Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government International Development Fund began in 2005, with a budget of £3 million for Malawi. From 2008-09 the International Development Fund budget was doubled to £6 million per annum, fulfilling the commitment in the Scottish National Party’s 2007 election manifesto. From 2010-11 onwards the budget for the fund was further increased to its current £9 million per annum.

The Scottish Government also established its world-leading Climate Justice Fund in 2012, to provide an additional budget £6 million through that fund between 2012 and 2015 for international development work. The fund aims to lessen the impacts of climate change on some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people in Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania and Rwanda. In December 2015, the First Minister committed a new additional £12 million budget for the Climate Justice Fund over the next four years.

In terms of overseas development assistance (ODA) in each year since 2007, the Scottish Government notifies its ODA spend annually to the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID). The UK Government then includes Scottish Government funded ODA within overall UK ODA, towards its UN 0.7% commitment. Scottish Government ODA includes both spend under both its International Development Fund and any overseas humanitarian aid assistance during that year; since 2012, Scottish Government ODA also includes the additional spend under its Climate Justice Fund. The Scottish Government has notified the following ODA to DFID in each calendar year since 2007:

Year	Overseas Development Assistance (£'thousands)
2007	3 898
2008	5 829
2009	5 298
2010	9 275
2011	10 001
2012	10 340
2013	11 275
2014	11 675
2015	11 019
TOTAL	78 610

 

The Scottish Government notifies its overseas development assistance (ODA) spend annually to the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID). The UK Government includes Scottish Government funded ODA within overall UK ODA that it reports to the organisation for economic, cooperation and development (OECD). Scottish Government ODA spend therefore counts towards the UK Government’s 0.7% commitment. The UK Government’s DFID publishes international development statistics each year, and this includes all ODA which contributes to the overall UK total, including that of the Scottish Government.

For the period January to December 2015, the Scottish Government notified £11,019,208.42 of ODA spend to DFID. This included ODA spend from the Scottish Government’s International Development Fund, Climate Justice Fund, and overseas humanitarian aid during 2015. According to DFID’s Provisional UK Official Development Assistance as a Proportion of Gross National Income 2015 (published 1 April 2016), the Scottish Government’s ODA equated to 0.1% of overall UK ODA.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/512978/Provisional-UK-Official-Dev-Ass-Proportion-Gross-Nat-Income2015a.pdf

As regards to the Scottish Government contributing to UK ODA to Malawi, DFID’s annual report and accounts 2015-16 shows that the Scottish Government contributed the second highest spend in Malawi after DFID itself, spending 9% of the total UK ODA to Malawi in 2014.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/537437/annual-report-accounts-201516.pdf

The Scottish Government believes it is completely unacceptable that any equal pay claims against local authorities have not yet been settled. We believe that there is no excuse for any councils continuing to avoid their responsibilities, and that this is something they should address as a priority. However, local authorities are independent bodies responsible for matters relating to employment of their staff. The Scottish Government therefore does not hold the information requested.

The Overview of Local Government Report published by the Accounts Commission in March 2016, which is available at http://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/report/an-overview-of-local-government-in-scotland-2016, said that councils currently estimate that about 30,000 equal pay cases remain outstanding. The Overview Report also said that the Accounts Commission plans to look at equal pay issues across local government in more detail during 2016-17. It is hoped that this will provide more detailed information about equal pay claims against local authorities across Scotland, and Scottish Government officials are keeping in close touch with Audit Scotland about the progress of this work.

In the period since the Smith Commission's report was published, the Scottish and UK Governments have sought to progress the recommendation on issues relating to asylum seekers. This has been done through meetings and a visit to the Home Office in Glasgow for a demonstration of the asylum process. This inter-government work with the UK Government on asylum issues is ongoing, and Scottish Government and Home Office officials are in close contact to take forward further discussion on the Smith Commission’s recommendations.

Police Scotland have advised that there are no Police Scotland personnel involved at Dungavel, they were able to advise that the Home Office have brought in private contractors to carry out this work, the private contractors are GEO Group Ltd. Therefore, Police Scotland does not get involved with the transfer of people from or to the centre.

Over the past 12 months, South Lanarkshire Council has been asked to age assess seven individuals. Of those seven, three were assessed as over 18 and four assessed as being between 16 and 18. Social work resources continue to support those individuals under 18.

This is a reserved matter by the UK Government and both the Scottish Government and South Lanarkshire Council do not hold this information.

The Scottish Government remains opposed to detaining any children of asylum seekers; detention of children in an asylum context is unnecessary and disproportionate. It is a breach of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and should not be happening in the UK. The Scottish Government will continue to reaffirm this position at every available opportunity.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The Scottish Government is fundamentally opposed to dawn raids and believes asylum seekers must be treated humanely and sensitively at every stage of the asylum process. This is particularly important in cases where claims are not successful, where people are returned to their countries of origin and where children are involved.

Further to the positive meetings between North Lanarkshire Council, NHS Lanarkshire and Scottish Autism, I am pleased to report that Scottish Government officials met with South Lanarkshire Health and Social Care Partnership on Monday 20th June. Positive discussions took place and South Lanarkshire reiterated their commitment to ensuring the needs of people with autism in Lanarkshire are met through their new and developing South Lanarkshire One Stop Shop (OSS) in Fairhill, Hamilton.

The Scottish Government made an offer of transitional support utilising Scottish Autism OSS expert staff as a practical solution to ensure service users had some continuity during the development of the service going forward. Earlier this week South Lanarkshire declined this offer and reiterated the progress they have made in working with service users over the last few weeks.

The government welcomes recent progress made by councils in settling outstanding equal pay claims and in particular that made by North Lanarkshire Council in reaching a settlement with the GMB union affecting around 200 employees across a range of jobs.

However, we remain concerned that across Scotland councils are still to settle the claims of an estimated 30000 staff. This government believes it is completely unacceptable that councils across Scotland have still not settled these outstanding equal pay claims. We think there is no excuse for councils continuing to avoid their responsibilities and that this is something they should address as a priority.