Chamber and committees

Since 2005 the Scottish Government has received 6 reports related to financial propriety in relation to projects funded from our International Development Fund. All were fully investigated and dealt with appropriately by the organisation in question. No Scottish Government funds were lost.

As I have made clear previously, the Scottish Government is deeply concerned by the recent reports of serious misconduct within the international development and aid sector. We will not tolerate any form of human rights abuses or misconduct, wherever they take place.

We expect all partner organisations to monitor their work closely, and to be open, honest and transparent with us, especially on projects funded by the public sector.

Therefore I wrote to all international NGOs we fund to seek their assurances that they have sufficient safeguarding policies to protect vulnerable groups in place. Since 11 February 2018, and in response to this letter, four organisations have notified us of historic conduct issues. I have spoken with each of the organisations concerned, reinforcing the Scottish Government's position that we will not tolerate such behaviour, and that we expect all incidents of abuse and misconduct to reported to the appropriate authorities both here, and if the incidents occurred abroad, in that country.

In March 2018, the Scottish Government published its safeguarding policy , which sets out very clearly our expectations on standards from those we fund. We have also recently revised the terms of our Grant Offers, to ensure that any organisation we fund has safeguarding policies in place, and that they report all incidents of misconduct to the appropriate authorities both in Scotland and (if necessary) abroad.

The revised Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts have not changed their assessment of long term economic growth for the UK, with the OBR continuing to forecast lower growth in each of the next five years relative to 2017. Brexit remains a key risk to the economic outlook. The Scottish Fiscal Commission produce independent forecasts of the Scottish economy and they will produce their next forecasts in May.

We have robust systems of regulation, a strong legal framework and a commitment to transparency.

The protection of vulnerable beneficiaries is at the top of the risk prioritisation framework used by the Scottish Charity Regulator to take swift and proportionate regulatory action.

The legal duty of all charity trustees is to act in the best interests of their charity. This includes ensuring appropriate safeguarding policies and procedures are in place.

Legally, all charities must act with due care and diligence. For all charities, this means making sure that where they are working with vulnerable children and adults, they have the appropriate policies and procedures in place to make sure that these people are kept safe.

I have written to all international NGOs receiving funding from the International Development Fund to seek discussions on their safeguarding policies to protect vulnerable groups and we will review all funding applications going forward. We are also in regular dialogue with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator and the UK Government on their own activity on these matters.

I attended a meeting with Scotland-based international NGOs in Edinburgh on 28 February, and opened a discussion on safeguarding and how improvements could be made was held. The Scottish Government also took part in discussions at the Safeguarding Summit on 5 March 2018 which was co-hosted by the Charity Commission and UK Government’s Department for International Development, and involved UK international development charities, regulatory bodies, government and independent safeguarding experts. The outcome of these discussions on how to improve safeguarding within charities and by staff abroad, and to commit to concrete steps that will ensure effective safeguarding in the sector, will inform decisions on how we continue to take this matter forward.

In the event of any alleged incident, we would work with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) or the relevant body in any investigation, and act on its findings. We have not been contacted by OSCR in relation to allegations of abuse by organisations funded by the Scottish Government to work overseas.

All applications for funding are assessed by external experts, and grant applicants must include audited or independently verified accounts, as well as a risk assessment and risk management plan for their proposed project.

Each successful applicant receives a grant offer letter, which amongst other things requests formal, six-monthly progress reports in addition to regular routine monitoring. We scrutinise these project reports against the five Criteria for Evaluating Development Assistance established by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Development Assistance Committee (OECD DAC), and we work closely with grant holders to ensure that progress is satisfactory against agreed objectives and budget. Only once a report is satisfactory will we release the next tranche of project funds.

Standard grant conditions include that:

- grantees shall return funds not used for the approved purposes to the Scottish Government

- grantees must provide six-monthly reports according to guidelines issued by the Scottish Government; and payments will be released only once these are approved.

- the Scottish Government will only pay for what grantees actually spend in a given financial year – the Scottish Government may ask grantees to return any funds not spent by 31 March

- unspent funding in any one year may not automatically be carried over to the subsequent year unless prior permission has been obtained from the Scottish Government and revised budgets have been approved

- the grant is not to be used for party political advocacy or activity.

- specific conditions on random source expenditure checks

- January reporting point requirement, in addition to the two six monthly reporting requirements, specifically on the project's current/forecasted position on budgets, to enable the Scottish Government grant manager to make early decisions about any budgetary changes that have arisen, and to agree those changes or claw back in any resulting underspend.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of people who have assisted a terminally ill partner to die. Should such an incident lead to the recording of a homicide by Police Scotland or the prosecution of an individual through the courts, it will be included in the National Statistics on Homicide or the National Statistics on Criminal Proceedings respectively. However the information received for these publications does not specify whether the homicide involved an individual assisting a terminally ill partner to die.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-14613 on 2 March 2018. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The Scottish Government is very concerned about those people who are forced into problem debt because their household income is not enough to sustain a basic standard of living, and is doing all it can to combat it. However, it must recognised that in many cases, people are being forced into debt because of the UK Government's programme of austerity and welfare cuts.

The Scottish Government is, nevertheless, doing a great deal to maximise household income for the most vulnerable, having developed a number of highly successful mechanisms to assist those with low incomes dealing with problem debt, including -

•  a Debt Arrangement Scheme: the UK’s only statutory debt management scheme that protects debtor’s homes and prevents further action being taken by creditors, by freezing all interest and charges and these are written off on successful completion;
•  a Minimal Asset Process bankruptcy: to provide streamlined and low cost access to debt relief for those with low incomes and assets;
•  a moratorium (or ‘breathing space’) for those facing debt issues: allowing time for options to be considered without fear of further action; and
•  the provision of high quality advice for those in debt, which is central to all statutory debt mechanisms in Scotland.

As part of its drive to reduce problem personal debt in Scotland, the Scottish Government has also been working closely with the UK Government on the devolution of the funding of debt advice to Scotland, as well as over the recommendations made in the Independent Review of the Funding of Debt Advice in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, by Peter Wyman in January 2018.