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The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The Accountant in Bankruptcy has a statutory function to maintain a Register of Insolvencies that contains details of those subject to personal insolvency proceedings and business associations subject to receivership and winding up procedures in Scotland. There is currently no requirement to record the specific reason for business insolvency.

Corporate insolvency procedures in relation to Administration and Company Voluntary Arrangement are reserved to the UK Government and information regarding Scottish companies subject to these procedures is recorded on Companies House web-site.

While I recognise the benefits of having a greater understanding of the circumstances behind the insolvency, and strongly sympathise with the member's interests in driving out bad practice in term of late payments, it is unfortunately not currently possible to obtain the reasons for insolvency from the information available on the Companies House web-site. It is therefore not possible to determine the impact of late payments. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that the cash flow issue created by late payments, or inappropriate use of retention payments, has been a factor in tipping otherwise viable businesses into administration.

Scotland’s Equality Evidence Strategy set out the Scottish Government’s plans to work collaboratively with its stakeholders to fill evidence gaps across all the protected equality characteristics.

http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2017/07/9574

Following the publication of the strategy, on July 18 2017, the Scottish Government held a gender workshop with its stakeholders, which was aimed at prioritising the evidence gaps identified on gender. It now plans to hold similar events across the other protected characteristics, including on ethnicity. At this event the ethnicity pay gap will be considered and prioritised in the context of the full list of gaps on ethnicity identified by stakeholders.

I was accompanied by my Private Secretary on my visit to North America between 16-20 October 2017.

Travel and accommodation costs relating to my visit to North America between 16-20 October 2017 will be proactively published on the Scottish Government website within 12 weeks of the visit.

A list of engagements undertaken by myself during my visit to North America between 16-20 October will be proactively published on the Scottish Government website within 12 weeks of the visit.

A list of engagements undertaken by myself during my visit to North America between 16-20 October 2017 will be proactively published on the Scottish Government website within 12 weeks of the visit.

My visit to North America between 16-20 October 2017 presented a valuable opportunity to attract investment into Scotland and help Scottish businesses pursue international growth. The visit programme was geared to influence future trade and investment decisions for Scotland.

The Scottish Government's changes to LBTT prioritises support for first-time buyers and assisting people as they progress through the property market. Due to the higher zero rate threshold under LBTT and lower house prices in Scotland, approximately two-thirds of first-time buyers in Scotland do not pay any LBTT, which has taken over 25,000 additional house purchases out of tax altogether since its introduction.

Future tax decisions are a matter for the Draft Budget which will be published on the 14 December.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information broken down by supplier type. However we have provided, in Table 1, the most recent figures available (October 2017) of our 10 day payment performance, by Directorate General. We do not hold the information by department.

Table 1

According to figures obtained from the Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) advertising portal, the number of SMEs being awarded contracts in 2016 that can be used by each Scottish Government directorate is recorded in Table 2. These figures include multi supplier frameworks that are available for use by multiple directorates.

As many contracts are multi supplier frameworks and can be used across the Scottish Government and other public bodies, we can only provide information on the percentage of suppliers winning awards, not on contract value associated with individual directorates.

Table 2

The Scottish Government does not hold details of every contract awarded by every public body in Scotland. We have taken a range of measures, however, to support prompt payment in public sector supply chains. In 2009, we introduced a standard clause into our contracts which requires valid invoices to be paid within 30 days of receipt at all stages of both the prime contract and sub-contract chain. We encourage other public bodies to adopt a similar clause.

We published guidance on the use of Project Bank Accounts (PBAs) in construction contracts in September 2016. PBAs ensure that payments for supply chain firms in both tiers immediately below the main contractor are made promptly and protected from upstream insolvency. Scottish Government bodies must include a PBA in tenders with an estimated value of at least £4.1m for building projects, or £10m for civil engineering projects. We encourage other public bodies to also use PBAs.

The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 requires public bodies to set out in their procurement strategy how they intend to ensure that payments down the sub-contract chain are made within 30 days of a valid invoice being presented. Such bodies must also report annually against their procurement strategy, including how they have complied with their prompt payment policy. These reports will be published by the individual public bodies and will form the basis for an annual report on procurement activity in Scotland to be prepared by Scottish Ministers. Financial year 2017-18 will be the first full year subject to annual procurement reports under the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014.