Chamber and committees

The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) is aware of the current position of Citizens Advice Scotland. OSCR is an operationally independent body and it is for OSCR to interpret charity law and apply it to situations it encounters. As such, it would not be appropriate for the Scottish Government to comment on what is potentially a matter for OSCR.

We fully support the transfer of funding to the Scottish Government for consumer advocacy and advice activities undertaken by Citizens Advice Scotland, which arises as a consequence of the devolution of powers under the Scotland Act 2016. Core funding for Citizens Advice Scotland is provided by the UK Government through the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and there are currently no plans to change this.

The UK Government is responsible for the regulation of nuisance calls, and is therefore best placed to take direct action to tackle this issue. However, the Scottish Government is determined to make the most of our new consumer powers to take positive steps to reduce the impact nuisance calls have on the lives of people in Scotland. That is why we will be holding a nuisance calls summit early in summer 2016, which will bring leading industry, regulatory and consumer experts together to develop a range of effective ways to protect consumers and reduce the impact of unwanted calls.

The Directorate for Economic Development takes the lead role in the Scottish Government’s relationship with Citizens Advice Scotland.

The scope of the Scottish Government’s New Medicines Fund already includes licensed ultra-orphan drugs. However it would be in the best interests of people in Scotland for the manufacturer of this drug to put forward a resubmission to the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) at a reduced price.

The independence of SMC means that the Scottish Government has no role in taking individual decisions on particular proposals or drugs.

In Scotland we have a clear route for new drugs to be appraised through the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC). The independence of SMC decisions on individual drugs is well established. The Scottish Government has made clear to the manufacturer of this drug that a resubmission needs to be made to the SMC at a reduced price. The SMC process requires submissions to be made by pharmaceutical companies rather than patient groups. It also allows for pharmaceutical companies to propose a commercial arrangement to improve the cost-effectiveness of a medicine to the Patient Access Scheme Assessment Group.

While the efforts of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust in exploring ways forward is welcome, any proposal for a commercial arrangement needs to be made by the pharmaceutical company to the Patient Access Scheme Assessment Group. The independence of SMC means that the Scottish Government has no role in taking individual decisions on particular proposals or drugs.

As with all national statistics, Government Expenditure & Revenue Scotland (GERS) is regularly reviewed by the UK Statistics Authority to ensure that it meets the standards set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. The last review was completed in 2014 and concluded that GERS complied with the code of practice, and was therefore readily accessible, produced according to sound methods and managed impartially and objectively in the public interest.

An error was identified in the North Sea revenue figures and net fiscal balance estimates contained in table A.10 of the Government Expenditure & Revenue Scotland 2014-15. This was corrected as soon as it was brought to the attention of Scottish Government statisticians. The error affected the figures presented in table A10 only and did not affect any of the main results in the publication.

A revised version of the Government Expenditure & Revenue Scotland report was produced following publication on 9 March 2016, after minor errors were discovered. Changes were put through in the online text and accompanying spreadsheets and a new PDF was also produced and made available as soon as possible. In line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, notes were added to highlight the changes to users, making clear that none of the headline figures or results for Scotland in the report were affected by the changes.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-30439 on 23 March 2016. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.