Chamber and committees

Scottish Government officials continue to work with the UK Government colleagues to estimate the likely impact of forestalling on UK Government revenues from Stamp Duty Land Tax in 2014-15 and on Scottish Government revenues from the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax in 2015-16. The Scottish Government’s estimates will be subject to review by the Scottish Fiscal Commission. This analytical work will form the basis of a negotiation and agreement between Scottish and UK Ministers on the additional funding to be transferred to the Scottish Budget in 2015-16.

Scottish Ministers and Scottish Government officials have on-going engagement with the North Sea oil and gas industry to discuss the outlook for the sector and the key challenges and opportunities.

The Scottish Energy Minister, Fergus Ewing has also carried out between 150 and 200 meetings in Aberdeen since he became minister, and on June 10 2015 he will be attending a meeting of the government and industry forum PILOT to discuss the outlook for the sector.

I refer the member to the question S4F-02821 answered on 28 May 2015 which is available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/13595.aspx

Police Scotland has undertaken an open and transparent consultation which commenced at the earliest stage of its considerations in December 2014. This process has incorporated engagement with local communities, including local scrutiny committees, to ensure all views are reflected and considered thoroughly.

The Scottish Police Authority has maintained ongoing dialogue with Police Scotland throughout and will have formal oversight ahead of any decision.

It would be inappropriate to publish consultation responses before this formal decision-making process is complete. Police Scotland has, however, confirmed consultation responses will be published in due course, subject to the standard data protection requirements for consultations.

The Scottish Government has taken a prudent approach to the preparation of forecasts for the devolved taxes. These forecasts have been endorsed as reasonable by the independent Scottish Fiscal Commission.

The Scotland Act 2012 sets out provisions for managing the inevitable increase in forecasting risk which comes with tax devolution. In addition, I confirmed to Parliament at Stage 3 of the Budget Bill, on 4 February 2015, that I had decided to hold £15 million in 2015-16 to provide insurance against such risk.

I will be publishing more information shortly on the business development bank.

<>I will be publishing more information shortly on the business development bank. I also refer the member to the answer to questions S4W-24736 on 11 March 2015 and S4W-24853 on 20 March 2015. 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.

The Scottish Government forecasts that Land and Buildings Transaction Tax will generate revenue of £381 million in 2015-16, comprising £235 million from residential transactions and £146 million from non-residential transactions. These forecasts were endorsed as reasonable by the independent Scottish Fiscal Commission. They do not include the effects of forestalling, for which the UK Government has agreed to compensate us.

<>Planning authorities have been invoiced by the Planning and Environmental Appeals Division of the Scottish Government as follows in respect of local and strategic development plan examinations in the period 1 April 2011 to the current date.

Planning Authority	Reporter Costs £	Administration Costs £	Overheads £	Final Cost (including VAT) £
Local Development plans
Aberdeen	83,200	1,280	1,888.88	103,642.66
Aberdeenshire	142,400	2,520	12,161.98	188,498.38
Fife (St Andrews and East Fife)	95,900	1,800	2,116.40	119,779.68
Fife (Dunfermline and West Fife)	110,000	2320	1926.47	137,095.76
Western Isles	11,100	160	714.45	14,369.34
Perth and Kinross	104,600	1248.40	1,154	128,402.86
Dundee	17,500	336	295	21,757.68
Orkney Islands	20,600	756	708	26,476.98
North Ayrshire	43,400	2,568	506	55,769.10
Stirling	83,980	1,008	359	102,416.16
Renfrewshire	59,200	1,425.52	0	72,750.62
South Ayrshire	57,000	1,145.60	477.90	70,348.20
Dumfries and Galloway	59,500	1,246.80	1,838.36	75,102.19
Inverclyde	29,200	432	199.10	35,797.32
Shetland Isles	21,400	345.60	1807.61	28,263.85
Cairngorms	45,700	756.68	703.63	56,592.37
South Lanarkshire	63,700	932.13	322.89	77,946.02
South Lanarkshire (Minerals)	10,800	640	2,534.66	16,769.59
Argyll and Bute	45,500	1,183.40	1,120.70	57,364.92
West Dunbartonshire	28,840	1,608	176.64	36,749.57
East Renfrewshire	62,960	2,126.40	243.75	78,396.18
Falkirk	68,800	1,048.87	524.70	84,448.28
Clackmannan	19,500	580.80	97.65	24,214.14
Clackmannan (Alteration)	8,400	400	71.21	10,645.45
Highland	87,100	2,280	2,262.53	109,971.04
Highland (Inner Moray Firth)	61,000	1,224	365.30	75,107.16
Moray	50,200	259.20	0	60,915.84
Scottish Borders (on-going)	26,040	543	0	31,899.84
Strategic Development Plan
Glasgow and Clyde Valley	11,050	400	0	13,740
TAYplan	13,050	400	173.60	16,348.32
SESplan	19,300	2,046	3147.59	29,392.31
Aberdeen City and Shire	14,300	308	701.80	18,371.76

Responsibility for the delivery of the planning service in Scotland lies with individual planning authorities. Where a case comes before a local review body for consideration, that review must be undertaken in accordance with The Town and Country Planning (Schemes of Delegation and Local Review Bodies) (Scotland) 2013 and all decisions must be in accordance with the relevant development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise.