Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has not directly held such discussions with academic institutions in the North East but I understand that Skills Development Scotland has met with its academic partners to discuss the Transition Training Fund (TTF).

The TTF was set up to help those at risk of redundancy from the oil and gas sector to transition into alternative employment through retraining. This can be done either through individuals applying directly for funding to support their training requirements to help secure alternative employment, or through one of a number of procured training packages being delivered by training partners.

The TTF is also supporting innovative projects such as the development of a new Initial Teacher Education programme that allows for suitably qualified individuals from the oil and gas sector to be employed while they undertake teacher training. While this is a new route to teaching, all successful applicants must meet the nationally agreed entry requirements for teaching courses. This programme has been developed by the Scottish Government in conjunction with University of Aberdeen, Skills Development Scotland, the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) and both Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire Councils.

More broadly we are committed to working with the GTCS to explore options to bring further flexibility into teacher registration while ensuring that our high level of teacher professional standards are maintained.

<>Contact between the Scottish Government and planning authorities is commonplace. In this instance contact was made in connection with a major housing proposal for private rented accommodation to request an update on the planning application and to enquire whether facilitated discussion had any role in the process. In the event, the planning authority were content to progress the application to planning committee and no further discussion took place.

 

In the few cases where ministers intervene by recommending call-in of planning applications the reasons are publicly available. It is part of the day to day operation of the planning service that stakeholders, including government, communicate and it would not be practical to record and publish every case where there is discussion with government or its agencies. It would be for the planning authority in reporting to its Planning Committee to reflect any brokerage discussion relevant to the progress of any particular planning application and that would be both a proportionate and transparent reflection open to planning authorities.

Scottish Planning Policy provides the policy context for Ministers’ expectations for the planning system. This underlines the importance of all those involved working together constructively and proportionately to achieve quality places. Whilst Scottish Ministers and planning authorities have respective formal roles which need to be respected, clear communication between all parties, including statutory agencies and Government can facilitate discussion and support efficient operation of the planning service. The Chief Planner’s brokerage role was reflected in the Government’s Economic Strategy (2011). However, any brokerage or discussion on individual cases is only progressed with the agreement of the principal parties and respecting the statutory role of both Ministers and planning authorities in the planning process.

Scottish Ministers have a general power to intervene in the determination of a planning application but only where it appears there may be some matter of genuine national interest at stake. In practice, Ministers will exercise this power very sparingly, recognising and respecting the important role of local authorities in making decisions on the future development of their areas. As at 31 March 2016 there were approximately 788 live cases over one year old in the planning system, creating uncertainty for not only developers but the communities in which they are proposed. In year 2015-2016, planning authorities in Scotland determined 29,766 applications for planning permission. Through their power of call-in, Scottish Ministers intervened in 5 (0.02%) of those.

The Joint Housing Policy and Delivery Group includes representatives from 28 national housing related organisations. The Group offers Ministers advice on national strategic policy and delivery issues relating to housing. Members of the Joint Housing Policy and Delivery Group are expected to declare any conflicts of interest with respect to any topic being discussed by the Group. Specific housing developments are not discussed in the Group.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon travelled to Brussels for a series of meetings with senior figures to set out Scotland's position following the result of the EU referendum, and to ensure Scotland's voice is heard in the negotiation process. During a full day of engagements, the First Minister met the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, as well as the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, and the leaders of a number of political groups in the European Parliament. The First Minister also held a press conference for a group of international journalists. More details on the First Minister’s visit can be found on the Scottish Government website at: http://news.scotland.gov.uk/News/Protecting-Scotland-s-EU-interests-25d1.aspx

The total costs of this engagement are still being processed and finalised and the costs of this engagement are being met by the Scottish Government’s administration budget. The Scottish Government proactively publishes the travel and subsistence costs for Ministers undertaking official international engagements on its website at:http://www.gov.scot/About/People/14944/travel/visitsoverseas/visitsoverseas

The Scottish Government also publishes the travel and subsistence costs of Strategic Board members, including Director Generals, at the following link:http://www.gov.scot/About/People/strategic-board/business-expenses

This information is not held centrally. The allocation of resources is for the Boards of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, the Scottish Ambulance Service and the Scottish Police Authority, according to their assessment of needs and priorities.

 

The Scottish Government and our partners are investing over £410 million in the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) Programme, which will extend access to fibre broadband to at least 95% of premises in Scotland by the end of 2017.

The DSSB programme deploys a range of technology solutions to meet these targets. Although more technically challenging and time consuming than standard Fibre-To-The-Cabinet deployments, the DSSB programme is delivering fibre broadband solutions at scale to premises on exchange only (EO) lines. Over 200,000 such premises have been connected across Scotland to date and we anticipate that more than 320,000 EO lines will have been upgraded by the end of the DSSB programme.

As the DSSB programme is a national programme, the budget is not segmented or allocated by parliamentary constituency. In addition, the programme has not made specific budget provision for individual technology solutions, rather it assesses and funds the most appropriate solution as the roll-out progresses.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring 100% superfast broadband access across Scotland by 2021.

There are currently no other funded wave innovation programmes with which Wave Energy Scotland (WES) can align. The Scottish Government has taken the initiative in the UK by developing this internationally unique programme.

However, the Energy Catalyst run by Innovate UK is a general energy fund for early stage technology which has funded some wave projects, and complements WES alongside other early stage funds available to wave developers. This arrangement has proven successful in allowing three projects; Zyber, Checkmate and Artemis, which started with Energy Catalyst funding, to then progress into the WES programme.

WES is also co-ordinating activity with the SuperGen UK Centre for Marine Energy Research (UKCMER), which is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Reasearch Council. Objectives and priorities are already aligned and the option of a joint research call between the organisations is actively being pursued.

In addition, WES has been in discussion with other non-UK funders, namely the EU Horizon 2020 programme and the ERANET co-fund to ensure these research and development priority areas are well aligned.

The UK Government has yet to signal any future commitment to funding wave technology from its available energy innovation funds and there is uncertainty over revenue support for marine renewables. A co-ordinated UK technology programme based on the WES concept would be a clear signal of the UK Government’s continued support for the sector.