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The Scottish Government has budgeted £3.5million in 2016-17 for the initial piloting of the three Innovation and Investment Hubs. As part of the next spending review the Scottish Government will consider budgets for future years. Outcomes for each Hub location will be determined by a careful assessment of the distinct opportunities and potential benefits in each geographical area.

On the London Hub - these will be based on developing and growing trade links, strengthening government to government relations and supporting collaborations on economic, academic and innovation projects. Detailed planning between the four partners in the London Hub - Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Visit Scotland - is on-going to ensure staffing levels will support those opportunities and reflect our ambitions for Scotland.

On the Dublin Hub - the focus is on strengthening the economic relationship between Scotland and Ireland, the development and delivery of opportunities for commercial and academic collaboration, and on strengthening our shared cultural and heritage links. There will be three staff employed in the Dublin Hub.

On the Brussels Hub - Detailed consideration is underway regarding the operation of the Brussels Hub, in line with post referendum planning. There are already two teams operating in Brussels: the Scottish Government’s EU Office and Scotland Europa, who provide services and support to Scottish organisations involved in EU engagement, projects and funding.

A breakdown of the Scottish Government’s funding to the Inspiring Scotland 14:19 Fund and numbers of young people who have been supported is provided in the following table.

We have also provided a further £4million for 2016-17.

The additional capital budget of £3.5 million will be included in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde's next allocation letter, due to be issued at the beginning of October 2016.

This is an operational matter for the Scottish Funding Council. I have asked the Chief Executive to respond.

This is an operational matter for the Scottish Funding Council. I have asked the Chief Executive to respond.

The Scottish Government is working with stakeholders on the development of options to deliver a new fund for young people who have been in care, to support them into appropriate work, training or educational opportunities. We aim to announce further detail of the focus and the operation of the new fund by early 2017.

Alongside partners in Local Authorities, Skills Development Scotland (SDS) and the Third Sector we will continue to support young people who have experience of being looked after, to participate in education, training and employment. These young people are specifically highlighted as a priority group across Scottish Government funded training and employment programmes, including, Activity Agreements, Employability Fund, Community Jobs Scotland, Scotland’s Employer Recruitment Incentive and Modern Apprenticeships. Our Equalities Action Plan for MAs outlines the actions SDS will undertake with partners to improve the participation of under-represented groups, including care leavers, within the MA programme. An additional package of in-work support is also available to young care leavers through our funded Open Doors In Work support package.

This is an operational matter for the Scottish Funding Council. I have asked the Chief Executive to respond.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-02458 on 21 September 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.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

The current core suite of integration indicators was developed in consultation with a wide range of stakeholders across all sectors, including NHS Scotland, COSLA and a wide variety of third and independent organisations to ensure that they would be effective in driving forward improvement across the National Health and Wellbeing Outcomes.

The two indicators on palliative and end of life care were included in order to reflect Health and Care Partnerships’ key role in commissioning high quality palliative and end of life care services. The indicators will help ensure that there is a focus on more planned approach to palliative and end of life care which reflects best practice and, as far as is practicable, is in accordance with the needs and wishes of patients, carers and their families.

The international evidence is clear - promoting competitiveness and addressing inequality are interdependent. Reducing inequality is not only important in itself, but is vital to creating the conditions to deliver sustainable economic growth over the long term.

Scotland’s Economic Strategy, published in March last year, contains relevant evidence on the relationship between inequality and growth (pages 22-23). For example, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) found that lower income inequality is correlated with faster and more sustainable growth. This is supported by work from Professor Joseph Stiglitz concluding that countries that are more unequal grow more slowly and are less stable. Finally, a recent working paper by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimates that rising income inequality in the UK has decreased Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita growth by 9 percentage points between 1990 and 2010.

Further Information on Scotland’s Economic Strategy can be found at

http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2015/03/5984.