Chamber and committees

The Digital Productivity Labs pilot programme currently has over 250 businesses participating with over 1100 combined tasks on their action plans to support the implementation of their digital projects. The Scottish Government will provide a final update on findings of the programme later this year once it has concluded and next steps can be agreed.

Forecasts for the 2023-2024 Budget were produced by the Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC), and published on 15 December 2022. The change to the rateable value threshold for Fresh Start relief from £95,000 to £100,000 was judged by the SFC to be below the materiality threshold, and was not costed separately. Fresh Start relief overall is forecast by the SFC to cost £5 million in 2023-24.

The Scottish Government welcomed the report of the Economy and Fair Work Committee and agrees with the recommendations to focus on coordination, partnership working and long term funding.

The Scottish Government is working with COSLA, local government and partners including Scotland’s Towns Partnership to deliver our joint Town Centre Action Plan (TCAP) to support transformation of our town centres and promote our Town Centres First approach. TCAP sets out a range of cross sectoral and cross policy actions under the priority themes of better planning, taxation, town centre living, enterprising communities, climate action, digital skills and support, funding and demonstrator towns.

We recently established with COSLA the Town Centre Action Plan Forum to bring together expertise from local government and public, private and third sector partners to help progress key actions.

The Retail Strategy Steering Group was established to guide the content and recommendations of the Retail Strategy and operated for the duration of the strategy’s development.

The Steering Group was Chaired by the then Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth, Tom Arthur, and was made up of members from bodies across Trade Organisations, Public Sector Bodies, businesses, and Trade Unions whose expertise and insight helped to shape the Retail Strategy. Actions and recommendations arising from the Steering Group were progressed through a number of thematic workstream groups chaired by members of the Steering Group and comprised of business, policy, and delivery experts.

Three workstreams were identified – People, Place and Sector, which transformed into a set of actions within the Retail Strategy. Following the publication of the Strategy in March 2020. An Industry Leadership group was established to drive and support the delivery of these actions. This group has agreed an outline Delivery Plan, identifying the group’s priorities as well as a critical review process and timelines for measuring success.

The Scottish Government continues to work in partnership with the sector, trade unions and employees, whose experiences are crucial, to help the retail sector in Scotland become an exemplar for inclusive economic growth and play its part in creating a wellbeing economy and a fairer, greener, and stronger Scotland.

The independent Barclay Review of non-domestic rates reported in 2017 and made 30 recommendations, the majority of which were accepted by the Scottish Government in the implementation plan published in December 2017. All of the agreed recommendations of the Review have been implemented, including those which came into effect on 1 April 2023 such as the move to revaluations with a one-year tone date, the introduction of a new two-stage appeals process, and powers for councils to tackle rates avoidance.

Consistent with Scotland’s Framework for Tax we are consulting and engaging to help inform the development of the Scottish Aggregates Levy Bill.

This process began with a public consultation conducted last autumn, complemented by engagement with stakeholders. Taking account of feedback, it was concluded that more work was needed to ensure that decisions on Bill provisions are based on optimal evidence.

In January 2023, the decision was taken to establish an advisory group to assist this process. The group is designed with a broad mix of expertise and perspectives and is chaired by a senior Scottish Government official.

The group has already met twice and expects to hold its next meeting on 19 April. Through constructive and informed discussions, it is providing valuable insights to help refine policy positions and, in turn, Bill provisions. Summaries of its work will be published on the Scottish Government website in due course.

The Scottish Government appreciates the contribution of all members of the group, which will likely have a further role to play as the Bill progresses.

Scottish Ministers have no plans to undertake a formal review of the trunk road network on Skye. The statutory duty to manage, maintain and improve the trunk road network is set out in the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 and places an obligation on Ministers to keep the network under continual review.

In the United Kingdom, trunk roads were first defined in the Trunk Roads Act 1936. There have been two national reviews of the Scottish road network since the Act was introduced. The first was in 1946 and the second in 1994/95. The latter was prompted by the reorganisation of local government in Scotland.

A comprehensive review of the trunk road network on Skye would only be required in response to matters of national significance. We therefore currently have no plans to undertake a formal review of the trunk road network on Skye.

The second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2), published on 8 December 2022, will inform the Scottish Government’s investment programme over the next 20 years (2022 to 2042). STPR2 has been undertaken in line with the Sustainable Investment Hierarchy, which aims to reduce the need to travel unsustainably and prioritises making best use of and enhancing existing infrastructure, before investing in new capacity.

The STPR2 recommendations include progressing safety improvements across the trunk road and motorway network (recommendation no. 30) with a primary but not exclusive focus on rural sections where accident rates and severities are typically higher. Measures are likely to include one or a combination of junction improvements, carriageway widening, route realignment and provision of overtaking opportunities. At this stage, potential example locations forming part of this recommendation include the A87 Invergarry to Uig with the location and type of improvements on specific routes requiring further detailed investigation.

In addition, climate change adaptation and resilience of the trunk road and motorway network forms STPR2 recommendation 31 and sea wall improvements, strengthening or replacement is a possible intervention in relation to the A87. Furthermore, recommendation 32 is focused on continued investment in the maintenance of a safe, reliable and efficient trunk road and motorway network. It should be noted that the STPR2 recommendations are not funded and will be subject to prioritisation that takes into consideration the fiscal context and availability of funding.

The following table shows the number of contributory factors in injury road accidents where road surface was poor or defective in Highlands and Islands police division, broken down by council area. In addition to the Highlands and Islands, the North command area also covers Grampian and Tayside. These areas have therefore not been included.

Regular engagement takes place between the Scottish Government and GFG Alliance at both official and ministerial level. Officials hold quarterly meetings to monitor performance in respect of the Scottish Government guarantee and maintain frequent engagement at local and group level on business operations. Officials are further supported in this activity by external commercial experts. The Scottish Government has a suite of securities in relation to the assets at Lochaber that are valued at more than the outstanding amount guaranteed.

The Lochaber businesses continue to perform well and support jobs in the region – underlining just how important our intervention was.GFG has created 40 new jobs in Lochaber since 2016 – increasing direct employment in the complex to 200 jobs and supporting a valuable supply chain with hundreds of associated jobs.