Chamber and committees

The Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000 requires annual accounts and auditors reports to be laid before Parliament by no later than 31 December.

The 2016-17 Scottish Fire and Rescue Service annual accounts are in the process of being audited and will be laid before Parliament when that process has completed.

Legal assistance in relation to litigation is provided to Health Boards by NHS Central Legal Office, and the information sought is not therefore held by the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government does not have access to data on the number of contractor limited company oil and gas workers who have had their contract terminated in each year since 2014. The Scottish Government holds information on the number of registered businesses and estimates of number of self-employed workers, but these data sets are derived from databases generated by the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The Scottish Government holds data from the Annual Population Survey, which is published by ONS, which provides estimates of overall numbers in employment in Scotland who report themselves as being self-employed. However estimates from this source are limited to the total number of the self-employed in Scotland and are published each month by ONS in ‘Regional labour market statistics in the UK’ in ‘Table HI11-3 Full-time, part-time and temporary workers’. https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/headlinelabourforcesurveyindicatorsforscotlandhi11

It is not possible to obtain estimates for self-employed workers specifically working in the Oil and Gas industry in the North East of Scotland, or Oil and Gas industry in Scotland as a whole, from this source and this data source does not present information on numbers having had their contracts terminated.

The latest data shows that, since 2008, the number of registered businesses, employment and the Gross Value Added associated with the Sustainable Tourism sector has increased in the North East region.

Registered businesses grew by four per cent from in 2008 to 2016. Employment grew by 11 per cent and the Gross Value Added in current prices has grown from £348 million in 2008 to £578 million in 2015.

The lateness of ScotRail services is measured using the industry standard of the Public-Performance-Measure (PPM). In the year to mid-August 2017 (period 5), 87.7 percent of trains arrived at Aberdeen within the 5 minutes allowed under the PPM measure. More information on ScotRail’s performance can be found at this weblink:

https://www.scotrail.co.uk/performance-and-reliability

A Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) was released in November 2016. The PIP itself now contains 443 plans, of which 267 have been completed. These plans cover actions across fleet, operations and infrastructure. When the Plan was implemented, ScotRail’s overall performance (moving annual average) was recorded at 89.6%; it has now improved by 1.6%, and currently sits at 91.2% (12 months ended 16^th September 2017). This demonstrates clear evidence the Performance Improvement Plan is working and its contribution to lifting performance should be acknowledged.

In January 2016 the Scottish Government announced £24 million for the design and construction of a new grade-separated junction at Laurencekirk as part of a package of additional capital investment alongside the Aberdeen City Region Deal. This additional investment will be used to design, promote and deliver the Laurencekirk Junction Improvement scheme.

The development of the project in 2017-18 forms part of the Motorways and Trunk Roads Capital Land and Works budget of £425.6 million presented within the Scottish Budget 2017-18.

The number of trains that have arrived late to their final destination on the Edinburgh-Aberdeen route since 1 April 2016, has been reported as the answer to the question S5W-10939 on 19 September 2017. However, the Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of these services which ran late as a result of a delay at Usan as stated in the answer to question S5W-10940 on 12 September 2017.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-10975 on 19 September 2017. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-10975 on 19 September 2017. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Rating valuation of shootings and deer forests is undertaken by independent assessors appointed by local government, in line with the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016.

The issuing of return of information forms and any other engagement in respect of rating valuation is for the local assessors, as is the valuation methodology. Valuation notices will be issued by assessors shortly, and an appeal can be made each against each valuation within six months. Any enquiry or appeal regarding the valuation should be made to the local assessor in question.

Separately non-domestic rates bills will be issued by local authorities. Many shootings will be eligible for rates relief up to 100 per cent under the Small Business Bonus Scheme. Any enquiry regarding the rates bill should be made to the local authority in question. The Scottish Government will continue to work with the sector to support implementation.