Questions and answers

Question reference: S4W-11544

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 November 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 19 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government for each of the projects referred to in its news release of 9 March 2012, Shovel ready projects, which have (a) started, and what the source of the funding was, (b) been delayed because of a lack of suitable planning permissions, (c) been included in its news release of 25 November 2012, Swinney outlines further shovel-ready projects, and under what heading and (d) been removed from the list and for what reason.

The Scottish Government published a list of Shovel Ready projects requiring £302 million in March 2012 in advance of the 2012 UK Budget. The Shovel Ready list was then updated in November 2012 in advance of the UK Autumn Statement with projects requiring £820 million of capital funding.

Despite capital allocations made available through the recent UK Autumn Statement (of £394.1m in total over three years), the Scottish Government’s real terms capital DEL budget will still decrease by 25.9% over the four years of the UK Spending Review from 2010-11 to 2014-15.

The information relating to the list of Shovel Ready projects published on 9 March 2012 that you request is contained in the following table. Some of these projects received funding via the £105 million stimulus announcement that the Scottish Government made in June 2012 to boost jobs and the economic recovery. By accelerating the programme of capital investment we were taking action where the UK Government was failing to

Project Name	a)Project started and source of funding	b)Project delayed because of a lack of suitable planning permission	c)Project included in news release 25 November 2012 and sector heading	d)Project removed from the list and reason
Ullapool Pier- Passenger access system, traffic management, new berthing dolphin and replacement linkspan £4m	Yes Project has proceeded to design & development stage with 75% funding from Transport Scotland.	No	No	Yes A limited option has been identified with Ullapool Harbour Trust. Transport Scotland has re-prioritised this and this will now be funded through their current spending review budgets.
Gourock-Dunoon shore side infrastructure £2m	No	No	Yes Transport: Ferry port infrastructure	Not applicable
Kennacraig Phase 2, £4m	Yes The £105m capital funded package of economic stimulus for 2012-13 as announced 27 June 2012.	No	Not applicable	Not applicable
A96 Threapland, £6m	No	No	Yes Transport	Not applicable
A68 Pathhead to Tynehead Junction, £6m	No	No	Yes Transport	Not applicable
A95 Lackgie, £4m	No	No	Yes Transport	Not applicable
A702 Candymill Bend and Edmonstone Brae, £4m	No	No	Yes Transport	Not applicable
A737 Head Street Roundabout, £1.5m	No	No	No	Yes Transport Scotland are re-visiting the benefits of this scheme.
A876 Kincardine Bridge Refurbishment, £14m	No	No	No	Yes This has been put on hold until after the completion of the new Forth Replacement Crossing.
A75 Hardgrove to Kinmount, £10m	Yes The £105m capital funded package of economic stimulus for 2012-13 as announced 27 June 2012.	No	Not applicable	Not applicable
M8 M73 M74 Motorway Improvements: Advance Public Utilities, £37.8m	Yes Funded from repayment of Business Stream loan.	No	Not applicable	Not applicable
Health Maintenance to ensure assets are safe, effective and person centred, £50m	No Only £15m could be funded by way of the £105m capital funded package of economic stimulus for 2012-13 as announced 27 June 2012.	Not applicable	Yes Health	Not applicable
Accelerating Schools for the Future – worth £30.8m	Yes Scotland’s Schools for the Future Programme will deliver 12 more schools than the 55 initially envisaged. £80 million was brought forward from future years in the Draft Budget 2013-14 to accelerate delivery of secondary schools in the third and final phase of the programme.	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
University projects worth £35m including: University of Glasgow - Centre for Virology Research; University of Dundee - Phases 2 and 3 - refurbishment of Duncan of Jordanstone; University of Abertay / Dundee College - Dundee Academy of Sport; University of Edinburgh - Centre for Humanities and Social Sciences.	No Only £1.5m could be funded for West Highland College by way of the £105m capital funded package of economic stimulus for 2012-13 as announced 27 June 2012.	No	College projects: targeted investment in priority estates included Further and Higher Education	Not applicable

