Chamber and committees

Scottish Development International (SDI) and Scottish Enterprise (SE) along with Skills Development Scotland, Glasgow City Council and Clyde Gateway have had a close working relationship with Freshlink for more than 12 months around the possible relocation and expansion of its Glasgow site to new purpose built premises nearby. Officials from SDI, SE and Clyde Gateway met with the company most recently on 10 July. They will continue to remain in close contact with Freshlink to see what other options are available to secure the future of this very important employer.

No such proposal has been made by the UK Government.

The Lord Chancellor wrote to me on 31 October 2011 outlining the basis of proposals which would transfer the administration of reserved tribunals to Scottish ministers and the responsibility for judicial leadership to the Lord President.

Discussions have since been held at official level on the details of the proposal and we are awaiting the outcome of the UK Government's consideration of related policy matters and the timing of any legislative requirements.

The Scottish Government is of the view that a separate Scottish scheme would be desirable with an emphasis on alleviating the hardship often experienced by victims of violent crime.

The Annual Population Survey (APS) is the preferred source of data on unemployment at a local level.

Source: Annual Population Survey, January to December 2011 dataset.

Notes:

1. Includes all persons aged 16 to 64 who meet the ILO definition of unemployed.

2. *This figure is based on a small underlying sample and is therefore subject to a high degree of uncertainty.

The cost of employing special advisers (SPAD) is held in financial years and since 2006-07 is as follows:

SPAD Numbers and Costs Since 2006-07

Notes:

Total Costs include salary, ERNIC and employer pension contributions.

*Estimate based on current team of 12 special advisers being in post for full 12 month period

**The level of the employer ERNIC and pension contributions is not a matter for the Scottish Government.

***Uprated salary and total costs figures have been uprated to 2011-12 prices by GDP deflator. All costs are shown in 2011-12 prices. They have been calculated using the latest HM Treasury GDP financial year deflators, published March 2012. Deflators for 2011-12 have been calculated using forecast data consistent with the March 2012 UK Budget Report.

There are currently 12 special advisers. They are appointed in accordance with Part 1 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 by the First Minister as a special adviser for the purpose of providing assistance to the Scottish ministers.

Their specific responsibilities are as follows:

Communications

Support to First Minister, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Parliamentary Business and Government Strategy

Strategy and Policy Advice

The current special adviser pay bands and ranges and the number of special advisers within each pay band are:

Whether or not any of the special advisers receives remuneration from other sources is considered personal information, release of this information would be considered a breach of data protection principles.

The level of living cost support for students depends on a variety of circumstances, such as the type of course, whether the student is independent from their parents, whether the student is living at home or elsewhere, location of study, household and student income and whether or not the student is in the final year of their course. Table 1 shows estimates using 2010-11 data.

Table 1: Students receiving minimum/maximum living costs support and Young Students Bursary as a percentage of all undergraduate Scots in Scotland supported by SAAS, 2010-11: