- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 03 July 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 31 July 2015
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the advice that it has received from Pinsent Masons about the new design-build-finance-maintain capital projects model.
Answer
Legal advice was provided by Pinsent Masons to the Scottish Futures Trust and the hub programme public bodies on a confidential basis.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 03 July 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 31 July 2015
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the Office for National Statistics classification that the non-profit distributing model is a public-private partnership.
Answer
The non-profit distributing model is a form of public-private partnership that has been designed to deliver better value for money to the public sector and the taxpayer than previous public-private partnership/private finance initiative deals. This has always been the case.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 03 July 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 31 July 2015
To ask the Scottish Government what costs have been incurred as a result of the changes to the Eurostat designation of capital projects for additional (a) advice and consultancy, (b) civil service time, (c) Scottish Futures Trust staff time and (d) project/inflation costs.
Answer
Work by Scottish Government and Scottish Futures Trust staff in response to changes in relevant EU guidance has been undertaken within existing resources. The project cost and inflation impact of changes to Eurostat guidance is not yet apparent.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 03 July 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 31 July 2015
To ask the Scottish Government whether, under the Scottish Futures Trust's revised design-build-finance-maintain structure, revenue contributions from the public sector will be greater for capital projects for which all of the capital comes from the private sector, and what assessment it has made of the additional cost.
Answer
No changes are anticipated to the level of unitary charge payable by procuring bodies for the majority of non-profit distributing or hub funded developments. For those projects where capital contributions are no longer being made by the public sector, unitary charge payments will increase commensurately though it is anticipated this will have a relatively small effect across the programme.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 03 July 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 31 July 2015
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will meet the cost of delays to capital projects resulting from changes to the Eurostat designation of capital projects.
Answer
Any cost to projects of delay associated with changes to Eurostat guidance has yet to be agreed. To date the Scottish Government has allocated a total of £4.5 million of capital funding through the Scottish Futures Trust to the six local authorities with the most imminent projects to enable them to continue to progress their projects.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 03 July 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 31 July 2015
To ask the Scottish Government whether the subordinated debt investment will align with the shareholding in the revised structure for design-build-finance-maintain projects, namely that the Scottish Futures Trust will hold 10%, the procuring public sector body will hold 10%, the private sector will hold 60% and the private sector charity will hold 20%.
Answer
Shareholders will have the right to invest subordinated debt in the same ratio as their shareholding.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 03 July 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 31 July 2015
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has had voluntary ex-ante transparency notices published in the Official Journal of the European Union regarding its intention to change the hub delivery structure.
Answer
These were published by Scottish Futures Trust and the participating public authorities in the Official Journal of the European Union on 17 June 2015.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 03 July 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 31 July 2015
To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that the consequence of the changes to the Eurostat designation of capital projects is that a greater percentage of each capital project has to be seen as private sector for it to be deemed off balance sheet.
Answer
Scottish Ministers have authorised the Scottish Futures Trust to take forward changes to the structure of the hub programme of infrastructure projects which reduce the public sector shareholding in the entities set up to deliver individual projects, having considered the implications of the latest changes to Eurostat guidance on the factors that influence classification outcomes. An update was provided to the Finance Committee on 1 June and again on 19 June 2015.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 03 July 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 31 July 2015
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the construction of (a) Our Lady and St Patrick’s High School, (b) the North West Edinburgh Partnership Centre, (c) the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh, (d) the Dumfries and Galloway Infirmary and (e) the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route has been delayed and what the (i) length and (ii) cost of the delay is.
Answer
Our Lady and St Patricks High School and the North West Edinburgh Partnership Centre projects have each had project specific issues to resolve as well as further consideration of the implications of the review by the Office of National Statistics of the classification of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route. Until these projects reach financial close it is too early to confirm what any cost impact would be.
The Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary and Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route projects have not incurred any delay as a result of Eurostat issues and are all contracted to be completed within earlier cost estimates.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 03 July 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 31 July 2015
To ask the Scottish Government whether, under the revised model for design-build-finance-maintain projects, the private sector can hold more than a 60% ownership if the private sector charity does not take the full 20% of the subordinated debt investment to which it is entitled.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer 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.