Seòmar agus comataidhean

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.

As stated in ‘Global Scotland’, Scotland’s Trade and Investment Strategy 2016-21, published in March this year, the Scottish Government is committed to establishing a Ministerial-led Trade Board. We are currently discussing with public and private sector partners a delivery plan. Budget, remit and membership will be considered as part of these discussions.

The Scottish Government has published a full list of all approved operations, including details of match funding arrangements, on its website at:

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Business-Industry/support/17404/esifoperations.

The £650 million refers to the total expenditure, of which £290 million is European Structural Funds. The remaining £360 million is being provided by project partners.

This list is a requirement of EU Regulations, and it will be updated as the Scottish Government makes further approvals.

We are working with local government to determine how best to utilise the £10m funding for domestic energy efficiency and will provide further information in due course.

The details for how this funding will be directed is currently being finalised. However, any projects will have to meet the following criteria:

Spend to save – a demonstration that investment in energy efficiency measures will generate reduced energy bills in future and thereby a saving to the public purse;

Carbon reduction – the potential to deliver a significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption;

Economic benefits – the project must have the ability to show a positive economic impact on Scotland and demonstrate that it is additional activity -not current planned investment; and

Work on the project must start in financial year 2016-17.

The Scottish Government launched the Transition Training Fund (TTF), on1 February, to support individuals and help the sector retain talent. The £12 million training fund, currently in its eight month will be available over a three year period.

Health and Social Care Integration Indicator 15 on the “Proportion of last 6 months of life spent at home or in a community setting” is now fully developed and will be reported on by all Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs) as part of their Performance Reports. All HSCPs will publish their 2016-17 reports by the end of July 2017 and annually thereafter.

Work is on-going to ensure availability of robust data for indicator 23, “Expenditure on end of life care”. The recently announced review of health and social care targets and indicators will include further consideration of this indicator.

The First Minister announced on 10 August measures to support and stimulate the economy in the wake of the EU referendum and highlighted that capital spending on projects to support and create employment would be accelerated, with an additional £100 million of funding in this financial year. In launching the Programme for Government, the First Minister confirmed that one of the sixteen projects that formed the £100 million capital investment package would be £10 million to support capital investment in local economic development projects.

The detail of the specific projects will be announced shortly and will be focused in areas where there has been economic challenge and company closure and will help increase economic resilience, supporting future growth and helping to create and retain jobs in local communities. We are currently working with local authorities to confirm the projects that are to be supported through these capital resources which need to be committed this financial year.

There has been no formal application process as the resources have been focused on accelerating existing priorities. The projects that are being considered are those that have been identified as priorities through our joint work with local authorities. They will support employment and business activity and will develop infrastructure assets and improvements which will make a significant contribution to the future prosperity in these communities. Key assessment criteria have been growth, including an assessment of the impact on short-term economic growth and business activity and inclusion, including the impact on geography and fit with wider Scottish Government priorities.