Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-20849 on 12 May 2014. 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 majority of the increase in Scottish Government staff costs in the 2013-14 spring budget revision was offset by changes to other parts of the administration budget: £5.2 million of gross expenditure was offset by income, mainly funding for outward secondments; and £5.5 million reflected transfers from other level 3 budgets within the overall administration total. The net increase was therefore only £4.2 million, which relates to costs of activity taking place within the organisation funded from programme budgets as set out in the following table.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-20849 on 12 May 2014. 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.

As announced in the parliamentary debate on the 26 March 2014 (Official Report, c. 29404), the Scottish Government will extend this analysis in the coming weeks to cover a number of years, building on the analysis in the white paper and its central conclusion that Scotland is a wealthy country that will start life as an independent nation with great economic prospects.

The cross-disciplinary nature of e-commerce means that the many courses in computing, business, marketing and web design will contribute to the skills pool supporting e-commerce. However the granularity of available data does not allow for the relevance of specific programmes contributing to e-commerce to be confirmed with any certainty. It is also not typical for e-commerce to be demanded by businesses, or supplied by educational institutions, as a standalone discipline. The number of privately run training courses is unknown at this time.

The indicative estimate of Scottish e-commerce sales in 2010 by sector is as follows:

Around £8 billion of e-commerce sales were generated via websites. The remaining £23 billion was via other information and communication technologies.

The indicative estimate of e-commerce sales in Scotland in 2010 was £31 billion. This estimate was derived from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) Statistical Bulletin ‘E-commerce and ICT Activity 2010’ published in December 2011.

Scottish Enterprise intends to derive a Scottish estimate on a biennial basis using ONS data. The latest estimate will be produced in May/June 2014 and will be based on 2012 ONS data published in December 2013. No Scottish e-commerce sales estimates were produced for 2009 or 2011.

The Scottish Government, in collaboration with the enterprise and business support agencies, will undertake a comprehensive digital economy business survey in June 2014. This will include e-commerce questions to help capture both the proportion and value of Scottish online sales.

In addition, Scottish Enterprise has also recently introduced e-commerce into its quarterly survey of Account Managed Companies. This will capture the proportion of overall sales conducted electronically by Scotland’s growth companies allowing quarterly trend patterns to emerge.

Skills Development Scotland has recently published a Skills Investment Plan for the ICT and Digital Technologies Sector. This plan was developed in conjunction with a range of statutory and industry partners, including Scottish Enterprise, ScotlandIS, e-skills UK, Lockheed Martin, Skyscanner, JP Morgan, Smarter Grid Solutions and Amazon.

The plan focuses primarily on the ICT and digital technology skills that are required across the Scottish economy. These include computer science, software development, open source software development and web development. However along with some other areas, e-commerce has been identified a skills issue for the sector, particularly when it comes to upskilling the current workforce. This should be addressed by actions within the plan designed to recruit ICT and digital technology skills development advisers, map and promote online training interventions and establish an ICT and digital technology skills development fund for small and medium-sized enterprises. The action plan may also address e-commerce skills through other actions such as the use of graduate placements in businesses and the development of the industry-led talent academy.

Scotland’s Digital Future: A Strategy for Scotland was published on 3 March 2011 and sets out the ambition for Scotland to be at the forefront of the digital economy. This theme was taken up and developed with the publication of Scotland’s Digital Future – Supporting the Transition to a World-leading Digital Economy’ published in April 2013 which set out actions designed to ensure that all businesses in Scotland have the confidence, capability and skills to take full advantage of the benefits that the internet can bring.

This strategy recommended that Scotland’s enterprise and skills agencies work collaboratively to deliver business support on digital issues and led to the formation of a business excellence partnership, backed by an additional £7 million of Scottish Government funding. Initial projects being progressed by the partnership include a new Digital Voucher Scheme, with e-commerce as an eligible theme and the Supplier Development Programme which is focused on supporting the use of e-procurement.

The Scottish Government has no current plans to produce a specific e-commerce strategy. However, Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Development International and ScotlandIS developed and launched a two year e-Commerce Scotland Programme in October 2013, with a specific focus on international e-commerce. The first phase was completed in March 2014 and included a series of industry master-classes, sector leadership briefings, a competition to recognise Scottish e-commerce best practice and the inaugural e-Commerce Scotland Forum where over 220 delegates heard more about using e-commerce techniques to reach new export markets.

A methodology for estimating the value of e-commerce sales in Scotland was developed by SQW Ltd, on behalf of Scottish Enterprise, during a commission entitled ‘Scottish e-Commerce Study’ in May 2012. This presented a number of challenges, including the absence of any official Scotland-level statistics on e-commerce and the lack of a universally accepted definition for the term ‘e-commerce.

SQW adopted the Office for National Statistics (ONS) definition for e-commerce and used the UK e-commerce sales data in the ONS Statistical Bulletin ‘E-commerce and ICT Activity 2010’ (Dec 2011) as a basis for the Scottish estimate. In deriving the estimate, SQW applied the following methodology:

Use 2010 ONS data capturing value of UK e-commerce sales by sector as basis for derivation.

Apply Scotland’s overall share of employment in each sector to estimate equivalent Scottish e-commerce sales.

Consider an adjustment for Scotland’s relative position in e-commerce versus the UK average.

Adjust sales estimates to account for e-commerce activity of firms with fewer than 10 employees (not included in the ONS data).