Chamber and committees

This is an operational matter for Scottish Canals. I have asked the Chief Executive of Scottish Canals to respond to you directly on this question.

This is an operational matter for Scottish Canals. I understand that Scottish Canals do not hold this information which relates to the period prior to 2012 when the British Waterways Board was responsible for the canal network in Scotland, England and Wales.

The Scottish Government does not provide a core grant to Citizen Advice Scotland.

The Levy funding for Consumer Advocacy was devolved to Scottish Government 23 May 2016. Debt advice levy funding was devolved to the Scottish Government on 1 January 2019 . The following table sets out annual funding provided by Scottish Government.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-26215 on 19 November 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

I refer the Member to the answer to question S5W-26077 on 13 November 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

I wrote to the Convener of the Economy, Energy and Fair Work Committee [recently]. Included below is text from that letter.

The Council of Economic Advisors (discussed at the Committee’s January 2017 meeting), drawing on work by the New Economics Foundation and Common Weal, firmly established the value of creating a mission based development bank specifically aligned to Scottish Government policy. The Implementation Plan for the Bank addressed a range of considerations, including the provision of existing arrangements, and identifying specific priorities around provision of patient capital; scale up finance (£2m-£10m approx.); the availability of SME finance; and delivery of crucial transformative, mission-oriented project finance.

Detailed work documented in the Implementation Plan supporting analysis determined that the most effective way to maximise the Bank’s impact across early stage equity, growth capital and mission-based finance was to create a new institution with the scale and capacity to deliver this significant remit, whilst building on the positive foundations laid by SIB in the early stage risk capital market, and on other public investment activities.

This approach will consolidate existing activity within the Scottish National Investment Bank and simplify access to support, advice and finance, whilst continuing to build on skills and experience already successfully developed in Scotland.

As the Implementation Plan set out this: “will also ensure the efficiency of public sector activity in this area through enabling the Bank to best direct its capital across the existing financing activity and new activities, utilising existing channels to market and investor relationships”. This wider focus is crucial to the Bank’s mission-oriented approach to tackling societal challenges. It has been announced that responding to the Climate Emergency will be the and the Bank’s primary mission to support Scotland’s transition to net zero by 2045.

The scale of the activity that is envisaged to be carried out by the Bank will be supported by seeking a dispensation from HM Treasury so that the Bank can have flexibility to manage, retain and carry-forward cash balances over financial year-ends. Furthermore, in time the Scottish National Investment Bank could seek to attain self-financing public financial corporation status. This would enable it to raise finance externally without impacting on Scottish Government budgets, and thereby increase the amount of funds available for investment in the economy. This option is not available under current public investment activities delivered by the Scottish Government or its agencies.

The Scottish Government is committed to the implementation of health screening services for people with learning disabilities and the funding to be allocated is subject to the 2020-21 spending review.

This relates to the safe operations of the railway and is Network Rail's responsibility.

This relates to the operational railway and is the responsibility of ScotRail.