Chamber and committees

Devolution of powers over air passenger duty (APD) provides an opportunity to put in place new arrangements which better support the Scottish Government's objective to boost international connectivity and help generate sustainable growth. The Scottish Government is committed to delivering a 50% reduction in the overall burden of air passenger duty by the end of this Parliament, with the reduction beginning in April 2018, and we will work across the Parliament to do so.

The Scottish Government recognises that disabled persons’ parking places play a vital role in enabling disabled people to carry out day-to-day activities that non-disabled people can take for granted. The disabled person’s parking places provided for blue badge holders at their home and near to shops, services and facilities are generally located close to entrances reducing the required walking distance that many disabled people may find difficulty with. The Scottish Government welcomes all initiatives that highlight how important disabled persons’ parking places are to the lives of Blue Badge holders.

Transport Scotland officials are setting up a stakeholder group with parking managers from all local authorities in Scotland and they will discuss how social media can be used in this regard at the first meeting of the group.

The role of the Scottish Ministers, under the Disabled Persons’ Parking Places (Scotland) Act 2009 (“the 2009 Act”), extends to:

making regulations in relation to the content of the applications made by relevant persons;

making regulations relating to the content of the report Local Authorities are obliged to produce under section 11(1) of the 2009 Act; and,

preparing a report compiling and collating the information provided by Local Authorities under section 11(1) and laying this report before the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish Ministers can also make regulations relating to the content of the reports.

A Scottish Ministers report, for reporting year 2015-16, is due to be laid before parliament by 30 September 2016. It is for local authorities to consider how best to meet their duties.

Transport Scotland officials are setting up a stakeholder group with parking managers from all local authorities in Scotland and issues relating to the Disabled Persons’ Parking Places (Scotland) Act 2009 will be discussed at that meeting.

The Scottish Government has met regularly with The City of Edinburgh Council throughout the year. Since July officials have facilitated a series of workshops looking at each of the proposed Deal's themes - Housing, Transport, Digital, Employability and Skills, Culture and Tourism, Low Carbon, and Innovation. The most recent workshop was held on 9 September 2016 and it focussed on the housing proposals.

The Scottish Government is absolutely committed to supporting a City Region Deal for Edinburgh and South East Scotland and has been consistent in its support for a considerable amount of time. We were proactive in securing a commitment from the UK Government to commence tripartite discussions and we have been working closely with the city region partners as they have developed their proposals. I have also met with the UK Government's Lord Dunlop on a number of occasions to discuss the proposed Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal.

We are currently engaging in detailed discussion with the city region partners and the UK Government to further understand the proposals and to explore how they can make a clear and measurable significant long-term contribution to prosperity and fairness for the region and for Scotland.

The Scottish Government publishes the Gross Expenditure on Research and Development (GERD) report on an annual basis. The latest report was published on 30 March 2016 and can be found at: http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0049/00498541.pdf

The following table shows how much was spent on research and development, performed in Scotland, for each year between 2006 and 2014. Note that GERD includes expenditure by Higher Education, Business, Government and the Private-Non-Profit sector.

Gross Expenditure on Research & Development, performed within Scotland, 2006 to 2014

Source: Gross Expenditure on Research and Development 2014, Scottish Government

Notes:

1. Expenditure figures for the private-non-profit sector are only included from 2011 onwards.

2. Expenditure figures are in current prices.

The First Minister announced a review of the enterprise and skills support on 25 May 2016. The Enterprise and Skills review is currently considering the role of the support offered by our enterprise and skills agencies, including Scottish Enterprise, the Scottish Funding Council, and Skills Development Scotland, with a view to ensuring that they are delivering the joined-up support that young people, universities, colleges, training providers, businesses and the workforce need.

On 15 September I announced Minister’s decision to take forward the Review in two stages. The EU Referendum result has affected the context since the start of the Review, and the two stage approach allows us to take account of this and build fully on stakeholder views.

The first stage will conclude shortly and set out the key recommendations for change across a number of areas highlighted as part of the Review. Phase two will take forward consideration of these recommendations with key partners. The timetable for this will be set out alongside the Phase one outcomes. I expect to announce the conclusions of phase one shortly.

We are currently developing arrangements for a ‘Returners’ project so that women can get help updating skills and knowledge and employers can retain skilled staff after a career break. Further details will be announced in due course.

Scottish Enterprise has indicated that its Decommissioning Action plan will be launched by the end of December 2016.

We are currently engaging with partners to refresh the digital strategy. I can confirm that we remain committed to building on mygov.scot as the single, but not exclusive, point of access to public information and services for citizens and businesses in Scotland. This will enable us to further reduce the number of domain names being used by Scottish Government. Mygov.scot has already enabled us to offer a coordinated information service for businesses, replacing both the Scottish Business Portal and the Finance Hub. I would anticipate that the process of consolidation will accelerate as we continue to improve the online information and services available to businesses across Scotland.