Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer given to question S4W-26469 on 31 July 2015. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Detailed information about all projects being delivered through the hub programme is available on the Scottish Futures Trust website at: www.scottishfuturestrust.org.uk.

The public sector will hold a 20% stake in hub projects, split evenly between the Scottish Futures Trust and the procuring authority. The public interest will be represented by the Scottish Futures Trust on the boards of directors of the project companies established to deliver hub projects.

Registers of Scotland (RoS) delivers customer-focussed registration and information services that create value for Scotland. Operating as a trading fund since 1996, the fees paid by its customers must be sufficient to cover its expenditure, including cyclical downturns in the property market, compensation payments under the keeper’s warranty, and investment in the business.

The financial arrangements for RoS are set out in section 9 of Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000. This provides that the sums received by the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland are to be retained and applied to meet expenditure on the keeper’s functions, such as to maintain and improve the registers under the keeper’s control. In doing this, the keeper must operate within financial objectives set by Scottish Ministers, who also set the statutory fees that can be charged by RoS.

As an accountable public body, RoS lays its audited annual report and accounts before the Scottish Parliament. Their framework document and corporate plan are also held in SPiCe.

The annual retained profit and/or loss levels since RoS became a trading fund are displayed in the following table.

The answer given to question S4W-26458 contained an error. The meeting referred to was held on 23 June 2015; this was arranged on 5 June 2015.

The Scottish Government will publish its pay policy alongside its draft budget, following the publication of the UK Government spending review.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-27746 on 26 October 2015. 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-27746 on 26 October 2015. 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 held one meeting with Anglian Water Business in the past year, on 24 February 2015. The discussion regarded Anglian Water Business’ intentions for implementing the contract and how these would be supported by their business structure.

There is no such contract for the supply of water to the public sector. Scottish Water currently delivers 96.5% of all mains water in Scotland and will continue to do so once this contract is awarded. The contract in question is for water billing services and does not change the supply of mains water in Scotland. The successful tenderer was Anglian Water which offered the best bid on the combined balance of quality and cost.

Following the announcement of tender evaluation, public bodies have to observe a ‘standstill period’, during which bidders can raise queries about process. During the tender process, we received queries and had to investigate these thoroughly before moving to contract award.