Chamber and committees

A series of discussions have taken place with employers, trade unions and staff associations on pension reforms since the current administration came to power in May 2011.

The outcome of negotiations between the UK Government and the Teachers’ Pensions Scheme for England and Wales have still to be finalised. However, Scottish Ministers will shortly begin negotiations with trade union and employer representatives on long term reforms of the Scottish Teachers’ Superannuation Scheme.

The Scottish Government requested confirmation from the UK Government of the cost ceiling for the Scottish Teachers’ Superannuation Scheme on 22 December 2011. A response has still to be received.

The last completed valuation of the Scottish Teachers’ Superannuation Scheme was published in 2008 and covered the period 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2005.

The next valuation of the Scottish Teachers’ Superannuation Scheme will be undertaken as part of the longer term scheme reform.

The Scottish Government intend to introduce a tiered member contribution structure with effect from 1 April 2012 by means of a Scottish Statutory Instrument which will be laid in Parliament on 2 March 2012. The Scottish Government share public sector workers’ concerns about the level and reasons for these increases, which is why we have publicly opposed them. However, the UK Government has said that it will reduce the Scottish Budget by £100 million in 2012-13 alone if we do not implement these increases.

The additional income raised from the public health supplement will contribute to the decisive shift to preventative spend measures. The government will include in future draft budgets an assessment of the progress being made towards a more preventative approach.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-03546 on 8 November 2011. 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-05784 on 29 February 2012. 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.

Under the DETECT strand of Scotland's Serious Organised Crime Strategy, "Letting Our Communities Flourish" the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency SCDEA have produced a National Strategic Intelligence Assessment in relation to all forms of human trafficking impacting on Scotland. A summary of this assessment is available on its website and confirms that the covert nature of this hideous crime makes it difficult to quantify the scale of the problem.

The most current data available for Scotland from the United Kingdom Human Trafficking Centre, which is central repository for all data relating to trafficking in human beings, is shown in the following table. The data relates to potential and confirmed victims who have entered the National Referral Mechanism and cover the period 1 April 2009 to 10 February 2012.

Number of Potential and Confirmed Victims^1,2

Notes:

1. Source - UKHTC

2. Includes adults and children

3. Data is as at 10 February 2012 and there are outstanding decisions re reasonable and conclusive grounds still to be made for all years.