- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 5 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a full list of active groups and sub-groups within the Finance and Economy portfolio.
Answer
The list of active groups and sub-groups within the Finance and Economy portfolio includes:
- Apprenticeship Approval Group (AAG)
- Business Support Partnership
- Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan - Implementation Steering Group
- Clyde Mission Strategy Group
- Community Wealth Building (CWB) Bill steering Group
- Creative Industries Leadership Group
- Developing the Young Workforce Employers Forum
- Digital Collaborative Governance Group
- Economic Leadership Group
- European Structural and Investment Funds Programme Board
- European Structural and Investment Programme Monitoring Committee
- European Structural and Investment Programme Monitoring Committee Working Group
- European Structural and Information Technology Board
- Financial Services Growth and Development Board
- Flexible Workforce Development Fund Senior Strategic Group
- Foundation Apprenticeship Enhancement Group
- Green Freeports Programme Board
- Industry Leadership Chairs Group
- Innovation Strategy Steering Group
- Input-Output Expert Users Group (IOEUG)
- Lifetime Skills Offer Steering Group
- Life Sciences Scotland Group
- Ministerial Trade Board
- National Strategy for Economic Transformation Delivery Board
- National Strategy for Economic Transformation Portfolio Board
- National Strategy for Economic Transformation Skilled Workforce Programme Board
- Public Sector Network Steering Group
- Regional Economic Policy Advisory Group
- Retail Industry Leadership Group
- Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board (SAAB) Group Board
- Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board (SAAB) Standards And Frameworks Group
- Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board (SAAB) Employer Engagement Group
- Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board (SAAB) Employer Equalities Group
- Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board (SAAB) Apprentice Engagement Group
- Scottish Business Growth Group
- Scottish Cities Alliance Chief Executive Officers Group
- Scottish Cities Alliance Delivery Group
- Scottish Cities Alliance Leadership Group
- Scottish City Region and Growth Deal Delivery Board
- Scottish Economic Statistics Consultation Group
- Scottish Government and Business Organisations Meeting
- Scottish Government Labour Market Evidence Programme
- Scottish Taskforce for Green and Sustainable Financial Services
- Skills Ministerial Group
- Strategic Leadership Group for Advanced Manufacturing
- Sub-Scotland Economic Statistics Group
- Tourism and Hospitality Industry Leadership Group
- Wellbeing Economy Governments (WEGo)
- Young Persons Guarantee Equalities Subgroup
- Young Persons Guarantee Employer Advisory Group
- Young Persons Guarantee Implementation Planning Group
Please note these groups will be kept under review.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 5 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it is its policy to exit the integrated UK electricity market, the current subsidy regime and transmission arrangements in the event of Scotland becoming independent.
Answer
We will set out our approach to the future electricity market in an Independent Scotland in the forthcoming Net Zero prospectus paper.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 2 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many of its staff, including any indirectly employed staff, such as agency workers or contractors, are earning (a) the real Living Wage or (b) less than the real Living Wage.
Answer
All of the employees of the Scottish Government earn above the real Living Wage, with the minimum full-time salary on our pay scales being £22,182 (£11.48 per hour).
For indirectly employed staff, agency workers doing the same grade of work as Scottish Government employees receive the same rates of pay as Scottish Government employees under our pay parity rules, and so are also earning above the real Living Wage as a minimum.
As a condition of Scottish Government procurement terms, employees of contractors working in Scottish Government buildings are paid the real Living Wage and the recent increase to the real Living Wage will be paid with effect from 1 November 2022.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 28 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish a breakdown of where the reallocated funds announced by the Deputy First Minister in the Emergency Budget Review have been, or will be, spent.
Answer
A full breakdown of the implications of the Emergency Budget Review (EBR) measures on the Scottish Budget was included within the guide to the Autumn Budget Revision (ABR) provided to the Finance and Public Administration Committee.
Of the initial £560 million line items included within the Deputy First Minister’s letter to the Committee in September, £369 million is included within the ABR as either a return of budget or a funding change. The balancing figure of £191 million are reductions to previously unfunded pressures which have emerged since the Scottish Budget was published and savings which will come through the SBR exercise.
The new commitments detailed in the EBR document published earlier this month are also reflected in the ABR position. The additional savings outlined will be processed, where necessary as part of the Spring Budget Revision.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 28 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of the budget reallocations announced in the Emergency Budget Review, including the £714 million allocated to fund public sector pay settlements, on the Budget for 2023-24.
Answer
The impact of the reallocations in the Emergency Budget Review, including public sector pay, will have a significant bearing on the 2023-24 Scottish Budget. Further details of the effect of these considerations on proposed portfolio allocations will be published within the Scottish Budget document in December.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 28 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the amount that it anticipates it will carry forward within the Scotland Reserve from 2022-23 to 2023-24.
Answer
As the Deputy First Minister made clear in parliament, given the inflationary pressure on our budget it is currently difficult to identify at this stage where underspends will emerge.
Full details of all 2023-24 funding assumptions, including the Scotland Reserve, will be detailed in the Scottish Budget document when it is laid before parliament in December.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 28 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it did not include a full breakdown of the destination of the £1.175 billion of in-year funding reallocations, which were announced by the Deputy First Minister in September and November 2022, in the 2022-23 Autumn Budget Revision.
Answer
The full list of the savings generated, and new commitments made, through the Emergency Budget Review was outlined in the EBR document and published on the Scottish Government website. The Deputy First Minister wrote to the Finance and Public Administration Committee in September providing a line by line analysis of the first phase of these savings.
In addition the nature of each line item and its effect on the Scottish Government Budget was outlined in the Guide to Autumn Budget Revision document provided to the Committee. Within this document an analysis of the items included within the ABR is included along with detail of the transfers expected to be included within the Spring Budget Revision.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 28 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether any Barnett consequential funding received in 2022-23 remains unspent.
Answer
The 2022-23 Autumn Budget Revision, and the associated guide, details how all Barnett Consequentials and other funding movements have been formally allocated to date.
The net funds available for deployment following the conclusion of the Autumn Budget Revision are £94 million. However all of these funds are being held against a number of pressures on the Scottish Government Budget, including the conclusion of some public sector pay agreements and the costs associated with resettlement of Ukrainian refugees.
The Spring Budget Revision will detail the final Scottish Budget allocations, utilising all funding that remains available.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 28 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a full breakdown of how any Barnett consequential funding received in 2022-23 has been, or will be, spent.
Answer
The guide to the Autumn Budget Revision details how our funding received reconciles to the allocations provided in budget revisions.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 24 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it anticipates additional funding will be needed for public sector pay settlements in 2022-23 beyond the £714 million that the Deputy First Minister announced as part of the Emergency Budget Review.
Answer
The Emergency Budget Review identified the additional costs of respective pay offers and deals for certain workforces, estimating that the total additional cost reflecting offers at the time was over £700 million. The exact costs will be finalised as pay deals are concluded.
