Chamber and committees

The Digital Development Loan is the first programme delivering under the Digital Growth Fund.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W- 25908 on 11 November 2019. 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 ”

Since the Digital Development Loan was launched 50 businesses have been supported by the Digital Growth Fund.

£36m has been made available through the Digital Growth Fund to date.

Scotland is recognised as the Home of Golf and it is a recognition we are proud of with an estimated 700,000 rounds of golf played by our visitors each year. Just this year, we have hosted five top-class golf events, including the 2019 Solheim Cup at Gleneagles which has raised the profile of golfing across Scotland, the UK and internationally. This builds on our reputation for hosting successful international golfing events including the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles and the 2015 Open Championship at St Andrews.

These events stimulate new interest and investment and we are keen that the benefits of golf tourism are spread across Scotland. To achieve this, South of Scotland Golf has been invited to join the Golf Tourism Development Group. VisitScotland has recently supported paid marketing campaigns in partnership with South of Scotland Golf and it continues to promote golf tourism in the South of Scotland through its regular activity, including hosting information on its website and through its targeted marketing.

The Scottish Government has also provided VisitScotland with £500k to take forward the See South Scotland campaign which is promoting the whole of the South of Scotland as a destination for authentic and outdoor experiences.

As committed in the Programme for Government, we will publish an action plan in spring 2020 to decarbonise Scotland’s railway network by 2035. The primary focus will be the continuation of a rolling programme of efficient electrification, the procurement of battery trains and the development of hydrogen fuel cell propulsion trains. Further detail on how change may affect specific routes, will be set out in the action plan.

The Scottish Government adopts a Scotland-wide approach to route development. This cross Government partnership involving Transport Scotland, Scottish Development International and VisitScotland, works closely with Scotland’s airports to provide support to airlines in a way which can be instrumental in securing new routes or expanding an existing service.

The Scottish Government provides support in the form of attractive cooperative marketing packages and market intelligence and data on the potential of the Scottish market. Additional support can be considered for airlines which wish to base aircraft in Scotland considering the economic benefits, including job creation, that comes with such a development.

Improving Scotland’s air connectivity is one of this Government’s top priorities, with a focus on routes that are important for business and inbound tourism. In recent years, our partnership with Scotland’s airports has helped secure new links between Scotland and Doha, Dubai, Boston, Chicago, Washington, New York, Philadelphia, Beijing and a number of European cities.

Now, more than ever, we need to make it easy for Scotland to do business with the rest of the world and improving air connectivity is key to that. The Scottish Government will continue to promote Scotland as a destination which can sustain more direct international air services and better global hub connectivity and will continue to work with all Scotland’s airports to achieve these objectives.

The Scottish Government recognises the work of Scottish Racing and the impact it has on employment, rural communities and the economy. Scottish Racing recently produced their Annual Review and 2019 Outlook http://www.scottishracing.co.uk/annual-review/ which reported that Scottish Racing had generated a turnover of £306.3m in Scotland in 2018. The five Scottish racecourses generated £23.9m of revenues and sustained 180 full time equivalent jobs directly, contributing £33.3m and 390 jobs to their local economies in near-course activity.

The Scottish Government regularly meets and will continue to engage with Scottish Racing in order to assist them to realise their ambitions.

No revenue has been generated for the Scottish Land Fund from the removal of the exemptions for sporting rates.

Local Authorities retain every penny of non-domestic (NDR) rates raised locally, including any income from the abolition of NDR relief on shootings and deer forests.

There have been multiple constructive discussions between the Scottish Government and the Electoral Commission to discuss the Bill over recent months. As I have indicated previously, I intend to bring forward some amendments at Stage 2 that would improve the framework further as a result of these discussions.