Chamber and committees

<>The Scottish Government has made Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) first instalments to almost 62 per cent of farmers and crofters as at 19 March 2016, and will make as many further payments by the end of March 2016 as possible. We aim to complete all payments within the BPS window which closes on 30 June 2016.

Details of allocations to integration authorities are provided in the answer to question S4W-30141 on 26 February 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.

The Scottish Government has confirmed that its intention is that any farm or crofter who is eligible for basic payment scheme funding and who has not received an instalment by the end of March 2016 will receive a nationally funded payment from the Scottish Government in April 2016.

Any disallowances, determined by the European Commission, against Pillar 1 and Pillar 2 EU grants administered by Rural Payments and Inspections Division, the paying agency, of the Scottish Government are scored against the Rural Affairs, Food and the Environment portfolio, the Agriculture, Food and Rural Communities European Union Support and Related Services programme budget.

The Scottish Government accounting policy is to score the expenditure, by way of provision, against an annually managed expenditure (AME) Budget in the financial year the disallowance is determined. AME budgets are for highly volatile/unpredictable items of expenditure. These are monitored closely in-year with budget increases obtained from the Treasury if required.

Payments for the sheep coupled payments are part of the direct payments regime, and as such the payment window closes on the 30 June 2016, this is a new scheme being delivered by the Scottish Government.

<>The Scottish Government will provide cash support within weeks to almost 11,500 farming businesses in Scotland’s most remote and rural areas whilst basic payments are being processed.

The Scottish Government has not had discussions with Shetland Islands Council about accepting refugees from Syria. Local authorities currently liaise directly with the Home Office about acceptance of refugees. The Scottish Government is in regular dialogue with COSLA, which represents and supports local authorities considering participation in the Syrian Resettlement Programme.

The note referred to is out of date, however I am this week providing Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee (RACCE) with a detailed update on the CAP Payment Scheme and a copy of this letter will be published on the correspondence page for the committee on the parliament website at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/CurrentCommittees/67031.aspx

In 2016-17, NHS Shetland’s resource budget will increase by 4.5% to £42.6 million, an above inflation increase, having previously increased by 2.8% in 2015-16.

NHS Shetland receives significant in-year funding over and above the baseline allocation, which when taken into account, takes the board ahead of parity in 2016-17.

NHS Shetland has received resource budget increases of 2.4% in 2014-15, 2.8% in 2015-16 and 4.5% in 2016-17.

Between 2010-11 and 2013-14 NHS Shetland received significantly more than its NRAC share, and was second highest of all boards above parity in each of those years. As a consequence of small percentage changes in the NRAC formula, boards can move above and below parity depending upon relative changes to the total share. However in the years 2014-15 to 2016-17, when taking into account the significant in-year allocations the board receives, the board is not behind its target share.