Chamber and committees

My officials are currently working with the Department for Transport, HS2 Ltd and Network Rail to identify options that could be implemented between 2019 and 2029 to improve journey times, capacity, resilience and reliability on routes between England and Scotland.

The High Speed Rail Scotland study, published on 21 March 2016, considered the viability of a Maglev system in Scotland. This study, which was undertaken in line with Transport Scotland’s Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG), found the Maglev system to be less favourable than a number of the other options being considered.

As I said in the debate on 21 June, the Scottish Information Commissioner who is completely independent of government is already scrutinising our FOI performance. We are co-operating fully with that scrutiny and have a programme of action under way to improve our performance. At this stage we do not think any alternative independent inquiry would be more effective than the Commissioner’s current intervention, given the Commissioner’s independence, expert knowledge and experience.

It is not for Government to tell Committees of this Parliament how to conduct their business or what business to conduct but if any committee decides now is the right time to review the FOI legislation then we would welcome that and would be fully cooperative.

We continue to look for opportunities to release information proactively. For example, from 3 July we have begun publishing all FOI releases as requests are answered.

The Scottish Government is determined to deliver excellence and equity in education and driving improvements in numeracy is a priority.

We are investing £1.3 million over the period 2014 to 2018 in professional learning opportunities for both primary and secondary teachers through the Numeracy and Mathematics Hub which provides free learning resources and support to teachers. In addition, we have published new curriculum benchmarks for mathematics and numeracy in order to clarify the standards expected.

Numeracy is a priority in our Attainment Challenge programme and in the National Improvement Framework and the Scottish Attainment Challenge is providing £750 million during the course of this Parliament to tackle the poverty-related attainment gap.

Our Making Maths Count initiative seeks to boost the mathematics achievement of our young people. We are working closely with a range of partners to take forward the recommendations from the Making Maths Count report on raising levels of mathematics confidence and skills.

The Scottish Government wrote to the European Commission on 21 June to request an extension.

The Broad options for upgraded and high speed railways to the North of England and Scotland Report, published by HS2 Ltd in March 2016, contained an economic analysis of the benefits that the HS2 rail line could bring to Scotland. The report acknowledges that further analysis would be needed to understand all potential benefits. Further benefit analysis work is currently being undertaken by Transport Scotland and Network Rail.

The development of the video games sector in Scotland is led by Creative Scotland and Scottish Enterprise.

Creative Scotland is developing the video games industry through two main routes - firstly through support for projects that fit the criteria of its Open Project Funding and secondly through its Creative Industries Strategy (http://www.creativescotland.com/resources/our-publications/plans-and-strategy-documents/creative-industries-strategy-2016-17). This strategy works across all 16 sub-sectors of the creative industries, including video games, and makes low-cost targeted interventions that are designed to grow sustainable creative businesses across sectors or places.

In the last 4 years (to the end of 2015-2016) Scottish Enterprise has invested nearly £10 million (£9.8 million) in 38 video games companies of which more than half (£5.5 million) was through the Scottish Investment Bank and the remainder largely split between innovation grants and regional selective assistance.

The refreshed digital strategy was published on 22 March 2017. This is a strategy for the long term and delivery requires involvement from all parts of Scotland. Clear progress has been made towards delivering positive outcomes supporting economic development, public service reform, cyber resilience and social inclusion. The strategy contains a measurement framework and most of the indicators can be updated annually. A performance update will be published each year to provide details on progress.

The following are notable achievements since March:

• The Digital Growth Fund has been announced and will enable businesses to enhance their capabilities by accessing digital skills training for their employees. The delivery model is being developed and it is expected the first loans for businesses will be available later this year.

• A public consultation on the proposed intervention area for our broadband R100 programme has been launched.

• As the first pan-public sector tech accelerator of its kind, CivTech® is driving innovation in public services, empowering the public sector to act differently, and creating economic development opportunities. CivTech® 2.0 went live in May with a new set of diverse challenges.

• We are also strengthening the public sector’s ability to anticipate and mitigate the risk of cyber attack by promoting the uptake of Cyber Essentials as a baseline standard to support the digital security of all organisations.

• In May, SG welcomed the development of digital rights for children and young people and these insights are being developed further to encompass digital citizenship for everyone.

