Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 8 September 2022.
Neil Gray
Scottish National Party
The UK Government is contacting hosts who are approaching six months of hosting Ukrainians under the homes for Ukraine private sponsorship route to encourage them to consider extending their hosting. I encourage any Ukrainians who will not be staying with their current host to speak to their local authority about what support is available in their local area.
Although it is a three-year visa scheme, so far the UK Government has confirmed funding for only one year. We continue to urge the UK Government to provide clarity on the funding of future years of the scheme. I support the now former Minister for refugees Richard Harrington’s recent call for the UK Government to double thank-you payments for hosts to £700. Evelyn Tweed can be assured that I will look to have an early meeting with the new minister who has responsibility for Ukrainian refugees, and with Treasury ministers, to ensure their continued support for the schemes.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
