Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government will provide further detail on its legislative proposals for tax exemptions, tax bands and tax rate amounts for Air Departure Tax (ADT) at a later date. The Scottish Government has developed and is continuing to refine an evidence base on ADT and has used it to inform the development of ADT policy, but is happy to listen to any recommendations that the Scottish Parliament may make on undertaking an independent assessment of its proposals.

The Scottish Government has done everything it can to minimise redundancies in the oil and gas industry, but where this has not been possible, we have supported affected employees through our initiative for responding to redundancy situations, Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE), which has focused significant efforts to help individuals from the oil and gas sector realise their broad skill set by introducing them to employers from a variety of sectors - with four large recruitment events providing support for over 3,500 people affected by the current challenges in the industry and a further event planned for 29 March.

Furthermore, the Energy Jobs Taskforce has brought together key partners to maximise employment opportunities. Our enhanced 'Adopt an Apprentice' scheme provides a financial incentive of £5,000 to help a potential employer cover the wage and recruitment costs of taking on a Modern Apprentice who has been made redundant from the oil and gas industry, allowing the apprentice to continue their Modern Apprenticeship programme, and we have set up a £12m Transition Training Fund that has so far enabled more than 1600 former oil and gas workers to receive support for training with good access to a job outcome. Furthermore, training programmes procured by the Fund will create up to 755 employment opportunities, and the fund is also already supporting 12 individuals to retrain as teachers in STEM subjects.

Both the Minister for Employability and Training and myself have been made aware of reports of employers discriminating against applicants with offshore experience and these reports are deeply concerning. The oil and gas workforce are highly talented with skills that can be utilised in a wide range of different sectors, including renewables, construction, decommissioning and many others.

This issue was raised in the chamber by Gillian Martin MSP who has written to the UK Government who have responsibility in this area. No response from the UK Government has been received and I have therefore undertaken to take up the issue with my colleague the Minister for Employability and Training and to jointly seek action from UK ministers given reserved responsibilities.

The Scottish Government is fully committed to promoting fair work practices throughout Scotland and we will continue to lobby the UK Government for the full set of powers around employment law so that, regardless of party, the Scottish Parliament can adopt a more proactive role in addressing these kind of issues.

There are currently 204 vehicles in the Scottish Government fleet, of which 17 (8%) are petrol, 161 (79%) are diesel and 26 (13%) are electric (either fully electric or plug-in hybrids).

There are currently 5 vehicles in the Transport Scotland fleet, of which 3 (60%) are diesel and 2 (40%) are fully electric.

Transport Scotland are also working with the Energy Saving Trust and the trunk road companies, Bear and Transerv, and CH2M in their role as Performance Audit Group, to carry out sustainable transport reviews and identify opportunities for the introduction of electric vehicles into their fleets.

We do not hold information on the composition of other public sector fleets in Scotland.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

The following table provides a breakdown of the number of Prison Officers employed by SPS since 2010. Reported staffing numbers reflect the position as at 31 March in each year.

HMP Aberdeen closed in January 2014.

HMP YOI Grampian officially opened in March 2014.

HMP Low Moss officially opened in March 2012.

HMP Peterhead closed in December 2013.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

Following a long period of sustained upward growth, the average annual prison population peaked 2011-2012 with the highest ever in custody figure of 8420 in March 2012. The population has subsequently reduced and continues to do so and is now on average around 7,500.

Following the opening of HMP & YOI Grampian in 2014, only 5 prisons remained overcapacity compared to 11 in 2011, with a further reduction to 3 prisons in 2015. The published figures for 2016 show only 2 prisons remaining overcapacity. These were HMP Barlinnie and HMP Inverness. Both prisons are required to manage the demands of the local courts and in the case of HMP Inverness, the prison covers a large geographic area.

SPS has no evidence to suggest that occupancy levels have negatively impacted wellbeing. HMIPS carries out a programme of regular inspections in all establishments and reports against set standards. In addition, Independent Prison Monitors are also available to all prisoners and report any concerns to both the local government and the Chief Inspector of Prisons. SPS also carries our regular Prisoner Surveys and has an established process whereby prisoners can make complaints.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

The radical proposals that we are developing for the national facility for both women in custody in Scotland and the community custodial units will be, we believe, world leading in the services that they offer to women.

Since these proposals are still being refined and developed, it is not possible at this stage to provide exact figures for the running costs of these facilities.

The population of female prisoners is not projected separately as part of the main projections published by Scottish Government. Since 2011-12, the female population has been falling more sharply compared to men, between 2% and 6% per year (from 469 for 2011-12 to 404 in 2015-16). A copy of the latest prison population and prisons projections can be found in the following link:http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0049/00491398.pdf

The Scottish Government is currently developing a programme of activity around the implementation of the recommendations, as well as engaging with stakeholders. We will set out progress and next steps in the spring.

The Scottish Government meets regularly with the Scottish Funding Council, Scottish Development International, Skills Development Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise to discuss a range of matters, including the Enterprise and Skills Review.

The Review is overseen by the Ministerial Review Group, comprising a wide range of key stakeholders including all enterprise and skills agencies, to ensure that the Review is robust, produces sound and evidence-based recommendations, and is driven forward with energy and creativity.

The Ministerial Review Group has met on seven occasions since being formed in July 2016, with the next meeting taking place on 23 February 2017. Notes of previous meetings are available at: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Economy/EntandSkillsreview/docsfrommeetings

In addition to this, there have been a further nine meetings with all agencies represented at which the Review was discussed. Notes of these meetings are not published.

The Scottish Government's policy on Ministerial clearance of responses to FOI requests is set out at Step 33 of our Step-by-Step Guide to answering FOI requests, which is published on the Scottish Government website at: http://www.gov.scot/About/Information/FOI/Training.