Chamber and committees

As of 12 December, 4,814 eligible businesses who have been made an offer under the 2016 National BPS Support Scheme are yet to apply. Any eligible business that applies by 14 December 2016 will receive payment by the end of 2016 and we would encourage those yet to apply to do so as soon as possible.

As of 12 December 2016, 13,008 applications have been received for the 2016 National Basic Payment Support Scheme, of which only 11 were unsuccessful. Eligible businesses that apply by 14 December 2016 will receive a payment by the end of 2016.

On 13 September 2016, the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Connectivity announced that up to £300 million would be made available for the 2016 National Basic Payment Support Scheme. As of 12 December 2016, loans valued at circa £256million have been paid.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-04775 on 25 November 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.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The answer to question S5W-04775 was prepared after Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) had announced their preferred corridor for the Blackhillock to Kintore grid reinforcement infrastructure project and as such the answer previously given took this into account.

The Scottish Government has no direct involvement in the SSEN project until consent under Section 37 of the Electricity Act 1989 is sought however, Transport Scotland will consult with key stakeholders, including SSEN, regarding any potential interface there may be with the A96 Dualling Inverness to Aberdeen programme.

There are no plans to introduce such payments. Flexibilities already exist in our public sector pay policy to address labour market issues, such as recruitment and retention challenges within particular locations.

The Improvement Plan sets out initiatives and actions which focus on improving train performance in an integrated way across track, train and operations.

Each of the initiatives contained in the Performance Improvement Plan, whether of a type ordinarily used in maintenance and operations, or new, is targeted to contribute to improved performance.

ScotRail have accelerated £8million this year to deliver the improvements contained within the Improvement Plan.

The following response provided to S5W-00390 in June 2016 - the IT functionality for the recording of entitlement transfers will be available in the autumn. There is, however, no reason for farmers and crofters to delay informing the entitlement transfer unit in Stornoway of their transfer arrangements.

The IT functionality for the recording of entitlement transfers is expected to be available in early 2017; this date has been impacted by the delivery of other essential IT functionality. In the meantime the Entitlement Transfer Unit have been carrying out the necessary manual assessment of all cases.

There are 485 applications for the 2016 scheme year.

Applications for the 2016 National Basic Payment Support Scheme will remain open until 14 December 2016.

The Scottish Government is aware of the importance of our rural communities and the implications Brexit will have on them. Our priority is to protect all of Scotland’s interests and we are considering all possible steps to ensure Scotland’s continuing relationship with the EU. The UK Government has yet to set out its preferred model to underpin the UK’s future relationship with the EU.

The deadline for farmers and crofters to opt into the 2016 National Basic Payment Support Scheme was extended to 14 December 2016 to ensure every eligible business has the opportunity to consider this option and respond.