term housing solutions in addition to the 300 homes made available by the weekly group and the refurbishment of properties in North Lanarkshire Alex Cole-Hamilton On behalf of the Liberal Democrats our grave concern at the health of Her Majesty the Queen can also refer the chamber to my register of interests and my association with the homes for Ukraine scheme The minister said that there are tens of thousands already here I'm not sure we're ready for them I'm very concerned by the fact that so many have yet to be matched with accommodation I visited the ship the minister to describe with him in person and was very impressed but it is not a permanent solution and it's certainly not what they will have had in mind as they made their way across Europe We need more homes but we also need the means to move those Ukrainians between those homes and opportunities for work and for training Will he reiterate the call for homes for Ukraine because many people felt that that had ended with the closure of the super-sponsor scheme and will he also then enrol not just Ukrainian refugees but any refugee here on a particular scheme in the discretionary travel scheme so that people can move between their new accommodation and job opportunities because that may be one of the main reasons people don't want to move outside the central belt Minister Thank you, Alex Cole-Hamilton for his questions I'm glad that he was impressed by the accommodation that's been offered on Victoria that is currently docked in Leith I think that the work again to follow up Sarah Boyack's question the work that's been done by Edinburgh City Council by my Scottish Government officials by third sector organisations the ship company to provide a superb wraparound support service it is really incredible and I'm greatly appreciative to all that's been involved in doing so Alex Cole-Hamilton's suggestion that it's a temporary solution of course it is and we're looking to work through ensuring that we can provide longer term accommodation as best we possibly can I don't think it's fair for him to characterise the situation as that somehow Scotland is uniquely underprepared compared to other European nations this is a Europe-wide crisis 7 million people have been displaced it's the greatest movement of people since the second world war every nation in Europe is facing that challenge not grudgingly but willingly and looking to do everything possible to ensure that we can provide safety, security and the support for people arriving from Ukraine so I look forward to further constructive work with Alex Cole-Hamilton to ensure that we can continue to do so the minister has spoken of boosting the national matching service where he can to speed up the transition from temporary accommodation on how matching can be accelerated in a sustainable way I thank Jackie Dunbar for that important question we're bringing forward a new digital solution to hopefully speed up the process of matching and are also looking to learn the lessons of the initial wave of those who have expressed an interest in order to provide more streamlined systems for those that are looking to put forward their homes for which I again express my gratitude for the generosity of people across Scotland it's important to recognise that matching people with hosts is a complex process time must be taken to ensure that the needs of both the host family and Ukrainians are met and that both are suitably supported to make that decision that is right for them we've made £11.2 million of additional funding available for local authorities which they can use to bolster their resettlement teams, enhance the pace of host checks and support for the refurbishment of properties in addition we have funded additional staff in local authorities to speed up the process and as I said we're looking to introduce a new digital matching tool to support the matching process I thank the minister for his statement and I thank all those across Scotland who have opened their hearts and homes to Ukrainians who have been through a traumatic and life changing few months can the minister provide more detail about the trauma support in place and elsewhere especially given we know trauma won't be processed in the same way by everyone and will often take time to come to the surface Minister I thank Maggie Chapman for that question and she is absolutely right everybody will be impacted differently by the trauma that has been experienced in this horrific war at Putin's hand people will also display the symptoms of their trauma in different ways and at different times we provide further support for our school staff to ensure that they have better support to ensure that they are able to recognise that and deal with it and we're working with other organisations to ensure that as best as possible we're able to provide further trauma support as and when it's required Maurice Golden to be followed by Jenny Minto Thank you Deputy Presiding Officer can the minister outline further details on how the Halo Trust project will be delivered Minister We've provided £300,000 to the Halo Trust so that they can clear munitions of war that have been laid in Ukraine to provide greater safety and security for those who are looking to rebuild their communities and given Mr Golden's interests in this area I'd be happy to write to him with further details of the support that we're providing there The Scottish Government has been tireless in acquiring safe and comfortable temporary accommodation for Ukrainians newly arrived in Scotland with the assistance of councils like my own area of Argyll and Bute Minister has touched on this in previous questions but I wondered if the minister could provide any additional information on the on-going dialogue with COSLA and local councils to ensure that all levels of Government in Scotland are working closely on this immense and important challenge Minister for that question she can be reassured that we're working very closely with both COSLA and individual local authorities because they play a key part in the response to this humanitarian crisis we value the important part they play in our warm welcome and we are in close and on-going communication this is a humanitarian crisis that requires the whole of Scotland to be responding collectively and we are working closely with local authorities and COSLA to speed up the matching process including enhancing teams to boost capacity and to explore creative solutions to bring forward longer term accommodation The Scottish Government, COSLA local authority officials have been working jointly over August over a rapid review of the super sponsor scheme to provide more input into making the scheme even more successful, more sustainable and to be able to provide the welcome to the thousands of Ukrainians that we expect to arrive in the coming weeks and months and I'm looking forward to hopefully setting out the detail of the response of that review in the coming period Thank you minister, that concludes the statement and there will be a very short pause before we move on to the next item of business to allow front bench teams to change position