Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-14783 on 21 February 2018 which sets outs baseline funding for NHS Boards for 2018-19. 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

Throughout the financial year, further allocations are made to NHS Boards from the existing health portfolio budget. To the end of September 2018, these further allocations total £1,295.1 million and are set out by NHS Board in the following table:

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-18638 on 25 September 2018. a further 25 million was issued to Health Boards in the September allocation. Please see following table.

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-18752 on 5 October 2018. 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 .

Scotland does provide the most competitive non-domestic rates reliefs package available anywhere in the UK , worth a record £720 million. This package includes a number of reliefs that are unique in the UK including the Business Growth Accelerator which encourages new business investment by temporarily suspending rates liabilities, the Day Nurseries relief which reduces the overheads to nursery providers that play such an important role in ensuring our children have the best start in life and support for the renewables sector through Hydro relief. These unique measures have been praised by a number of independent organisations and are estimated by the Scottish Fiscal Commission to save Scottish businesses £53 million in 2018-19.

Our Small Business Bonus Scheme (SBBS) is significantly more generous than anywhere else in the UK. Scotland’s Small Business Bonus Scheme delivers the full 100% relief for rateable values up to £15,000, and 25% relief for those with a rateable value up to £18,000. The equivalent scheme in England only provides 100% relief for rateable values up to £12,000 and after that the relief tapers to zero at £15,000. The average saving for a property in Scotland with a rateable value of between £12,000 and £15,000 is £3,500 more than businesses in the scheme in England. In aggregate this saves businesses in Scotland around £20 million per annum.

According to our analysis, over 100,000 properties benefitted from SBBS relief in 2017-18, and SBBS has saved businesses over £1.5 billion cumulatively since 2009. A number of businesses have reported that without this relief their business would close, or they would have to cancel investments and amend their plans for growth.

his policy reflects a decision to support the economy by prioritising small businesses. The large business supplement helps to ensure a fairer system where smaller businesses pay less tax while larger businesses pay slightly more. The level of the large business supplement will be considered at each future budget along with many other competing priorities, in light of affordability.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-18752 on 5 October 2018. 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 .

More people have moved to Scotland from the rest of the UK than have moved in the other direction for every year since the year to mid-2001. In the past year, net migration from the rest of the UK to Scotland increased from +8,800 in the year to mid-2016 to +10,500 in the year to mid-2017.

However Scotland, like many developed Western countries, is aging rapidly, and does not have enough people of working age to replace those leaving the labour market as they grow older. Without more working age people there will be additional pressure on public services and implications on taxation revenue.

Our Programme for Government set out our ambitious plans to deliver for people, communities and businesses across Scotland. We want Scotland to be the best place in the world to grow up and ensure every child has an equal chance to succeed. We are proud of the support that we offer to older people. However, policy interventions that support children and prolong life expectancy do not of course immediately increase the working age population. The only short-to-medium term solutions to growing the working age population are increasing inward migration or raising the state pension age. The Scottish Government does not support raising the state pension age.

With all of our population increase to come from migration over the next 25 years, migration is absolutely critical to Scotland’s future prosperity. Migrants tend to be younger than the rest of the population and more likely to be of working and child bearing age, and therefore are increasingly important in strengthening the overall population.

There will always be a need for some babies to travel to access highly specialised neonatal care. In cases where the need for this specialist neonatal care can be anticipated before birth, maternity professionals will plan, as far as possible, for the mother to deliver in the unit with the requisite care provision. Where a baby has to be moved to access care, we would expect that the decision would be made in the best clinical and health interests of the mother and baby, and as safely as possible using our specialist neonatal transport service.

Although the Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC) expects behavioural effects to reduce the yield from our 2018-19 policy by £0.3 billion, their forecasts clearly show that they expect the Scottish Government’s income tax reforms will still deliver an additional £1.2 billion over the next 5 years (see Table 3.7 in their May forecast ). This is consistent with the Scottish Government’s view that the Scottish taxpayer population is not past the peak of the Laffer curve.

Income tax outturn data for the financial year 2016-17 - when Scottish and UK income tax policies were the same - indicated that there were 17,000 fewer higher and additional rate taxpayers than forecast by the SFC in May 2018 (see Table 3.2 of their Forecast Evaluation Report ). While this will have implications for the SFC’s future forecasts, we still expect our income tax reform to provide additional resources for investment in vital public services and the economy.

In every case where a baby, or any patient has to be transferred to access specialist care it is important that they are transferred safely and timeously, with best available clinical advice and support. To support the model of neonatal care in Scotland, we have a highly specialised neonatal transport team with world class road and air transport facilities that ensures that wherever a baby is born in Scotland they can be safely transferred to get the level of care required as quickly as possible.

It is important that every part of Scotland has access to high quality neonatal care, including neonatal intensive care. The Best Start: A Five-Year Forward Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Care described a new model of neonatal care for Scotland, which keeps mothers, babies and families together as much as possible and provides the safest care for the smallest and sickest babies. To support the model of neonatal care in Scotland, we have a highly specialised neonatal transport team with world class road and air transport facilities that ensures that wherever a baby is born in Scotland they can be safely transferred to access the level of care required as quickly as possible.