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Glasgow Prestwick Airport operates on a wholly commercial basis and at arm’s length from the Scottish Government. The airport offers aviation services to a wide variety of customers through its in-house Fixed Base Operation (FBO), including military customers with appropriate UK Government clearance to land in the United Kingdom. As with any commercial FBO, contracts and agreements between Glasgow Prestwick Airport FBO and the customers who use this service are commercially sensitive.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-04621 on 29 November 2016 and S5W-05717 on 10 January 2017.

My previous response contained the yearly figures for inbound military flights since the Scottish Government took ownership of the airport in November 2013 until 2015.

My response to S5W-05717 provided the number inbound military flights to Glasgow Prestwick Airport between January 2016 and November 2016. I can now confirm that in 2016 there was a total of 1,748 military flights into the airport.

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 airport is run at arm’s length from Government and on a commercial basis and, as such, the Scottish Government will not comment on the airport’s commercial activities.

We have not set a time a limit for the airport to return to profitability. We want Glasgow Prestwick Airport to grow into the successful and vibrant business we know it can be, but we have always acknowledged that there is no quick fix.

The loan funding is awarded on an annual basis on the presentation and approval of a business plan. No limit has been set on the level of loan funding that may be provided.

Marine

SCS

SG Main

Notes:

• SGMarine - data has been excluded from the grade breakdown in the above table due to the small proportion of female staff which makes meaningful statistical analysis impossible.

• SCS - data at Director General and Permanent Secretary is redacted due to potential disclosure of personal information.

Following research published in 2015 by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, we are working with the EHRC to tackle the issues around pregnancy and maternity discrimination highlighted in its report. This work is part of the Scottish Government’s wider measures to deliver a more inclusive workforce.

I am chairing a working group, made up of representatives from the public, private, union and third sectors. The working group met for the first time in December 2016 and again earlier this month. Its remit includes: improving employers’ access to advice to ensure best practice; developing an industry-specific communications strategy around the benefits of positive pregnancy and maternity policies; and strengthening health and safety advice. The working group is also exploring ways to include best practice within the Scottish Business Pledge, and seeking to improve public monitoring and reporting of pregnancy and maternity under the Scottish Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED).

Local authorities are best placed to communicate with individual households by council tax band. In recognition of this, the £2.44 million funding added to the local government budget in 2016-17 to cover the administration costs of implementing the reforms to council tax and the council tax reduction scheme includes specific provision for communicating the changes.

The first phase of the Scottish Government's benefit take up campaign began on the 6 March, directing people to Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) whose website makes specific reference to the council tax reduction scheme.

This government, within our current powers, is driving forward a range of activity to enable employers to address women’s inequality in the workplace. This includes:

Ensuring greater pay transparency by lowering the threshold for listed public authorities to publish their gender pay gap and equal pay statements, from those with more than 150 employees to those with more than 20.

Legislating for gender balance on public sector boards by the end of this parliamentary year.

Supporting initiatives such as our innovative project to help women returners back into the workplace.

Working with the EHRC to tackle pregnancy and maternity discrimination in the workplace and the Minister for Employability and Training chairs a working group whose remit includes creating guidelines for employers to ensure best practice, as well as improving access to guidance for pregnant women and new mothers. The group have met twice already.

Providing £205,000 to 'Close the Gap' in 2016-17, to encourage and enable action to address the gender pay gap.

We are actively tackling the gender gap in enterprise through supporting the refresh and implementation of the new Women in Enterprise Action Framework due to be launched in 2017.

SDS is working collaboratively with partners to ensure that apprenticeship opportunities are open to all across Scotland. Through a number of measures set out in its Equality action plan it aims to reduce to 60% the percentage of MA frameworks where the gender balance is 75:25 or worse by 2021

Scotland remains the best performing of all of the four UK countries in terms of paying the real Living Wage, with around 80% of employees paid the Living Wage or more. We will continue to work with the Poverty Alliance to increase the number of employers paying the Living Wage which will be of particular benefit to women who dominate low paid, part-time work.

The annual percentage growth in the actual amount of non-domestic rates income collected in each year since 1999 is provided in the following table.

* Figures up to and including 2015-16 are based on final audited data from local authorities. Figures for 2016-17 and 2017-18 are based on estimates of the amount to be collected and are subject to change when the final audited data becomes available.

Estimates for 2018-19 and beyond will be considered as part of the next Budget setting process.

The annual sums distributed from the non-domestic rates pool in each year from 1999-2018 are set out in the following table. Future years figures will be published in the relevant annual Budget (Scotland) Bill.

Economic inactivity covers those not in work and not actively seeking work. Data from the ONS’ Labour Force Survey for the most recent quarter (November to January 2017) shows that the economic inactivity rate has remained unchanged over the quarter at 22.6 per cent. However, over the year to November to January 2017, the level of inactivity has risen by 65,000 to 770,000, with the rate rising by 1.9 percentage points. This annual change has been driven by increases in both male and female inactivity (up 38,000 and 27,000 respectively). In terms of age, the increases over the year were largely due to increases in inactivity amongst those aged 16 to 34 (up 55,000).

The most recent data available on reason for inactivity from the ONS’ Labour Force Survey indicates that the largest increases were seen amongst students and those considered to be in long-term sick or disabled (both up 30,000 over the year to October to December 2016).

The long-term trends in relation to the gender pay gap are positive. Both the full time pay gap and overall pay gap (full and part-time) have narrowed considerably in Scotland since 1999 - the full-time pay gap from 16.7% in 1999 to 6.2% in 2016 and the overall pay gap from 24.6% in 1999 to 16.8% in 2015.

Despite this improvement over time, we cannot be complacent and we are taking forward a number of actions designed to contribute to closing the gender pay gap. In particular we are legislating for gender balance on public sector boards, tackling pregnancy and maternity discrimination through our new working group, and piloting a Returners Project so that women can get help updating their skills and knowledge after a career break.

In addition, we fund Close the Gap to challenge and change employment practices and workplace cultures to support gender equality and close the pay gap.