Chamber and committees

The majority of the payments for the 2016 National Basic Payment Support Scheme will be paid and recovered before the end of the financial year 2016-2017, therefore the net spend at 31 March 2017 cannot be estimated at this time.

The funding breakdown for the scheme equates to £54 million expected to be recovered throughout the financial year from prior year loans, with the remainder to be met by underspends that will emerge from the budget monitoring management process.

The Scottish Government will publish information on the full range of impacts of a 50% reduction in the overall burden of Air Passenger Duty in Scotland when we publish our proposals on how the 50% reduction should be implemented.

There have been many meetings between officials at Transport Scotland and Perth and Kinross Council to discuss the Council’s proposal to redesign the junction of the A85 Crieff Road and the A9, the primary purpose of the proposal being to enable development of land to the west of Perth.

These meetings have discussed a range of issues, including strategic land-use planning, road and bridge design standards, existing road networks and access and egress arrangements at McDiarmid Park. Transport Scotland and its operating company BEAR Scotland continue to work with Perth and Kinross Council on the development and agreement of the detailed design and delivery of the Council’s scheme as the works will take place on, adjacent to or tying into the trunk road network.

In order to assist Perth and Kinross Council with its project which links to the trunk road network, a Minute of Agreement (MoA) has been entered into by the Council and the Scottish Government. This Minute facilitates the involvement of Transport Scotland and its operating company (BEAR Scotland) in providing technical comment and/or approval to the Council (plus any site supervision requirements) for any works on, or linking to, the trunk road network.

These resources have been regularly deployed as and when required throughout the process in continuing to provide support to the Council in the delivery of its project.

The Scottish Government is aware of the potential impact on cross-border rail passenger numbers of a 50% reduction in the overall burden of Air Passenger Duty (APD) in Scotland, and is factoring this into policy decisions for the tax which will replace APD in Scotland from 1 April 2018.

Transport Scotland officials met with representatives from Virgin Trains on 19 November 2015, 17 February 2016, 20 April 2016 and 8 September 2016. The Minister for Transport and the Islands also met with representatives from Virgin Trains on 21 September 2016. During these meetings, the Scottish Government’s proposal for a 50% reduction in the overall burden of an Air Passenger Duty replacement tax by the end of the current session of the Scottish Parliament was discussed.

The loan scheme will be funded, as it was in 2015, by Financial Transactions. As the majority of loans will be paid and then recovered before the end of the 2016-17 financial year, the net expenditure at 31 March 2017 will relate only to loans that are not yet recovered. Funding sufficient to support that net expenditure is being provided from loans recovered from the 2015 scheme during the 2016-17 financial year and smaller underspends elsewhere.

I welcome the results of the Scottish Health Survey which highlighted a number of key areas where we are making progress, for example, the proportion of children of healthy weight (72 per cent) increased in the last year and for boys has increased year on year since 2011. The survey confirmed a significant reduction in smoking prevalence since 2003 (down from 28 per cent to 21 per cent) with smokers smoking fewer cigarettes on average, and in particular, the news that exposure of children to second-hand smoke in the home fell from 11 per cent in 2014 to six per cent, meeting the 2020 target announced at the launch of the smoke-free homes campaign in 2014.