Question reference: S5W-09171
- Asked by: Edward Mountain, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 9 May 2017
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Current status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 23 May 2017
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the cost is of the transfer of the powers over the management of the Crown Estate; how these costs will be met, and what additional costs the Crown Estate has to meet.
Answer
Scottish Ministers secured external consultancy support to work on transferring the management of Scottish Crown Estate assets. Expenditure on the two relevant contracts totalled £201,767.88 in 2016-2017.
The transfer costs borne by The Crown Estate, as a separate entity from Crown Estate Scotland (Interim Management), are not currently held by the Scottish Government or Crown Estate Scotland (Interim Management). The Crown Estate is finalising its accounts for 2016-17 and these will published in due course. It is not yet known what level of detail on transfer costs The Crown Estate will include in these accounts.
The UK and Scottish Governments have agreed through the fiscal framework the methodology for calculating the baseline deduction to account for the transfer of management of Scottish Crown Estate assets to the Scottish Government. The UK and Scottish Governments have subsequently agreed a provisional block grant deduction through the Joint Exchequer Committee based on this methodology, which will be updated once outturn data for 2016-17 is available in the summer of 2017.
New costs borne by Crown Estate Scotland (Interim Management) arise largely from the requirements of operating as a standalone business, and include costs associated with Information Technology and other support services, insurance and tax costs, additional staff costs, and Board member fees and costs. The first set of published annual accounts for Crown Estate Scotland (Interim Management) will be available in 2018.