Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government set an ambitious target to grow the value of Scottish exports by 50% between 2010 and 2017. This would have required a increase of approximately £11billion based on the value of exports calculated at the time. In 2017, Scottish exports increased to £32.4billion from £24.1billion in 2010, representing a 35% increase. This was a significant improvement compared with 18% growth over the previous eight years (2002 to 2010). The reasons the target was not achieved are complex and varied. The target period was marked by challenging global economic conditions and a worldwide slowdown in trade growth that was not unique to Scotland.

Nevertheless, we recognise that achieving a greater step change in Scotland's export performance will require a different approach. This will be set out shortly in the forthcoming Export Growth Plan, which is backed by a £20million investment in new actions to significantly grow the value of Scottish exports as a proportion of GDP. The Plan will be published by 1 May, subject to avoiding major disruption from Brexit.

Reconviction rates for sexual crimes from 1997-98 to the most recent available year of 2015-16 are published in Table 6 of the National Statistics publication, Reconviction Rates in Scotland: 2015-16 Offender Cohort. The publication can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/reconviction-rates-scotland-2015-16-offender-cohort/pages/0/ .

Note that the reconviction rates shown in Table 6 includes reconvictions for all types of crime following a sexual crime. Table 7 in the publication separates out reconvictions by crime type.

The latest rates of crimes per 10,000 population were published in the Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2017-18
available at https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-2017-18/ (Table 8)

Sexual Crimes recorded in Scotland per 10,000 population, 2008-09 to 2017-18

This Government is committed to doing all it can to minimise the risks posed by Registered Sex Offenders (RSOs). This includes our support for multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA) for RSOs. MAPPA arrangements provide a number of safeguards, this can include increased police monitoring. These arrangements also support the sharing of information to relevant agencies. The overall effect is more comprehensive risk assessment and more robust risk management planning.

It is for Police Scotland, local authorities, the Scottish Prison Service, and Health Boards, as the MAPPA ‘responsible authorities', to determine the arrangements necessary to meet the individual requirements, risks and circumstances of such offenders.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that the investment provided to Local Authorities to support the delivery of the real living wage commitment in social care including overnight support, reaches social care workers.

The Scottish Government wrote to Health and Social Care Partnerships on 19 October 2017, following the announcement of the extension of real living wage commitment to overnight support. It confirmed that the commitment was to be extended during 2018/19, giving time for local systems to prepare.

The Scottish Government has worked closely with COSLA, Integration Authorities, care providers and trade unions to ensure this policy is implemented successfully. It is recognised that progress has been made in implementing the commitment, but challenges remain in some areas. I therefore wrote to Local Authority Chief Executives and Integration Authority Chief Officers on 20 December 2018 setting out expectations that rates for overnight support should be based on the real living wage. The letter noted that many Local Authorities had already passed on additional resources provided by Scottish Government to meet this commitment, but some had not. The letter asked that every effort be put in place by the end of January to demonstrate how the commitment will be implemented by end March 2019.

As I discussed with Ms Baillie at our meeting on 13 March, we are aware that there continues to be positive movement on agreement of local rates and where challenges remain, the Scottish Government and COSLA will continue to work with local partners to address these.

Citizens Advice Scotland’s report “Charting a new course: a study in developing affordability policy for water and sewerage charges”, published in October 2018, confirmed this estimate.

As referred to in the answer to S5W-21944, my officials will continue to work with industry stakeholders to determine how the Scottish Government can continue to keep customer charges as low as practicable and provide support for those members of society that are least able to afford those payments. The final Principles of Charging and Ministerial Objectives will be published no later than June 2020, the date set out in the industry timetable.

Replacing axle counters at Craigendoran is a matter for Network Rail to whom this question should be addressed.

Towards the end of Control Period 5 an underspend was identified by Network Rail. This has largely been re-invested in a number of projects across Scotland for the benefit of passengers, freight users and communities. Examples of expenditure in the last six months include:

• accessible lifts and footbridges on the Shotts line, value circa £9m
• South facing connection to the proposed Blackford freight facility, value circa £8.5m
• car park resurfacing at various sites across the network, value circa £3.5m.
• Boundary fencing renewals at high risk locations across the network, value circa £2m.

The full level of the underspend will not be known until the end of this financial year, which coincides with the end of Control Period 5. It will be dealt with through normal Government processes.

The Scottish Government does not hold operational data in this detail. Axle counter reliability is the responsibility of Network Rail to whom this question should be addressed.