Dundee Central Waterfront, £4.5m	Yes Scottish Enterprise funded from other budgets.	No	Not applicable	Not applicable
Fife Energy Park - Site Development, £3.5m	Yes Scottish Enterprise funded from other budgets.	No	Not applicable	Not applicable
ITREZ Technology Innovation Centre, £4m	No	No	Yes Enterprise: Scottish Enterprise – Economic Development Projects.	Not applicable
ATOS - Forres Enterprise Park, £3m	Yes The £105m capital funded package of economic stimulus for 2012-13 as announced 27 June 2012.	No	Not applicable	Not applicable
Inverness Campus, £6m	Yes The £105m capital funded package of economic stimulus for 2012-13 as announced 27 June 2012.	No	Not applicable	Not applicable
Forres Enterprise Park - Extension of Roads, £2m	Yes The £105m capital funded package of economic stimulus for 2012-13 as announced 27 June 2012.
European Marine Science Park - Ground works, £3.5m	Yes Highlands and Islands Enterprise funded from other budgets.	No	Not applicable	Not applicable
Creative Clyde, £1.7m	No	No	Yes Enterprise: Scottish Enterprise – Economic Development Projects	Not applicable
National Renewable Infrastructure Plan - Hunterston Quay Upgrade, £2m	Yes Scottish Enterprise funded from other budgets.	No	Not applicable	Not applicable
Priority investments within Local Authority Strategic Housing Investment Plans, £15m	Yes The £105m capital funded package of economic stimulus for 2012-13 as announced 27 June 2012.	No	Not applicable	Not applicable
Clyde Gateway developments at Bridgeton Cross, Dalmarnock Cross, Rutherglen and Shawfield, £37m	No Only £5.6m could be funded for Rutherglen and Bridgeton by way of the £105m capital funded package of economic stimulus for 2012-13 as announced 27 June 2012.	No	Yes Regeneration: Clyde Gateway Office and Industrial Developments for Economic Growth.	Not applicable

Ayr Gaiety Theatre regeneration, £1m	Yes Funded from Creative Scotland.	No	Not applicable	Not applicable
National Records of Scotland - Thomas Thomson House - urgent roof repairs, £1.5m	Yes The £105m capital funded package of economic stimulus for 2012-13 as announced 27 June 2012.	No	Not applicable	Not applicable
Historic Scotland - Abbotsford House - restoration to bring into public use, £0.7m	Yes Funded from Scottish Government	No	Not applicable	Not applicable
Historic Scotland - Lews Castle development, £1m	Yes The £105m capital funded package of economic stimulus for 2012-13 as announced 27 June 2012.	No	Not applicable	Not applicable
Forestry Commission Scotland - upgrade of visitor facilities at David Marshall Lodge,	Yes The £105m capital funded package of economic stimulus for 2012-13 as announced 27 June 2012.	No	Not applicable	Not applicable
Aberfoyle and Queen's View, Perthshire, £1m	Yes The £105m capital funded package of economic stimulus for 2012-13 as announced 27 June 2012.	No	Not applicable	Not applicable
National Parks - visitor facility improvements within the National Parks, £1m	Yes The £105m capital funded package of economic stimulus for 2012-13 as announced 27 June 2012.	No	Not applicable	Not applicable
Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh - commence replacement of the Garden's ageing glasshouses, £1.5m	Yes The £105m capital funded package of economic stimulus for 2012-13 as announced 27 June 2012.	No	Not applicable	Not applicable

Question reference: S4W-11720

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 18 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-11504 by Nicola Sturgeon on 3 December 2012, to what organisations that provide advice services on welfare and benefits it provides funding; how much funding it is providing in 2012-13, and from which budget line.

