Chamber and committees

With effect from 1 April 2011 all local authorities, including Aberdeen City Council, retain 100 per cent of the business rates collected within their area. As a result of this change in policy the amount of business rates retained by Aberdeen City Council in each of the last six years is the same as that collected, as set out in the answer to question S5W-01471.

The Scottish Government's Mobile Action Plan, developed and agreed with the four UK mobile network operators, was published on 12 June 2016. It is available at the following link: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Economy/digital/Publications/SGMAP

Under the Scottish Rural Development Programme 2014-20, £6 million was allocated to the Young Farmer Start-up Grant Scheme. To date £5.23 million has been committed to fund 90 successful applications. The current funding round opened on the 1 July 2016. Given the popularity of the scheme we are currently examining options to provide additional funding.

The Scottish Government, Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority are taking forward work to strengthen the community focus of policing.

The Scottish Government is achieving this through our ongoing review of the Strategic Police Priorities whilst the Scottish Police Authority continues to take forward work following its recent Review of Governance in Policing, ensuring that local interests are effectively represented in the planning, delivery and scrutiny of police services across Scotland.

The authority assesses the effectiveness of local engagement through its annual review process whilst Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland report on engagement with local communities as part of its local policing inspections.

Police Scotland senior officers regularly report to Aberdeenshire Scrutiny and Audit Committee, however decisions on attendance at specific local meetings and events is a matter for Police Scotland.

Scottish Government officials are in regular contact with officials from other UK common agricultural policy (CAP) paying agencies, and from the UK Co-ordinating Body for CAP payments, on issues relating to the current cycle of payments. The Scottish Government is calling on the UK Government to provide urgent clarity about future funding.

Farmers and crofters rely, above almost anyone else in Scotland, on EU funding for their incomes, which helps them to deliver those environmental benefits and other public goods. Following an unequivocal Scottish vote to remain in the EU, the First Minister has committed to working to protect all of Scotland’s interests, and has committed to pursuing all options to protect Scotland’s relationship with the EU and seeking to negotiate the best way forward for our farmers, crofters and for Scotland.

In addition, we are currently engaging with key stakeholders to emphasise that we are still firmly in the EU, and it is business as usual whilst we pursue all options to protect Scotland’s relationship with the EU.

The Scottish Government is doing all it can under devolved powers to support the oil and gas industry during these challenging times.

As part of its wide-ranging efforts to support the oil and gas sector, the Energy Jobs Taskforce has provided significant levels of support under the Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) initiative, including support for 8,800 individuals who have received a PACE Guide from their employer and those who have received a face to face service such as an “Introduction to PACE” presentation, a workshop or a guidance interview. Under the SDS Enhanced Adopt An Apprentice Scheme, 39 apprentices who had been made redundant in the oil and gas sector have been supported to find a new position and a further 25 apprentices have found a new position through other means. 54 apprentices have not yet found a new apprenticeship and Skills Development Scotland continue to offer them support.

The Transition Training Fund was announced by the First Minister on 1 February, which provides an opportunity for workers at risk of redundancy, or who have lost their jobs, from the oil and gas sector to retrain and redeploy. Since the Fund was announced, over 1,900 individuals have registered interest in the Fund, with over 300 individuals receiving offers of financial support for training courses from this group, thus far.

In addition to providing support on an individual basis, the Transition Training Fund also offers support through procured training packages and for special training projects. For example, the innovative The Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) Internship Programme was developed to provide support for 20 former oil and gas workers to transition into teaching in the North East. However, due to the level of interest shown, this has been extended up to 25 places.

The Scottish Government continues to monitor the impact that low oil prices are having on the oil and gas industry and its wider supply chain, and the impact on the North East of Scotland in particular. Official redundancy figures are produced by the Office for National Statistics via the Labour Force Survey, however this source is based on a sample survey and it is not possible to reliably produce estimates for smaller geographic areas within Scotland or industry sectors. Furthermore, information on exact number of redundancies made by individual firms is commercially sensitive.

Given the nature of the oil and gas industry, a significant proportion of offshore employment is from outwith the North East of Scotland, and is also composed of a significant number of contractors whose employment status is challenging to identify.

Information is held on the number of notified potential redundancies and the Scottish Government monitors this data by industry, including the oil and gas sector. The latest State of the Economy report from the Chief Economist, published on 3 June 2016, provided an update on the oil and gas sector, including the number of advanced notifications of potential redundancies. A link to the report, detailing this information, can be found at http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Economy/state-economy/latestSofE.

I understand that a railway station at Newtonhill remains a long term aspiration for the North East Regional Transport Partnership (Nestrans) and can confirm that officials from Transport Scotland regularly engage with representatives from Nestrans to discuss rail improvements within the North East and the wider Scottish network.

We are committed to improving rail services and connectivity across the Scottish network which is demonstrated in our ambitious £5 billion investment in the rail network to 2019. Furthermore we are willing to consider proposals for new stations and services where there is clear evidence of benefits, subject to affordability and taking into account the potential impact on the rail network.

The responsibility for the planning and the delivery of Kintore railway station rests with third party promoters and funders, which includes Aberdeenshire Council and the North East Regional Transport Partnership (Nestrans). The expected completion date is March 2019.