Chamber and committees

As set out in my answer to S5W-09168, the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 ('the Act') covers private companies if they are wholly-owned by a public authority listed in schedule 1 of the Act.

The Act can also be extended to organisations, including private companies, undertaking 'functions of a public nature'. Private companies brought within scope of the Act include private prison contractors and providers of secure accommodation for children. A draft order extending the Act to Registered Social Landlords is currently under consideration.

Today, I will announce the positive outcome of the Mid-Market Rent (MMR) Invitation, a further innovative initiative designed to expand the supply of affordable homes through long term loan investment.

£47.5m of Scottish Government loan funding is being provided to the Placemaking and Regeneration Group, Places for People for a proposal which will deliver 1,000 affordable mid-market rent homes and attract Institutional Investment to deliver a total funding package of around £150m into the Scottish Economy.

Places for People have set up a residential real estate fund which will own and deliver mid-market rent homes, supporting people on low and modest incomes to access high quality rented accommodation at affordable rent levels.

The Fund has been established as a Scottish Limited Partnership, managed by PfP Capital, the Financial Conduct Authority authorised fund management business for Places for People. A number of safeguards have been put in place to ensure that there is absolute transparency on who investors are and how the Fund will operate.

This is one of a number of Scottish Government supported schemes that will continue to expand the delivery of affordable mid-market rent housing, where required, to ensure that those on low to moderate incomes have access to high quality homes at affordable rent levels.

We will continue to work with local authorities to deliver such housing through innovative funding models that can attract significant levels of private investment, and support grant funded mid-market rent housing delivered through housing associations and their subsidiaries.

The following table sets out the average Housing Association Grant (HAG) subsidy levels approved for housing association new development tender approval activity in Edinburgh and Glasgow over the last three years, broken down by type of tenure:

Grant per unit

The following table sets out the average Housing Association Grant (HAG) and non (HAG) subsidy level expressed as a percentage of total costs for housing association new development tender approval activity in Edinburgh and Glasgow in each of the last three years:

Grant percentages

Local authorities have the flexibility to provide meals and activities for children during school holidays where they think this is needed. We know that some local authorities such as East Renfrewshire and North Ayrshire are already doing good work to support children in their areas.

We have committed £1 million over the next two years to provide new practical support for children experiencing food insecurity during school holidays.

I have agreed with the Scottish Law Commission its Tenth Programme of Law Reform, which covers the work to be undertaken by the Commission for the five year period from 2018 until the end of 2022. The Programme was presented to Parliament today and is also being published today. The Programme is also available online from the Scottish Law Commission website.

The projects which will be undertaken under the Tenth Programme have been selected following consultation by the Commission. The Programme includes existing projects which began under the Ninth Programme, such as work on contracts law, heritable securities and aspects of leases. A joint project with the Law Commission on surrogacy will also be undertaken. In addition, the Commission expects to undertake new projects which will cover the homicide, aspects of family law and some aspects of the law on damages for personal injury.

I welcome this Programme, which represents a varied and relevant set of proposals, and look forward to receiving reports from the Commission in due course. We will continue to work with the Commission over ways of taking forward the proposals in those reports, and will continue with the system introduced last year of providing initial responses to reports within 3 months of publication.

The Scottish Law Commission also has a general remit to keep the law of Scotland under review for the purpose of promoting reform and development of the law. In addition to the Programme of Law Reform agreed with Ministers, the Commission also receives from Ministers references on specific issues and provides other advice on specific areas of the law.

The 2018 edition of the Scottish Ministerial Code will be published today. The Code, which was last revised in August 2016, provides a code of conduct and guidance on procedures for members of the Scottish Government and Junior Scottish Ministers. A copy of the 2018 edition of the Code may be found on the Scottish Government’s website at: www.gov.scot/isbn/9781788515757. As well as some minor updates, the Code has been amended in line with the January 2018 edition of the UK Ministerial Code: in particular, there are explicit references to: inappropriate, bullying or harassing behaviour; the requirement on Ministers to report meetings to their Private Offices, including meetings held overseas; and the role of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments. In addition, a new paragraph 4.25 reflects the provisions of the Lobbying (Scotland) Act 2016.

The Budget delivers the most attractive system of business rates in the UK, a new £150 million Building Scotland Fund and investment of over £4 billion of infrastructure. We will be allocating £600 million of investment in our R100 programme to extend superfast broadband access to every home and business across Scotland. And the budget provides a 64 per cent uplift in funding for the Economy, Jobs and Fair Work portfolio, including £2.4 billion for our enterprise and skills bodies.

These major investments will underpin our focus on innovation, infrastructure and investment, internationalisation and inclusive growth.