Chamber and committees

Local authorities are a major delivery partner as licensing authorities for animal breeding and the sale of pets. Local authority representatives have been involved in meetings around the ongoing review of pet welfare and that will continue.

Scottish Government officials have met with representatives of Blue Cross to discuss the content of that organisation's report. The views of Blue Cross, and other animal welfare stakeholders, will be taken into consideration when taking forward the improvements to pet welfare legislation that I announced on 11 May 2017.

The Pet Animals Act 1951 and the Breeding of Dogs Act 1973, as amended, empower local authorities to charge reasonable fees for the licensing, respectively, of pet shops and dog breeding establishments. Representatives of local authorities participated in a meeting on the breeding and sale of pets on 3 June 2016 at which license fees and other related topics were discussed.

The possible standardisation of licence fees will be considered as part of the ongoing review of pet welfare, and local authorities will be involved at all stages.

The Scottish Government would encourage everyone in society, including our students, to come forward to seek help with mental health issues. We want to create a Scotland where all stigma and discrimination related to mental health is challenged, and our collective understanding of how to prevent and treat mental health problems is increased.

We support institutions and individual students in a number of ways. For example, we provide direct funding to colleges and universities, including through the Extended Learning Support fund and the Disabled Students Premium, to help them support students with a range of mental health issues, disabilities and additional learning needs.

Individual students in Higher Education, experiencing mental health difficulties, who require additional support can also apply to the Student Awards Agency Scotland for funding through the Disabled Students' Allowance.

The Scottish Government currently funds the National Union of Students Scotland’s, 'Think Positive' campaign to bring student associations and their institutions together in a formal agreement to work jointly on mental health issues on campus.

Our Mental Health Strategy, which was launched recently, contains an action to support the further development of ‘Think Positive’ and ensure consistent support for students across Scotland.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) is working directly with those colleges that need support because of their particular circumstances. The 2015-16 accounts are the first year that colleges reported under the new FRS 102 accounting standard. This means there are significant changes to how some income, expenditure, assets and liabilities are reported in the financial statements.

FRS 102 has also resulted in increased volatility from one year to the next - principally for non-government grants, which are no longer deferred but (when performance conditions are met) recognised in full in the Statement of Comprehensive Income and Expenditure.

SFC’s focus is on the underlying operating position. It is therefore important to take account of FRS 102-based adjustments for non-government grants and non-cash pension adjustments, along with exceptional items and spend of depreciation funds in calculating colleges’ underlying operating position. For example, a college may report a substantial operating deficit in its 2015-16 financial statements but the underlying position may be a surplus after taking account of these adjustments.

Against this background, the vast majority of colleges reported a near break-even underlying operating position.

SFC continues to work closely with colleges and Audit Scotland in agreeing underlying adjustments and ensuring consistency of approach in Audit Scotland’s forthcoming sector overview report.

The study estimates the number of jobs supported by exports from Scotland to the rest of the UK. Trade is two way: the rest of the UK exports to Scotland and this trade supports over 500,000 jobs in the UK economy.

Scotland does not face a choice between exporting to the UK or EU. It can, and does, do both.

The biggest threat to the Scottish economy is the hard Brexit being pursued by the UK Government that the Fraser of Allander Institute estimates could cost the country 80,000 jobs over a decade

The Scottish Government recognises that the retail sector in Scotland is transforming in response to, among other things, changes to shopping habits and through new technology. The proportion of retail businesses in the UK (with 10 or more employees) making e-commerce sales has increased from 25.8% in 2009 to 39.8% in 2015. This shift to on-line shopping, coupled with UK Government austerity measures, which served to curtail consumer confidence, and which, indirectly and directly has reduced the spending power of many consumers and, thereby, has had an impact on the sector.

We regularly engage with the Scottish Retail Consortium and other key stakeholders in the retail sector to discuss policy priorities and to better understand the challenges and opportunities that transformational change in the sector will present.

We will continue to use all levers at our disposal to ensure Scotland remains an attractive place for retailers to do business. We are maintaining a competitive business rates package in Scotland including cutting the rates poundage, limiting the extent of the large business supplement and expanding the Small Business Bonus so that it lifts 100,000 properties out of rates. We will also respond swiftly to the external review of rates led by Ken Barclay which is due to report this summer.

NHS boards have responsibility for publicising screening within their local area and for working closely with their communities to increase screening uptake. GPs also play a pivotal role in highlighting bowel screening to their patients. Scottish Government officials meet bowel screening coordinators from all NHS boards on a quarterly basis to discuss a range of issues relating to the national screening programme, including promoting bowel screening services and initiatives to improve uptake. 

We are also responding with up to £5million of funding from the Cancer Strategy being invested in our national cancer screening programmes including bowel screening to reduce inequalities and improve uptake, particularly amongst those less likely to participate in screening.

Through our on-going £41 million Detect Cancer Early programme, we aim to increase the proportion of cancers detected at an early stage through raising awareness of cancers, the importance of knowing about screening programmes and the benefits of earlier treatment. 

Furthermore, the Scottish Government is committed to introducing the new Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) into the Scottish Bowel Screening Programme by the end of 2017. The new test is considered more user friendly than the current test and is expected to help increase participation in the programme.

The Scottish Government assesses the labour market in Scotland based on a range of indicators from a range of official sources including, the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and Annual Population Survey (APS). These are published regularly by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and Scottish Government.

The LFS and APS are classed as having National Statistics status by the UK Statistics Authority and are produced consistent with International Labour Organisation definitions (ILO) for the main economic activity groups – the economically active, comprising the employed and unemployed, and the economically inactive .

The level of unemployment of 132,600, for those aged 16-64, October 2015 to September 2016, is based on the APS and comprises all persons who during the survey reference period are without work, who have been actively seeking work in the past 4 weeks and are available to start work in the next 2 weeks. It also included those who are out of work but have found a job and are waiting to start in the next 2 weeks (as set out in ILO definitions). This is the definition of unemployment used by the Scottish Government in line with ONS.

The estimate provided by SPICe includes those classed as unemployed in line with the ILO definition, but also includes an additional 190,000 individuals, aged 16-64, who are classed as economically inactive. These individuals were not in employment, available for work or actively seeking work in the reference period but indicated that they ‘wanted a job'. The reasons for not seeking work or being unavailable to start work include; being long-term sick or disabled, looking after family, home or being retired.

As this definition is inconsistent with ILO definitions of unemployment, through including individuals who reported that they were not available for or actively seeking work, the figure of 132,600 for October 2015 to September 2016 remains an accurate figure when measuring unemployment.

The Satrak report, to which you refer, is not representative of normal conditions on the M8. It presents findings from a small sample size, for a time period over which a 50mph speed limit was implemented on substantial sections of the M8 and M73 to allow essential investment in safely upgrading that part of the network.

This £500million investment in a key part of the strategic trunk road network will lead to an improvement in journey times of up to 18 minutes at peak times for vehicles using the busiest sections of the M8 each day and reduce journeys through the Raith junction on the M74 by 15 minutes. The M8 is already open to traffic and as other sections of the project become available, they too will open in the coming weeks.