Seòmar agus comataidhean

It is estimated that that the new relief for day nurseries will cost around £7 million per year. More detail on this and the other measures announced in my statement to Parliament on 12 September 2017 will be published in an implementation plan by the end of this year.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-11499 on
23 October 2017. 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-11502 on 23 October 2017. 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 recognise some patients are experience long waits, that is why I have made £50 million available to NHSScotland - with up to £11.2 million being made available to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. This additional funding will build up their capacity and make sure that all patients are seen and treated in a timely fashion including in the specialty of orthopaedics. I expect to see improvements between now and the end of March next year.

Scottish Government officials have engaged in discussions with Benny Higgins regarding a Scottish National Investment Bank via telephone calls on 22 August, 29 August, 8 September and held face to face meetings on 1 September and 22 September, both in Edinburgh.

I met with Benny Higgins on 21 September 2017. The First Minister met with Mr Higgins on 27 September to discuss implementation planning to create a Scottish National Investment Bank. Both these meetings took place at the Scottish Parliament.

Skills Development Scotland (SDS), who administer the Transition Training Fund (TTF) on behalf of Scottish Government, provide up to date information on the funds’ performance on a weekly basis. This can be accessed from the following website https://transitiontrainingfund.co.uk/.

SDS have advised that up until the 10^th September 2017, there have been 6,003 applications since the TTF was announced. This is represented across the financial years below:

• 2015-17 – 4,393 applications to the fund, resulting in 1,822 individuals supported

• 2017-18 – 1,610 applications to the fund, resulting in 675 individuals supported

SDS have advised that no information is gathered or held on applications to the fund, by sector. However, below is a breakdown of the number of applicants approved by sector, by year:

Source: SDS

The TTF is a £12 million fund, operating for a three year period. The total in Year 1 for 2016-17, was £5.1 million. The current expenditure for Year 2, calculated from 1 April 2017 until end July 2017 and includes both the actual and committed expenditure, is £1.671 million. Anticipated spend for 2017-18 is budgeted at £5 million, with a further £2 million in 2018-19.

We expect the work led by Benny Higgins to develop detailed proposals for the remit, capitalisation, governance, operating model, regulatory timeline and financial risk management to report by February 2018. The Terms of Reference for this work have been published and can be found at https://beta.gov.scot/publications/national-investment-bank-implementation-plan-terms-of-reference/

The Scottish Government is committed to the development of Scotland’s fintech sector and is working in partnership with the industry to support and promote Scotland as a fintech centre and create an environment that will allow Scotland's fintech community to achieve its full potential.

Development of our fintech capability presents a significant opportunity for Scotland, and is integral to the future growth of Scotland's established "Financial & Business Service's" growth sector.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-03966 on 16 November 2016, which provided totals for SDI's workforce each year from 2011-12 to 2015-16. The total for SDI's workforce for 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 are not available due to organisational Records Retention Policy. The figure for 2016-17 is not yet available as the Annual Report and Accounts for 2016-17 have not yet been published.

Figures from 2003-2004 are provided in the following table:

* Calculated as full time equivalent posts and rounded to the nearest full post.

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

Table 1 shows the overall level of self-employment and as a percentage of the total number of people in employment in each year from Mar 1999–Feb 2000 to April 2016-Mar 2017. Apr 2016-Mar 2017 is the most recent Annual Population Survey data available.

Table 1: Level of self-employment and percentage of all in employment, Scotland, 1999-2016

Sources: Mar 1999–Feb 2000 to Mar 2003–Feb 2004 Local Area Labour Force Survey, ONS. Apr 2004–Mar 2005 to Apr 2016-Mar 2017 Annual Population Survey, ONS. There is a discontinuity in this series with information prior to April 2004-Mar 2005 being sourced from the Local Area Labour Force Survey and the Annual Population Survey being used from Apr 2004-Mar 2005 onward. The Annual Population Survey was first produced by ONS in 2004 as a replacement for the Local Area labour Force Survey.