The Scottish Government is unaware of any cities and regions in Scotland that are in receipt of local deals from the UK Government. In relation to City Deals however the Scottish Government has committed up to £760 million over the next 10 to 20 years for City Region Deals in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness, matching and in some cases exceeding the financial contributions made by the UK Government. Investment in improving digital connectivity is a key element of City Region Deals recognising that effective broadband and mobile coverage is essential so that businesses can fully exploit commercial opportunities and international markets.

The Scottish Government work across portfolios to ensure that city and region deal funded projects are aligned with the Scottish Government’s economic and digital strategic objectives to ensure value for money with a focus on innovation increased productivity and inclusive growth.

The Scottish Government has committed up to £760 million over the next 10 to
20 years for City Region Deals in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness, matching and in some cases exceeding the financial contributions made by the UK Government. Investment in improving digital connectivity is a key element of City Region Deals recognising that effective broadband and mobile coverage is essential so that businesses can fully exploit commercial opportunities and international markets.

The Scottish Government work across portfolios to ensure that city and region deal funded projects are aligned with the Scottish Government’s economic and digital and strategic objectives to ensure value for money with a focus on innovation increased productivity and inclusive growth.

(a) The DigitalBoost programme was a national programme of digital engagement and business support funded via the Digital Scotland Business Excellence Partnership and delivered by Scotland's Enterprise Agencies and Business Gateway in partnership. The Scottish Government has committed to continuation of the programme into 2017-18 with support to be delivered nationally and targeted to the digital skills needs of SMEs in each region.

(b) The Digital Economy Business Survey (DEBS) which provides the data for the Digital Economy Maturity Index (DEMI) will be carried out this summer, with the DEBS 2017 report due to publish by the end of the year. The survey has been updated to take account of the numerous digital advances which have taken place since the original survey in 2014. However to ensure robust comparison with the 2014 results, the questions in the survey which provide the DEMI indicators have not been changed to ensure a consistent approach to measuring digital maturity. A Scotland wide approach has been taken to gathering the data via the survey, with an additional target for businesses in rural Scotland particularly the South of Scotland to help support the South of Scotland enterprise vehicle, once established, to respond to the needs of businesses in that the area.

(c) The Digital Scotland Business Excellence Partnership has provided almost £500k over the past year to fund a Cyber Resilience support programme delivered via Scotland's Enterprise agencies which included a Cyber Resilience Voucher. 200 targeted companies received up to £1,500 to earn Cyber Essentials accreditation, the GCHQ endorsed training course. Scotland’s enterprise and skills agencies and business support organisations already promote cyber essentials as the recommended baseline level of cyber resilience and will continue to do so, we are working closely with the National Cyber Resilience Leaders’ Board and other key partners to develop plans to promote even greater uptake of Cyber Essentials accreditation across Scotland’s public, private and third sectors.

(d) There are clear connections between Scotland’s Digital Strategy and the work being taken forward by Scotland’s Creative Industries Partnership. The digital and creative sectors are naturally aligned, that’s why the Scottish Government are working to ensure that activities in the creative sector are closely aligned with the actions in the digital strategy, particularly with regards to skills, in order to effectively support the development of Scotland’s creative industries.

Whilst the introduction of new air routes at Scotland's airports is primarily the responsibility of the airports, the Scottish Government and its agencies work closely with the airports to maximise route development opportunities. In the pursuit of routes which are important for enhancing Scotland's economy by providing improved business connectivity and increased inbound tourism, the Scottish Government works with the airports and interested airlines to provide detailed information on route potential and on Scotland as an attractive destination. The Scottish Government also works with airlines in providing cooperative marketing packages which help to market an air service in the initial years, which are crucial for the longer-term sustainability of the service.

This assistance from the Scottish Government has helped Scotland's airports secure prestigious new services in recent years such as Edinburgh's services to the Middle East and Glasgow's services to North America.

Our plans for Air Departure Tax (ADT), which we intend to introduce in April 2018, are designed to further improve the competitiveness of Scotland's aviation sector. We are committed to reducing ADT by 50% over the course of the current Scottish Parliament and abolishing the tax when public finances permit us to do so.