Chamber and committees

This is an operational matter for Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE). I have asked the Interim Chief Executive of HIE to contact you with the information you have requested and my understanding is that this will be with you soon.

Our draft Budget for 2017-18 provides for an additional £107m, bringing the total support available from the NHS through Integration Authorities to protect social care to £357m. In addition, we have committed to work with local authorities, providers, disabled people and other partners to deliver reform to adult social care, beginning with work to reform the National Care Home Contract, and looking at the funding and delivery of Care at Home.

On 18 February 2016, the Cabinet Secretary announced the creation of the Primary Care Mental Health Fund alongside the Primary Care Transformation Fund, which Boards – working with their partners, which may include third sector organisations – can submit proposals to support this transformative change.

Through the fund, £10 million will be invested in primary care mental health services over 2016-17 and 2017-18 to encourage the development of new models of care to ensure that people with mental health challenges are provided with the most appropriate treatment, as quickly as possible, in the most appropriate setting.

The Scottish Government's Trafficking and Exploitation Strategy will be published by 31 May 2017 as required by the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015. This will set out the Scottish Government’s plans to address human trafficking in Scotland, including monitoring, data collection, reporting and staff training. The Scottish Government’s draft proposals in these areas are set out in the draft strategy (available at https://consult.scotland.gov.uk/human-trafficking-team/a-human-trafficking-and-exploitation-strategy/) a public consultation on which recently closed.

In relation to hate crime, we accept the recommendations of the report of the Independent Advisory Group on Hate Crime, Prejudice and Community Cohesion, and will set out how we intend to take these forward in early 2017. This will include monitoring, data collection, reporting and staff training.

The Scottish Government believe that consumers must be empowered to take action when things go wrong and that is why we are committed to using new powers on consumer advocacy and advice to ensure the interests of Scotland’s consumers are protected, including in the energy market. It is vital that we create a system of consumer protection, competition and regulation in Scotland that is fully aligned with the needs of our citizens and businesses and which improves people’s lives. Although our powers are limited, we will use these to maximum effect.

We published our policy statement Delivering better outcomes for consumers and businesses in Scotland on 13 December and it can be found at http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2016/12/5688 The statement outlines a number of current and planned activities along with a set of principles which will guide our work.

The Scottish Government are fully supportive of energy market reforms that will promote a market that works equally well for all Scottish energy consumers regardless of geographical location and meter type. We are actively encouraging suppliers to move forward with implementation and will monitor the impact within the Scottish context. This was discussed at the Scottish Government's Energy Summit held on 14 December in Edinburgh.

This Government has made it clear that we will maintain the dedicated support including HIE’s strengthening communities remit which is locally based, managed and directed by HIE and protects the unique services that HIE delivers for our Highlands and Islands economy.

HIE will retain its Chief Executive based at its headquarters in Inverness, staff will also continue to operate from the Headquarters in Inverness and HIE’s area-based locations across the area from Lerwick to Lochgilphead. Businesses and communities will continue to access services across the Highlands and Islands area.

Similarly HIE will continue to engage with local authorities and Business Gateway to deliver effective support to businesses.

As part of the work being taken forward in Phase two of the Enterprise and Skills Review we will consider the formation, format and remit of the new Scotland-wide Statutory Board. This will include what needs to be put in place in relation to budgets, appraisal, monitoring and evaluation of a range of areas including performance measures of HIE and their operational plans to ensure that HIE continues to be able to deliver an excellent service to the Highlands and Islands.

In addition we will consider areas including remuneration, risk and assurance currently carried out by current Board committees.

HIE senior management will continue to work in the same way as they do now but will benefit from the coordination provided by the new Scotland-wide Statutory Board.

This Government wants to see the strongest possible links between the work of HIE, Skills Development Scotland and the Funding Council to ensure that the support we are providing to train our young people, improve the skills of our workforce, support our businesses and communities is aligned with the economic needs of the Highlands and Islands and of Scotland.

Fergus Ewing MSP, the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Connectivity, met with the Chair and Board of Highlands and Island Enterprise on 2 December 2016.

These issues will be considered as part of phase two of the review, and as part of this process we will consider how our aspirations for inclusive growth are best supported.

It is vital that we create a system of consumer protection, competition and regulation in Scotland that is fully aligned with the needs of our citizens and businesses and which improves people's lives. We have newly devolved, although limited, consumer and competition powers and are using these to maximum effect. Since taking on new powers in May our actions have included establishing a Nuisance Calls Commission and developing a coherent overarching strategy for how the Scottish Government supports advice services. Details are in our recently published policy statement Delivering better outcomes for consumers and businesses in Scotland which also includes our future work programme. It can be found at http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2016/12/5688. During the coming months the Scottish Government will examine in detail the best way to deliver our Manifesto commitment on a unified consumer body. We have also published a Consumer Rights page on mygov.scot as part of our activity for National Consumers Week 2016, which can be found at https://www.mygov.scot/consumer-rights/.

The Scottish Government welcomes the advice from the Council of Economic Advisers. A Plan For Scotland: The Scottish Government's Programme For Scotland 2016-17 makes clear that in the year ahead we will continue to raise awareness of the Pledge, and encourage more and more businesses to choose this route to higher productivity and business growth.