Chamber and committees

This Government has always prioritised tackling fuel poverty and is committed to ensuring that everyone in Scotland lives in a warm home that is affordable to heat, no matter where they live.

We are on track to deliver our 2016 Programme for Government commitment to make half a billion pounds available over the 4 years to 2021 to tackle fuel poverty and improve energy efficiency.

Information on delays within the Scottish Breast Screening programme are recorded by six regional Breast Screening centres.

As of September 2018, the delays range from 1 to 2 weeks ahead of schedule to 23 weeks over. Delays can vary from centre to centre and across the mobile units managed by each screening centre. Delay is monitored locally and reported monthly to National Services division who commission and manage the programme. The screening centres are required to submit a robust action plan detailing the initiatives and timescales to reduce delays.

The reasons for delays are multi factorial and may include increases in the eligible population to be invited, changes at GP practice level, staffing or equipment issues and adverse weather events.

The Scottish Government uses information from the ONS Annual Population Survey (e.g. on self-employment) and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Small Business Survey, to monitor change in business ownership/leadership by gender. We have funded boosts, to the sample sizes for both these surveys, to improve the robustness of the results for Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-19980 on 29 November 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

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-19980 on 29 November 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

The Scottish Government is committed to tackling the gender gap in enterprise through supporting the Scottish Framework and Action Plan for Women in Enterprise. As part of this, we have committed nearly £400,000 this year on projects to support and encourage greater levels of female entrepreneurship. For example, the Business Women Scotland Live Events programme and the Ambassador programme led by Women's Enterprise Scotland.

Since the Women in Enterprise Action Framework was launched in 2014 the proportion of women who are actively starting a business has risen significantly and the early-stage entrepreneurial activity (TEA) rate has caught up with the UK average. The gender gap in people starting businesses has also reduced in Scotland – whereas in the rest of the UK it has increased. In Scotland the enterprise gender gap is now on par with other leading entrepreneurial nations like the US & Canada. We continue to work with partners through the Women in Enterprise Action Group to maintain and accelerate progress.

In 2017, 21% of SMEs in Scotland were women led, ahead of the UK figure of 19%.

We do not hold official estimates for business employment or business Gross Value Added broken down by the gender of the business owner or management team. The source for official estimates of business employment and economic indicators is the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR), which is maintained by the office for National Statistics and is an administrative database of all Value Added Tax and Pay As You Earn registered businesses. The IDBR, does not include information on the characteristics of business owners as this information is not collected via tax returns.

The Scottish Government is committed to helping more women-owned businesses to grow. As part of our support for the Scottish Framework and Action Plan for Women in Enterprise, we have committed nearly £400,000 this year on projects to support and encourage greater levels of female entrepreneurship. This includes continued support for Investing Women, which plays a key role in enabling women-led businesses to access high levels of finance. In their first two-and-a-half years’ of activity, Investing Women has backed 10 companies with £900K invested from their women angel members, and seen a total value of investments of over £10M. Through the Women in Enterprise Action Group we will continue to work closely with public and private partners to help more female owned or led businesses to succeed. More broadly we are delivering upon the outcomes of the Enterprise and Skills Review. This will ensure that the public enterprise support network in Scotland is responsive to the real needs of Scotland’s business base.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-19980 on 29 November 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