Chamber and committees

Information relating to those projects which are operational or in construction and which form part of the Scottish Government’s current revenue funded non-profit distribution/hub investment programme is available on the Scottish Government’s website: www.gov.scot/Topics/Government/Finance/18232/12308

No changes are anticipated to the level of unitary charge payable by procuring bodies for the majority of non-profit distributing or hub funded developments. For those projects where capital contributions are no longer being made by the public sector, unitary charge payments will increase commensurately though it is anticipated this will have a relatively small effect across the programme.

The timing of the Clydebank Health Centre has yet to be agreed. The project, with a capital cost of £19 million, is expected to be financed via the hub design-build-finance-maintain programme.

Scottish Futures Trust is leading work on the creation of a new charity that will form part of the structure of future hub infrastructure projects, seeking advice when required including ongoing engagement with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator with which it met on 16 July 2015.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-26455 on 31 July 2015. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

At the start of the year, it was anticipated that the following projects would reach financial close as set out in the following table:

Month	Project
January	Forfar Academy
February	Inverclyde Health Centre, Baldragon Academy
March	NHS Lothian Bundle, Newbattle High School, Anderson High School, Kelso High School, Elgin High School
April	-
May	-
June	Barrhead High School, Our Lady and St Patricks High School

Forfar Academy reached financial close in June 2015 following completion of an early construction works package and the Anderson High School is due to reach financial close shortly. Other projects have been delayed by a combination of changes to Eurostat guidance and project specific issues. It is too early to provide revised dates for reaching financial close.

Soft services, such as cleaning, catering etc, have always been excluded from all non-profit distributing and hub design-build-finance-maintain projects to increase flexibility and learn lessons from the past. There will be no change in any revised structure.

No changes have been made following financial close. Some limited contractual adjustments were made prior to financial close to address Scottish Government and Scottish Futures Trust’s understanding of the revised guidance in Eurostat’s recently updated Manual of Government Deficit and Debt.

The Office for National Statistics takes decisions independently about projects or programmes that it wishes to review. The proposed design-build-finance-maintain-model is not currently under review. Engagement with Eurostat, on any issues of classification, would be a matter for the Office for National Statistics or the UK Government, as the relevant EU member state.

Information on the infrastructure investment projects which Scottish Futures Trust is supporting is available on its website: www.scottishfuturestrust.org.uk/