Question reference: S6W-10415
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 18 August 2022
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Current status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 20 September 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the operating model of Scottish Canals is fit for purpose to enable the public body to invest in the long-term future of the canal network.
Answer
The Office for National Statistics confirmed Scottish Canals as a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB) effective from April 2020. Scottish Canals has a responsibility to ensure that it conducts its core business of maintaining and improving Scotland’s canal network and is resourced by the Scottish Government to do so. Since 2019, the Organisation’s capital Grant in Aid allocation has increased by 87% and this is enabling the Organisation to plan, progress and successfully complete projects of large scale as an NDPB.
Scottish Canals also retains the ability to operate commercially when appropriate and work is currently being undertaken by the Organisation to analyse the success of its investment activities in recent years. This analysis will be shared with the Scottish Government in due course alongside recommendations to Ministers on how the Organisation takes forward its investment activities as an NDPB.