Chamber and committees

Revenues from Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) remain firmly on track and overall devolved tax revenues are expected to exceed the Scottish Government's forecast for 2015-16.

Residential LBTT revenues in the year to date remain broadly in line with expectations, allowing for the effects of forestalling which were excluded from the original forecast for 2015-16 of £235 million.

In 2015, the Ministerial Advisory Group on Child Poverty met on 28 May 2015, and again with officials on 15 September 2015.

This year, the Ministerial Advisory Group on Child Poverty met, along with other stakeholders including the Independent Poverty Advisor, on 20 January 2016 to consider the future approach to tackling child poverty in Scotland in light of the changes being made by the UK Government to the Child Poverty Act 2010.

Responsibility for the Independent Living Fund (ILF) transferred from the UK Government to the Scottish Government on 1 July 2015. Data for the number of people in receipt of ILF prior to this date is therefore not the responsibility of the Scottish Government.

At the point of transfer on 1 July 2015, there were 2,812 people in receipt of ILF support in Scotland. All those users who have continued to remain eligible for ILF have continued to receive support from ILF Scotland.

The Registered Social Landlord (RSL) Adaptations budget of £10 million has been fully allocated and, following the conclusion of a recent review of the planned adaptations expenditure of all RSLs, we are confident the £10 million will be drawn down in full. We will provide details of 2015-16 adaptations spend by RSLs to the Scottish Parliament Information Centre when this is available.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-30523 on 17 March 2016. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-30523 on 17 March 2016. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Independent assessors (IA) play an important role in the assessment of potential living donors. Once accredited with the Human Tissue Authority (HTA), they act as a representative of both the donor and the HTA. There are sufficient IAs in Edinburgh, however the transplant unit based at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow recently experienced a shortfall in the number of IAs required to interview potential donors and recipients. Following a recruitment exercise, several people have submitted applications to the HTA and will undergo training in March 2016.

The fair work agenda in social care is a priority for and responsibility shared between the Scottish Government, local authorities and care providers and all partners are expected to make a contribution.

During a telecom briefing to chief executives, I referred to previous agreements on fair work which were based on a tripartite model with providers and local government each making a 25% contribution.

In correspondence to local authorities setting out the terms of my offer, I confirmed that our investment assumes that private and third sector providers will meet their share of the costs. I did not stipulate a specific contribution expected from providers. These costs will be different in each area depending on local markets and therefore local negotiations will determine the overall cost and share of contributions required.

As I announced in the chamber during the Stage 3 debate on the Carers Bill on Thursday, 4 February 2016, The Scottish Government has committed £4.75 million to NHS Board Carer Information Strategies in 2016-17. We have notified health boards of their allocations.

As stated in the answer to question S4W-28765, work to open the Independent Living Fund to new users is currently underway, in co-production with disabled people and their representative organisations and statutory partners. Further detail will be announced in due course.