Chamber and committees

I am pleased to confirm that the first batch of National BPS Scheme loan offers started to be posted out on Friday 23 August 2019 to 16,570 farmers and crofters. Already 7,500 farmers and crofters have accepted their loan offer.

This means 95% of the currently eligible 2019 claim population of farmers and crofters in Scotland will have received a loan offer before the end of August. Compared to the initial loan offers issued in 2018 this is an increase of over 2,500 farmers and crofters receiving a loan offer this year. These offers are worth over 389.4 million to the rural economy. The official exchange rate will not be announced until the end of September but based on an average August rate this is around £355.2 million.

There are around 800 BPS/Greening claimants to whom we have been unable to make a loan offer yet. My officials are working extremely hard to ensure all remaining eligible farmers and crofters receive their loan offer as soon as possible.

In line with my commitment the majority of loan offers are being made at 95% of anticipated 2019 CAP Basic Payment Scheme and Greening payment, capped at a maximum of 150,000. This is an increase of 5% in the percentage of payment offered last year, meaning more farmers and crofters will receive more of their entitlement through the loan scheme as early as we are able to process responses to the offer of loan.

We increased the level of loan payment to address concerns around the risk of a Brexit No Deal in October and to maintain vital cash flow within the rural economy. We would encourage businesses to consider how they can use these payments to meet ongoing costs and support investment decisions but also consider how it might help them prepare for leaving the EU.

The cap is there to ensure that the eventual CAP payment should be large enough to permit us to recover the loan. This level of loan also ensures that no one is at risk of breaching their State Aid limit.

We expect to start making payments in early October to those who apply before the deadline included in their letter. We cannot pay loans any earlier because Basic Payment Scheme entitlements are set in euros. Under EU legislation and the euro exchange rate for calculating Direct payments 2019 payments will not be known until 30 September 2019. The rate is based on an average of the European Central Bank exchange rates set in September.

The official EU CAP payment window does not open until 1 December. We are offering farmers and crofters access to up to 95% of their CAP BPS and Greening payment ahead of this.

We offer loans in Scotland rather than advance payments because there are specific EU rules around advance payments which at this stage of processing 2019 claims would mean we could not make advance payments. By offering loans from domestic funding we are not constrained by EU rules.

We do not offer loans at 100% of claim value because at the time of calculating loan offers we have carried out no validation on the claim and do not know whether there has been any change to the land eligibility or indeed whether all payment entitlements are available to be paid on.

The new Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) has improved our confidence in basing loan offers on un-validated claim data. However the level of over declaration found at land and livestock inspections in recent years is still around 2%.

The value of loans will be deducted from the farmers and crofters 2019 CAP BPS payment once that has been made.? This is the approach taken to the previous BPS loan schemes.

If we were to pay loans at 100% then we would likely need to recover directly from more businesses. As well as adding an additional administration cost it would also deflect the positive response that the advance loans receive from the industry to date.

Where loans are fully recovered from the farmers and crofters 2019 CAP BPS payment, Scottish Government will meet interest costs in compliance with state aid rules.

State Aid refers to the use national resources to support and incentivise businesses. There are many different State Aid regulations. The regulation which applies in this instance is 1408/2013 which is the Agricultural de-minimis Regulation.

Agricultural de minimis allows farmers and crofters to receive 20,000 over a three-year fiscal rolling period. For the National Loan Schemes it is the interest foregone (calculated at market rates) and not the actual loan amount that is the State aid element.

We include an estimate on the total amount of state aid farmers and crofters have received from the national loan schemes in the current and two previous financial years in their NBPSS19 loan offer letter.

I refer the member to Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) Bib number: 60867. Table A gives the numbers for question (a); Table B gives the numbers for question (b).

These figures are also published since academic year 2014-15 on the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) website: for enrolments at https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/table-13 , and for qualifiers at https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/table-19 .

Due to the commercial nature of this information, the Scottish Government does not hold data on broadband coverage apart from that achieved through the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) Programme. However, independent broadband analysis site, thinkbroadband.com provides breakdowns of coverage percentages for fibre broadband at local authority level. The following table shows latest fibre broadband coverage percentages, which includes DSSB.

The DSSB programme does not report on percentage coverage at local authority level. Instead it reports on the number of premises now capable of accessing fibre broadband, as a direct result of the DSSB programme. These figures have also been provided.

Our forthcoming flu vaccination programme will formally begin in October 2019, with a public awareness campaign, and runs until March 2020.

