Chamber and committees

As the Golden Jubilee National Hospital provides services on a national basis, it is not appropriate for the NHS Resource Allocation Formula (NRAC) to be applied to determine their funding.

The Golden Jubilee Hospital provides a number of services on a regional or a national basis, which are funded through the allocation by the Scottish Government on the basis of activity level and, where relevant, contributions are deducted from other Boards as appropriate. Where there are services that are invoiced directly to other health boards, this is on the basis of activities undertaken.

The NRAC formula is used to allocate funding to NHS Territorial Boards and recognises relative needs across Board areas by taking into account a number of geographical factors including population level, relative deprivation and the need for healthcare in different Board areas. In 2018-19 the Scottish Government is supporting frontline NHS Boards with increased funding of £354.5 (3.7%) million, including an increase of £175 million for investment in reform. As part of this, the Golden Jubilee Hospital’s resource budget has increased by £0.5 million to £54 million in 2018-19.

We are currently working in partnership with the Scottish Retail Consortium to develop a national retail strategy and, as part of that process, will be considering action on a wide range of issues, including what measures could be taken to encourage more women's employment throughout the industry.

The Scottish Government recognises that mentoring can be valuable in supporting women into leadership positions. The First Minister mentors a young woman and has encouraged other women in leadership positions, across all sectors including retail, to consider mentoring as one tool to support the next generation of women leaders.

In addition, the Scottish Chambers of Commerce Network along with Women's Enterprise Scotland and Scotland's leading women entrepreneurs are working together to provide the "Women's Business Mentoring" programme to help support and create more female business owners, including those in retail.

We are currently working in partnership with the Scottish Retail Consortium to develop a national retail strategy and, as part of that process, will be considering action on a wide range of issues including any measures that will encourage employment and greater gender diversity throughout the industry.

The Scottish Government is committed to gender equality and to ensuring that women have equal opportunities and access to power and resources as men. Evidence shows that having more women at senior levels and in the boardroom is good for business and contributes to better decision making.

In June 2015, the Scottish Government launched the Partnership for Change 50/50 by 2020 campaign encouraging organisations from across Scotland’s public, voluntary and private sectors to sign up to a voluntary commitment to work towards gender balance on their boards by 2020. It is heartening that organisations, such as The Scottish Grocers' Federation, have signed up to this initiative.

Improving women’s representation at senior levels must also reflect the barriers that women experience in the labour market, including due to their disproportionate responsibility for providing childcare and other forms of care. The Scottish Government is taking a broad range of action including a commitment to: expand childcare provision; promote flexible working and a Scottish living wage, and address pregnancy and maternity discrimination.

We are currently working in partnership with the Scottish Retail Consortium to develop a national retail strategy and, as part of that process, will be considering a wide range of issues including any measures that might be taken to promote a better gender balance in senior levels of retail.

Information on the numbers of people with cystic fibrosis who have died since Orkambi became licensed on 16 November 2015 is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

The Equalities Impact Assessment (EQIA) for the Fuel Poverty (Target, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Bill, estimated that in 2016 approximately 137,000 fewer older households and 55,000 fewer rural households, would have been categorised as fuel poor under the proposed new definition.

This is as a result of the inclusion of an income threshold in the new definition in line with the recommendations of the independent, academic Scottish Fuel Poverty Review Panel. This aligns fuel poverty more closely with low income households, as can be seen in the graphic (BIB No. 60298) available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. However the threshold applied in the new definition is considerably higher, for most household types, than the standard 60% of median income (after housing costs) used to define relative income poverty. This ensures households above the income poverty line, that are struggling with their fuel bills, will still be captured in the definition.

Scotland is one of only a handful of European countries to define fuel poverty, let alone set a target relating to its eradication. Achieving the target set out in the Fuel Poverty (Target, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Bill will place Scotland amongst the very best in the world in terms of tackling fuel poverty and will entail a reduction in the proportion of fuel poor households of just over 80% compared to 2016. The 2040 target date follows the Energy Efficient Scotland Route Map and, as set out in our draft Fuel Poverty Strategy, published alongside the Bill, we will do all we can to tackle each of the four drivers of fuel poverty, with an aim to remove poor energy efficiency of homes as a driver altogether. Nonetheless, we recognise that due to two key drivers, namely household incomes and energy prices, being outwith the direct control of the Scottish Government, there will always be a small percentage of households moving in and out of fuel poverty as their earnings and/or fuel costs fluctuate.

In July 2017 to June 2018 it is estimated: 146,000 women are employed in the retail sector in Scotland, accounting for 59.5% of all employment in the sector.

Of the 146,000 women employed in retail :

12,000 women are employed as ‘Managers, directors and senior officials’, 5.0% of all employed in retail

10,000 were employed in ‘Associate professional and Technical’ occupations 4.0% of all employed in retail

6,000 women were employed in ‘Professional Occupations’, 2.4% of all employed in retail.

The following table shows number of women employed in the retail sector by occupation and as a percentage of the retail sector workforce.

9,000 women employed in retail were self employed, 3.8% of all employed in the retail sector.

Information on number of women who are female retail business owners are not held centrally.

Table: Number of women and percentage of total employment in the retail sector by occupation

There have been no changes to the fuel poverty definition since it was introduced in 2002. The definition set out in the Fuel Poverty (Target, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Bill is the first proposed change.

Using the current definition the 2016 Scottish House Condition Survey put the proportion of households in fuel poverty at 26.5%. Under the new definition our initial analysis indicates the figure in 2016 would have been 23.8%.

There have been no changes to the fuel poverty definition since it was introduced in 2002.

The definition set out in the Fuel Poverty (Target, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Bill is the first proposed change.