Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The Accountant in Bankruptcy has a statutory function to maintain a Register of Insolvencies that contains details of those subject to personal insolvency proceedings and business associations subject to receivership and winding up procedures in Scotland. There is currently no requirement to record the specific reason for business insolvency.

Corporate insolvency procedures in relation to Administration and Company Voluntary Arrangement are reserved to the UK Government and information regarding Scottish companies subject to these procedures is recorded on Companies House web-site.

While I recognise the benefits of having a greater understanding of the circumstances behind the insolvency, and strongly sympathise with the member's interests in driving out bad practice in term of late payments, it is unfortunately not currently possible to obtain the reasons for insolvency from the information available on the Companies House web-site. It is therefore not possible to determine the impact of late payments. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that the cash flow issue created by late payments, or inappropriate use of retention payments, has been a factor in tipping otherwise viable businesses into administration.

A list of engagements undertaken by myself during my visit to North America between 16-20 October will be proactively published on the Scottish Government website within 12 weeks of the visit.

I was accompanied by my Private Secretary on my visit to North America between 16-20 October 2017.

My visit to North America between 16-20 October 2017 presented a valuable opportunity to attract investment into Scotland and help Scottish businesses pursue international growth. The visit programme was geared to influence future trade and investment decisions for Scotland.

A list of engagements undertaken by myself during my visit to North America between 16-20 October 2017 will be proactively published on the Scottish Government website within 12 weeks of the visit.

Travel and accommodation costs relating to my visit to North America between 16-20 October 2017 will be proactively published on the Scottish Government website within 12 weeks of the visit.

Scotland’s Equality Evidence Strategy set out the Scottish Government’s plans to work collaboratively with its stakeholders to fill evidence gaps across all the protected equality characteristics.

http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2017/07/9574

Following the publication of the strategy, on July 18 2017, the Scottish Government held a gender workshop with its stakeholders, which was aimed at prioritising the evidence gaps identified on gender. It now plans to hold similar events across the other protected characteristics, including on ethnicity. At this event the ethnicity pay gap will be considered and prioritised in the context of the full list of gaps on ethnicity identified by stakeholders.

The Scottish Government's changes to LBTT prioritises support for first-time buyers and assisting people as they progress through the property market. Due to the higher zero rate threshold under LBTT and lower house prices in Scotland, approximately two-thirds of first-time buyers in Scotland do not pay any LBTT, which has taken over 25,000 additional house purchases out of tax altogether since its introduction.

Future tax decisions are a matter for the Draft Budget which will be published on the 14 December.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information broken down by supplier type. However we have provided, in Table 1, the most recent figures available (October 2017) of our 10 day payment performance, by Directorate General. We do not hold the information by department.

Table 1

According to figures obtained from the Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) advertising portal, the number of SMEs being awarded contracts in 2016 that can be used by each Scottish Government directorate is recorded in Table 2. These figures include multi supplier frameworks that are available for use by multiple directorates.

As many contracts are multi supplier frameworks and can be used across the Scottish Government and other public bodies, we can only provide information on the percentage of suppliers winning awards, not on contract value associated with individual directorates.

Table 2

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The Prompt Payment Code is administered by the Chartered Institute of Credit Management on behalf of the UK Government. The voluntary Code covers businesses throughout Scotland and the rest of the UK. Code signatories and details of the Code standards can be found here: http://www.promptpaymentcode.org.uk/

However the Scottish Government encourages individual companies to change their approach and practices – through, for example, the Scottish Business Pledge which remains focused on boosting business success, growth and productivity and is an important part of the Scottish Government’s approach to working with business to make Scotland a more productive and fairer country.