Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-30440 on 23 March 2016. 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.

We have made national estimates on the cost of increasing wages to the living wage level. This analysis has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 57809).

We encourage all employers to pay the living wage and for local partners to expand on this initiative to include other groups of workers where this is affordable, sustainable and meets local priorities.

Information on when contracts have been signed is given in the following table:

Project	Planned Date	Actual Date
Ayr Academy	Q3 2015	7 January 2016
Dalbeattie Learning Campus	Q3 2015	25 January 2018
Newbattle High School	Q1 2015	12 February 2016
Kelso High School	Q2 2015	19 February 2016
Elgin High School	Q2 2015	25 February 2016
Baldragon Academy, Dundee	Q1 2015	26 February 2016
Inverclyde Care Home	Q1 2016	26 February 2016
William McIllvaney Campus, Kilmarnock	Q1 2016	24 February 2016

Planned dates reflect the agreed point where projects became impacted by classification issues.

A further four projects are scheduled to reach financial close in the coming weeks and information on those projects is given in the following table:

 

Current Planned	Planned Date	Actual or Current Planned Date
Barrhead High School	Q3 2015	21 March 2016
Our Lady and St Patrick's High School	Q3 2015	24 March 2016
Oban High School and Campbeltown Grammar	Q1 2016	24 March 2016
NHS Lothian Partnership Centre Bundle	Q1 2015	29 March 2016

The Scottish Government provides revenue support for these projects with a value of over £200 million. This support has been adjusted to protect local authorities and NHS boards from the inflationary pressures incurred through delays. These revenue cost pressures, actively managed by Scottish Futures Trust in collaboration with procuring local authorities and NHS boards and with the hub companies, have been offset by a reduction in the cost of finance during 2015 and early 2016 leading to a negligible budget impact across the eight projects.

It is currently a matter for individual NHS boards to commission directly with the independent adult hospices within their geographical area. Chief Executive Letter (CEL) 12 (2012) makes it clear that NHS boards should fund 50% of agreed running costs of independent adult hospices. More detail about the current planning arrangements is set out in CEL 12 (2012), http://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/mels/CEL2012_12.pdf.

From 1 April 2016 commissioning responsibility will transfer to the new health and social care partnerships. The Scottish Government has also committed to review hospice funding by the end of 2016 to look at addressing the disparity between children and adult hospices as part of implementation of the strategic framework for action on palliative and end of life care.

National Insurance policy is a reserved matter. The introduction of the single-tier pension through the Pension Act 2014 led to the abolition of the ‘contracted-out rebate’ by the UK Government. The abolition of the rebate will lead to increased costs for employers, including all public sector employers. The change takes effect from April 2016.

The UK Government made no adjustment to spending plans to recognise increased costs on public sector employers. As explained in Scotland’s Spending Plans and Draft Budget 2016-17, published in December 2015, financial settlements reflect the overarching challenges facing public bodies including a range of cost pressures. All public bodies are contributing towards our ability to live within the resources that are available to us.

As set out in the answer to question S4W-30715 on 22 March 2016, Chief Executive Letter 12 (2012) sets out the current planning arrangements between NHS boards and independent adult hospices http://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/mels/CEL2012_12.pdf.

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.

<>St Margaret of Scotland Hospice and Scottish Government officials first met to discuss funding on 13 February 2007. Most recent meeting was on 23 December 2015.

Palliative and end of life care will be the responsibility of the new Integration Joint Boards (IJBs) and so fair and proportionate resources should transfer to the IJBs. The Scottish Government will provide strategic commissioning guidance on palliative and end of life care to health and social care partnerships by summer 2016 and has also committed to review hospice funding by the end of 2016.

National Insurance policy is a reserved matter. The introduction of the single-tier pension through the Pension Act 2014 led to the abolition of the ‘contracted-out rebate’ by the UK Government. The abolition of the rebate will lead to increased costs for employers, including all public sector employers. The change takes effect from April 2016.

The following table provides a breakdown of the estimated cost of the abolition of national insurance contracted out rates, broken down by sector.

Sector	Employer ERNIC Increase 2016-17 (£m)
NHS includes: Agenda for Change (AfC) Staff; Medical and Dental Staff; Senior Managers	83
Teachers (and associated teaching professionals)	42
Police (Officers and civilian staff costs included)	20
Fire	4
Core Scottish Government, Non-departmental Public Bodies, Public Corporations, Departments and Agencies. (all bodies subject to the public sector pay policy)	20
Total	169

These estimates were calculated in June 2015, based on latest available paybill information available to Scottish Government sponsor areas.