The vaccination programme will provide everyone who is eligible the opportunity to receive the flu vaccination for free through the NHS. The following people are eligible:

• Those aged over 65
• Those under 65 with a health condition (for example diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease or asthma resulting in regular use of an inhaler)
• Pregnant women
• Healthcare workers
• Children aged 2 – 5 (and not yet in school)
• Primary school children (vaccination delivered at school)

The vaccines that have been procured for Scotland for the forthcoming season are in line with the recommendations of the independent expert ‘Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’ (JCVI). Health Protection Scotland have worked with Health Board Leads to allocate vaccines appropriately between the boards.

The following vaccines will be available for use in the groups outlined below:

Individuals aged 65 years and over will receive adjuvanted Trivalent Inactivated Vaccine (aTIV) (Fluad ®) or cell based Quadrivalent Inactivated Vaccine (QIVc) (Flucelvax Tetra®). Both vaccines are considered by the JCVI to be equally effective for this cohort.

Individuals aged 18-64 years with at risk conditions will receive either QIVc or egg based Quadrivalent Inactivated Vaccine (QIVe). Both vaccines are considered by the JCVI to be equally effective for this cohort

Healthcare workers (HCWs) will be offered QIVe through Health Boards to support their vaccination programme.

2-5 year olds not yet in school, all primary school aged children, and those in clinical risk groups under age 18, will receive Quadrivalent live attenuated intranasal vaccine Fluenz Tetra ® (LAIV). As this vaccine has a shorter shelf life than other vaccines it will be subject to phased delivery to ensure ‘in date’ vaccine is available throughout the season; this is the case across the UK as the vaccine for this programme is procured on behalf of Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland by Public Health England (PHE).

The programmes are anticipated to have sufficient vaccine procured and supplied and will be subject to ongoing management at a local level. We will continue to monitor supply as we approach and go through the season.

Health Board Immunisation Coordinators are in place to help address any local issues, with support at national level from Scottish Government and key partner Health Protection Scotland.

The flu vaccine remains the best protection against flu and we would encourage everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated.

The next wave of the Inpatient Experience Survey will commence in mid-2020, with fieldwork starting in early 2021. The Inpatient Experience Survey is one of four patient experience surveys carried out by the Scottish Government. The timings of this survey have been amended to avoid an overlap with the Health and Care Experience Survey fieldwork which commences at the end of 2019. Changing the timing of the Inpatient Survey by a year will provide a better balance to the wider Scottish Care Experience Programme, minimising the pressure on participants who may be asked to contribute to more than one experience survey and consequently may improve response rates.

The Scottish Government has no plans to introduce statutory regulations on the fees set by Property Factors.

All property factors must comply with a code of conduct which sets out minimum standards of practice in the delivery of services to homeowners. This includes a requirement to ensure transparency in financial and charging arrangements and when making repairs and maintenance arrangements.

A homeowner can apply to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber) where they have an unresolved complaint under the code or with their property factor duties, including charges that are being made.

A property factor’s arrangement is between two or more sharing owners therefore property factors do not make charges to tenants.

One of the key drivers of high quality ELC is a well-trained, professional and skilled workforce. It is important that we value our workforce and support their commitment to professional development. Our Quality Action Plan published in 2017 sets out a number of actions we are taking to support and improve quality and establish our National Standard – quality criteria that will apply to all providers delivering funded ELC from August 2020.

As part of our workforce development programme we have already delivered the National Induction Resource (Action 3) which was launched on 20 May 2019 and is hosted on the Scottish Social Services Council website.

Our National Directory of Continuous Professional Learning was launched on 20 March 2019 to help the ELC sector identify developmental support available to them once qualified.

We are also developing a package of online continuous professional learning modules which will be available to all ELC workers. The national programme will focus on areas where practice and/or existing opportunities for learning need to be strengthened, as reflected in Education Scotland and Care Inspectorate inspections. It will also seek to address barriers to learning through virtual and distance models, thus encouraging uptake and retention of new and existing staff.

We expect South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE) to be an exemplar of fair work when it is established on 1 April 2020. My first strategic guidance letter will make clear that Scottish Ministers expect fair work to be embedded from the outset. Fair work has been set as an essential competency of the Chair and we will make similar requirements of the Chief Executive and members.

Other measures we expect SOSE to take will include:

• Becoming an accredited living wage employer at the earliest opportunity;
• Addressing fair work in its action plan on which it will consult;
• Working with organisations representing its staff to implement the model of the Scottish Government’s agreement with the civil service trade unions to embed fair work in its operating practices; and
• Taking the learning of the initial roll out of the Fair Work First project that Scottish Enterprise is taking forward so that grants offered by the new agency support jobs that are paid at least the living wage and do not have inappropriate zero hours contracts.