Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is developing its national strategy for tackling social isolation and loneliness and will publish this before the end of 2018.

The strategy, A Connected Scotland, takes a whole population approach but we recognise that particular groups of people, like veterans, can be at greater risk of experiencing social isolation and/or loneliness than others.

The strategy recognises the significance of transition periods in people’s lives as a potential trigger for social isolation and loneliness and that a return to civilian communities can be one such trigger point for veterans of any age.

We want to empower communities to lead this work in a locally-relevant way, and we are working with partners across local and national government to achieve this.

The Scottish Government has engaged with Ferguson Marine Engineering Ltd (FMEL) and Caledonian Assets Maritime Ltd (CMAL) on an on-going basis since the award of the two shipbuilding contracts. Whilst contractual issues are a matter for FMEL and CMAL, Ministers and officials have facilitated several meetings with the parties to discuss the delivery of the two new ferries.

The Scottish Government will continue to engage with FMEL and CMAL regarding the timely delivery of the two new ferries.

Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) is a limited company wholly owned by the Scottish Ministers and therefore subject to the governance requirements of the Companies Act 2006 regulated by Companies House.

CMAL is also classified as a public corporation and subject to the governance arrangements applied to Scottish public bodies. These are set out in a Management Statement and Financial Memorandum.

The Management Statement describes the governance framework within which CMAL operates while the Financial Memorandum outlines its financial responsibilities in greater detail. CMAL is also subject to the requirements of the Scottish Public Finance Manual.

CMAL Board and Committees meet at various times throughout the year:-

• Full Board (6 x per annum)
• Audit & Risk Committee (4 x per annum)
• Remuneration Committee (1 x per annum)

The CMAL complies with various annual audit requirements and industry guidance applicable to the Company including but not restricted to:-

• Statutory Annual External Audit
• Scottish Government Procurement Capability Audit (PCIP)
• ISO 9001
• Maritime and Coastguard Agency
• Lloyds Register (classification society) requirements
• Maritime Port Code
• Health and Safety Legislation

I refer the member to the Appointed for Scotland website. I attach the link to the appropriate page that provides appointment details of the Caledonian Assets Maritime Ltd Board.

http://www.appointed-for-scotland.org/about-public-bodies/directory-of-public-bodies-appointments/caledonian-maritime-assets-ltd/

This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise.

I have passed your query on to Steve Dunlop, the Chief Executive, and asked him to respond to you directly.

The 2017 business births figure is not currently published. The 2017 figure will be published in the Office for National Statistics 'Business demography: 2017' publication, which is scheduled for release on the 21st of November 2018.

Businesses in Scotland 2018 will be published on 7 November 2018.

The figures for October 2017 to September 2018 will be included in the Office for National Statistics 'Regional Labour Market Statistics in the UK January 2019' publication, which is due for release on the 22nd of January 2019.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-14943 on 8 March 2018. 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.

The Scottish Government is not responsible for collecting the Apprenticeship Levy, which is a UK Government measure.

The Scottish Government requested access to data relevant to Scotland from HMRC some time ago. This was only provided in late September 2018 and analysis of it is currently being undertaken.