The Scottish Government is doing what it can within our current powers to tackle poverty and inequality and have sought to maximise household incomes and put plans in place to mitigate the impact of welfare reform. Within my portfolio there are a range of interventions which both directly and indirectly provide advice on financial issues such as welfare and benefits. For example we are providing up to £450,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support in 2012-13 for their benefits advice service and up to £375,000 to the Child Poverty Action Group in 2012-13 to provide training to front line agencies to allow them to provide advice to low income households on a variety of financial and benefits related issues.

The Access to Justice project in the Making Justice Work programme is directed at better co-ordination and prioritisation of advice funding, seeking to develop a more efficient and cost effective approach to public sector funding of advice services. The project is currently mapping the range of information and advice services that receive public sector funding and why, covering advice on areas of law such as housing, welfare benefits, debt and consumer issues. I would be happy to provide details to the member once this review has been completed.

Question reference: S4F-01079

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 17 December 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 December 2012

To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet.

Question reference: S4W-11688

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 17 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what its definition is of the phrase "the post-Christie agenda", used in its document, Single Outcome Agreements, Guide to Community Planning Partnerships.

The “post-Christie agenda” means planning and delivering public services in line with the approach set out in the Scottish Government’s response to the Report of the Commission on the Future Delivery of Public Services that was led by the late Dr Campbell Christie. That response was published on 21 September 2011 and can be found at

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2011/09/21104740/0. In that context, and as agreed by the National Community Planning Group, the Guidance on Single Outcome Agreements asks community planning partnerships to show how their approach to the delivery of improved outcomes aligns with the four pillars of public service reform: prevention, local integration and partnership, investment in people and performance improvement.

Question reference: S4W-11683

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 14 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by John Swinney on 8 December 2011 (Official Report, c. 4537), what progress has been made on implementing the business rates incentivisation scheme; what the latest estimate is of the impact of the scheme, and which local authorities it expects will exceed their targets for the scheme in 2012-13.

Question reference: S4W-11679

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 14 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by John Swinney on 27 November 2012 (Official Report, c. 13912), what categories of resources will be added to local authority revenues in addition to the provisional funding allocations.

Question reference: S4W-11687

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 14 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of the increase in business rates income outlined in the 2013-14 draft budget will come from local authorities that exceed their business rates incentivisation scheme targets and whether the retention by local authorities of their share is reflected in table 12.01 of the draft budget document.

The non domestic rates income (NDRI) shown in the 2013-14 draft budget is our best estimate of what will be collected in 2013-14 taking into account the normal inflationary increase associated with matching the English poundage, business growth, the differing impact of appeals in each year, prior year adjustments and income from the public health supplement and the reform of empty property rates relief.

Any income as a result of local authorities exceeding their business rates incentivisation scheme targets will be over and above the NDRI in the draft budget and will not be known until the final non domestic rate income returns for that year are received.

Question reference: S4W-11681

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 14 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by John Swinney on 27 November 2012 (Official Report, c. 13912), whether it will publish a table of the average per capita provisional funding allocations for each local authority and what percentage this represents of the average per capita for Scotland (a) using the latest population figures and (b) amended to assume that no council receives more than 115% in line with Mr Swinney's statement of 8 December 2011 (Official Report, c. 4537)

Additional funding of £25 million to deliver on the Scottish Government’s commitment to introduce a 85% per capita funding floor was included in the local authority allocations in each year covering the 2012-15 settlement period following Spending Review 2011. That funding remains in the provisional settlement allocations which I confirmed to Parliament on 27 November 2012 and is separately identifiable in Annex B of Local Government Finance Circular 5/2012.

In line with established practice agreed with COSLA, three year settlements, including the floors, are not reopened during the period of the Spending Review except for additions or reductions in funding.

Following the transfer of police and fire funding from 2013-14 it is not possible to provide a comparable table of the per capita funding allocations for the implementation of the 85% funding floor.

Question reference: S4W-11642

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 12 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish a draft Marriage and Civil Partnership Bill for consultation before the end of 2012 and, if not, when it will publish it.

Question reference: S4F-01053

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 10 December 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 December 2012

To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet.

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