Chamber and committees

Planned dates reflect the agreed point where projects became impacted by classification issues.

A further four projects are scheduled to reach financial close in the coming weeks and information on those projects is given in the following table:

The Scottish Government provides revenue support for these projects with a value of over £200 million. This support has been adjusted to protect local authorities and NHS boards from the inflationary pressures incurred through delays. These revenue cost pressures, actively managed by Scottish Futures Trust in collaboration with procuring local authorities and NHS boards and with the hub companies, have been offset by a reduction in the cost of finance during 2015 and early 2016 leading to a negligible budget impact across the eight projects.

In light of that answer, there is no fixed date for when I will come to Parliament with a response to the consultation.

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.

National Insurance policy is a reserved matter. The introduction of the single-tier pension through the Pension Act 2014 led to the abolition of the ‘contracted-out rebate’ by the UK Government. The abolition of the rebate will lead to increased costs for employers, including all public sector employers. The change takes effect from April 2016.

The following table provides a breakdown of the estimated cost of the abolition of national insurance contracted out rates, broken down by sector.

These estimates were calculated in June 2015, based on latest available paybill information available to Scottish Government sponsor areas.

The Scottish Government has transferred all of the £35.4 million budgeted to Independent Living Fund Scotland.

The fund budget for the Independent Living Fund (ILF) for 2016-17 is £47.2 million. The Scottish Government has initially set aside an additional £1.1 million for administration costs for 2016-17, however the final budget is still to be agreed between Scottish Government and ILF Scotland. The Scottish Government has also committed an additional £5 million to open the fund to new users.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-30523 on 17 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.

All solid organ transplant services in Scotland are nationally commissioned by NHS Scotland’s National Services Division (NSD). Following publication of A Donation and Transplant Plan for Scotland 2013-2020, NSD undertook a comprehensive review of the potential future of solid organ transplantation in Scotland which included a health and social care resource impact analysis for all types of solid organ transplantation (including living kidney donation). The report entitled Commissioning Transplantation to 2020 was published in 2015 and can be viewed at the following link: http://www.nsd.scot.nhs.uk/%5C%5C/publications/servicereviews.html.

No data is available on how long it takes to become a living donor, broken down by NHS board. Assessment to become a living donor is tailored to individual needs and commitments and varies from person to person. The process usually takes at least three months. However it may take more or less time depending on factors such as the number of potential donors who come forward to be assessed for each recipient; the health of the potential donors and the type of tests they require; and the general health of the potential recipient. Information on the process involved in becoming a living donor is available on the Organ Donation Scotland website at the following link: https://www.organdonationscotland.org/sites/default/files/living_kidney_donation.pdf.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-30523 on 17 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.