Chamber and committees

HMRC Cumbernauld is a Whitehall department and as such this is a reserved matter.

However, when HMRC announced the next stage of their building our future transformation programme in November 2015, the First Minister personally spoke to the second permanent secretary at HMRC to relay her grave concerns over these job losses.

This is a worrying situation for staff and we are fully committed to working with all interested parties at local, national and UK level, including the trades unions, to mitigate the impact of HMRC office closures in Scotland.

This is a matter for Revenue Scotland, which is a non-ministerial department and officeholder in the Scottish administration. I have asked Elaine Lorimer, Chief Executive of Revenue Scotland, to respond to the member directly.

Membership of the Scottish Donation and Transplant Group is published on the Scottish Government website at: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Health/Services/OrganDonation/STG/STGmembership

The next meeting of the Scottish Donation and Transplant Group will be held on 28 September 2016. The Chair will set the agenda for this meeting with input from group members nearer the time.

Minutes and papers of the Scottish Donation and Transplant Group are published on the Scottish Government website: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Health/Services/OrganDonation/STG/STG%20Papers/SDTGMinutes

The Scottish Government is currently considering the implementation of the Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016. It is anticipated that the appointment of inspectors of funeral directors will start once relevant regulations come into force, which is not likely be before 2018. The terms and conditions for the appointment are likely to be similar to those for the current Inspector of Crematoria who was appointed in 2015.

The terms of the review will be developed in tandem with the procedure to appoint inspectors under the Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016 and in consultation with representatives of the funeral industry.

Applications for the 2016-17 round of funding in the Volunteering Support Fund opened on 17 February 2016 and closed on 31 March 2016. There are no plans to extend the application period.

The Volunteering Support Fund (VSF) provides £1.1 million per annum to support delivery of the following outcomes, which were agreed with the third sector:

Third sector organisations create new volunteering projects, increasing the diversity of volunteers, especially those from disadvantaged groups.

Third sector organisations provide improved opportunities for skills and personal development through volunteering.

Third sector organisations improve their capacity to deploy and support volunteers;

By involving volunteers; third sector organisations enhance the services they deliver to better meet the needs of the communities they operate within.

Following a consultation of a wide range of stakeholders the Scottish Government set out the broad criteria for support from the VSF in the tender document as part of the standard Scottish Government procurement arrangements. The detailed eligibility criteria were set out by Voluntary Action Fund (VAF) in their tender submission to the Scottish Government.

The VSF has been in operation for four years and the operation of the fund is discussed in regular engagement between Scottish Government and VAF. Regular reports are submitted to the Scottish Government in compliance with the terms and conditions of the contract and recommendations have consistently been of a minor technical nature. The Scottish Government has received no representations seeking a review of the eligibility criteria.

The current Volunteer Support Fund will cease on 31 March 2017 and the level of support provided for the fund in subsequent years will be carefully considered as part of the forthcoming spending review process. We will look at how the fund has operated, the impact it has had, what would contribute to improvement and consider what changes, if any, ought to be considered to support volunteering in the period ahead. In this context we would expect to consider the focus, eligibility criteria and outcomes of any future funding.

<>Under the terms of the Volunteering Support Fund (VSF) contract between the Scottish Government and Voluntary Action Fund (VAF), the VSF is promoted by VAF on their website; in social media and by emails. The VAF promotional material also provides details of how potential applicants can contact VAF staff for help with the application process.