Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-30715 on 22 March 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.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Information on when contracts have been signed is given in the following table:

Project	Planned Date	Actual Date
Ayr Academy	Q3 2015	7 January 2016
Dalbeattie Learning Campus	Q3 2015	25 January 2018
Newbattle High School	Q1 2015	12 February 2016
Kelso High School	Q2 2015	19 February 2016
Elgin High School	Q2 2015	25 February 2016
Baldragon Academy, Dundee	Q1 2015	26 February 2016
Inverclyde Care Home	Q1 2016	26 February 2016
William McIllvaney Campus, Kilmarnock	Q1 2016	24 February 2016

Planned dates reflect the agreed point where projects became impacted by classification issues.

A further four projects are scheduled to reach financial close in the coming weeks and information on those projects is given in the following table:

 

Current Planned	Planned Date	Actual or Current Planned Date
Barrhead High School	Q3 2015	21 March 2016
Our Lady and St Patrick's High School	Q3 2015	24 March 2016
Oban High School and Campbeltown Grammar	Q1 2016	24 March 2016
NHS Lothian Partnership Centre Bundle	Q1 2015	29 March 2016

The Scottish Government provides revenue support for these projects with a value of over £200 million. This support has been adjusted to protect local authorities and NHS boards from the inflationary pressures incurred through delays. These revenue cost pressures, actively managed by Scottish Futures Trust in collaboration with procuring local authorities and NHS boards and with the hub companies, have been offset by a reduction in the cost of finance during 2015 and early 2016 leading to a negligible budget impact across the eight projects.

<>St Margaret of Scotland Hospice and Scottish Government officials first met to discuss funding on 13 February 2007. Most recent meeting was on 23 December 2015.

National Insurance policy is a reserved matter. The introduction of the single-tier pension through the Pension Act 2014 led to the abolition of the ‘contracted-out rebate’ by the UK Government. The abolition of the rebate will lead to increased costs for employers, including all public sector employers. The change takes effect from April 2016.

The UK Government made no adjustment to spending plans to recognise increased costs on public sector employers. As explained in Scotland’s Spending Plans and Draft Budget 2016-17, published in December 2015, financial settlements reflect the overarching challenges facing public bodies including a range of cost pressures. All public bodies are contributing towards our ability to live within the resources that are available to us.

<>Unitary charges are finalised when a project reaches financial close; accordingly, it is not possible to set out a ‘before’ and ‘after’ unitary charge.

National Insurance policy is a reserved matter. The introduction of the single-tier pension through the Pension Act 2014 led to the abolition of the ‘contracted-out rebate’ by the UK Government. The abolition of the rebate will lead to increased costs for employers, including all public sector employers. The change takes effect from April 2016.

The following table provides a breakdown of the estimated cost of the abolition of national insurance contracted out rates, broken down by sector.

Sector	Employer ERNIC Increase 2016-17 (£m)
NHS includes: Agenda for Change (AfC) Staff; Medical and Dental Staff; Senior Managers	83
Teachers (and associated teaching professionals)	42
Police (Officers and civilian staff costs included)	20
Fire	4
Core Scottish Government, Non-departmental Public Bodies, Public Corporations, Departments and Agencies. (all bodies subject to the public sector pay policy)	20
Total	169

These estimates were calculated in June 2015, based on latest available paybill information available to Scottish Government sponsor areas.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-29921 on 8 March 2016.

In light of that answer, there is no fixed date for when I will come to Parliament with a response to the consultation.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

The Scottish Government has transferred all of the £35.4 million budgeted to Independent Living Fund Scotland.

The fund budget for the Independent Living Fund (ILF) for 2016-17 is £47.2 million. The Scottish Government has initially set aside an additional £1.1 million for administration costs for 2016-17, however the final budget is still to be agreed between Scottish Government and ILF Scotland. The Scottish Government has also committed an additional £5 million to open the fund to new users.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-30523 on 17 March 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.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.