Chamber and committees

While the regulatory fiscal and legislative process in respect of the industry are reserved to Westminster and UK Ministers, a recognition of the industry’s importance to our energy mix and economy, The Scottish Government has strongly supported the sector during the recent period of challenging prices and the associated downturn in exploration and development work this has caused. Through the Energy Jobs Task Force we have developed a number of interventions to support the sector, augmenting the pre-existing work of the oil and gas team within Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. These interventions include support for workers, in the form of the Transition Training Fund, and we have provided a further £12.5 million to support innovation and business resilience; this specific support is available to business operating in the oil and gas sector across Scotland, including the North East. This included £10 million of SE funding to help firms take forward vital research & development to support innovation and improved productivity. To date around 111 innovation projects with a total project value of around £43 million have benefited from increased funding of around £16 million of SG support so far; we have also provided targeted support for business resilience reviews from industry experts, with over £2.5 million investment committed to this at the time of writing.

In addition, the Scottish Government and the UK Government have committed to investing on a 50:50 basis to support the development of an £180 million Oil & Gas Technology Centre (OGTC) through the £250 million Aberdeen City Region Deal. This is now underway and is making great progress on a path to become a new, world class centre to support innovation of the oil and gas industry in the North East, the rest of Scotland and across the whole of the UK.

The Autumn Budget included a commitment to make transferable tax histories available for North Sea Assets from November 2018 to facilitate the transfer of late life asset transfers, expanding access to decommissioning tax relief to new entrants. The Scottish Government has led the call for all UKCS fiscal reforms in recent years, including on this measure given that essential reforms have often lagged and delayed investment in the sector. While the transfer of tax histories is a positive step, we have been calling for this since the Autumn Statement 2015 and we remain of the view that Loan Guarantees commitments need to be fulfilled.

The National Records of Scotland project that based on current trends, the population of Scotland will rise to 5.7 million by 2039, and that the population will age significantly, with the number of people aged 65 and over increasing by 53% between 2014 and 2039. The number of people of pensionable age per 1000 people of working age is projected to increase from 311 in 2015 to 397 in 2039. This will present a number of challenges in terms of both the structure of the economy, and the way we innovate to deliver public services to meet these demands.

The Scottish Government ‘s Economic Strategy (2015) sets out our approach to ensuring that our labour market, our public services and welfare system are resilient and successful both now and in the future. In turn, Scotland’s Labour Market Strategy (2016) builds on the Economic Strategy and highlights the link between employment and improving outcomes across a number of dimensions of Scotland’s social and economic performance. Taking account of changing demographics and ensuring our labour market is able to respond to new demand on both public services and welfare is a key part of this co-ordinated response.

The £7 billion figure referred to in the question would appear to have been calculated using turnover data from the Scottish Government Business in Scotland 2017 publication. The primary purpose of this publication is to provide information about the number of enterprises operating in Scotland as at March each year. The Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) is the main data source for the publication. The IDBR is a database of all businesses registered for VAT and/or PAYE, maintained by the Office for National Statistics.

The latest Businesses in Scotland 2017 publication is based on a snapshot of the IDBR as at March 2017. However, there are significant time lags associated with the IDBR employment and turnover data. On the IDBR, turnover for the majority of registered enterprises is based on VAT returns for a 12 month period. For 2017, these tend to relate to a 12 month period ending in December 2015, or January/February 2016, depending on the reporting pattern of the business. More information on this is available at: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Business/Corporate/Methodology

The latest Oil and Gas Production Statistics include the period 2016-17, which saw a year-on-year increase in the approximate sales value of oil and gas by 15.2%. This increase reversed four years of approximate sales value declines and was largely due to the increase in the wholesale price of oil across this period, complimented by small increases in production. This figure is more up to date than the turnover information provided in the Businesses in Scotland 2017 publication for the reasons listed above. More information on the Oil and Gas Production Statistics 2016-17 is available at: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Economy/oilgas1617

The Scottish Government remain determined to hit the target of 90% of people seen within 18 weeks from referral to treatment for Psychological Therapies. We will continue to work with Boards, including NHS Grampian, to make sure that happens right across Scotland.

As part of the £54.1m package of support announced by the First Minister in January 2016, £24.6 million has been awarded to NHS Education Scotland (NES) to improve workforce supply and train existing staff to deliver services for children and young people, as well as psychological therapies for all ages.

Following a series of commissioning visits, in June 2016 NES wrote to all Boards setting out an individual, tailored offer of funding and workforce development. A significant proportion of the funding from NES is for service posts, intended to support service delivery by providing training, coaching and supervision in evidence-based interventions. This package of funding also includes £24.7m to be provided to NHS Boards to improve their capacity to see more people more quickly, which could include additional staff, with NHS Grampian receiving an allocation totalling £427,219 in the first year.

In addition funding will reach £35 million by 2022 for 800 additional mental health workers in key settings such as GP surgeries, ensuring local provision and support is at the heart of our plans.

Extensive statistical testing for the NRAC formula determined that the impact of Morbidity and Life Circumstances on the need for health services, under these two care programmes, was best captured using the following indicators of need:

(a) Care of the Elderly: All-cause Standardised Mortality Ratio (SMR) for ages 0-74; and, the Limiting Long-Term Illness Rate.

(b) Mental Health and Leaning Difficulties: (i) for the under 65 age cohort - Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) (employment domain); SIMD (crime domain); hospital admissions due to alcohol; and, Standardised Mortality Ratio for ages 0-64 with mental health as a cause of death; (ii) for the over age 64 cohort - hospital admissions due to alcohol; Standardised Mortality Ratio for ages 65 and over.

The delayed discharge bed days as a proportion of all occupied bed days, as published in the annual report (link) shows NHS Grampian (10%) as slightly above the Scottish average (8.2%). However, the health board has made good progress reducing delays across the region, with data for 2014 and 15 showing this figure at 16.2%, with the Scottish average remaining around 8%.

The partnerships within Grampian have faced significant challenges recruiting and retaining care staff across the region, and have had to think innovatively about how to provide care within the community. This has included the up-scaling of Intermediate Care services.

The Scottish Government continues to support all partnerships across Scotland reduce the level of delayed discharges. Aberdeen City has been making steady progress reducing the number of delays over the last two years. Since the first annual delayed discharge publication the rate of delays per 1,000 population in Aberdeen City has reduced by 34%.

NRAC target funding shares are used to inform funding allocations to NHS Boards.

In 2017-18 NHS Territorial Boards have received additional funding of £50 million specifically to accelerate NRAC parity. This funding takes all Boards within 1% of NRAC parity.