Chamber and committees

Given the direct link between economic performance and the funding available for public services, all parts of the public sector must use all the powers available to them, not simply the tax system, to promote inclusive economic growth.

We have used the tax powers available to us fairly and prudently to allow us provide real terms protection for local authority budgets and double the funding allocated to City Region Deals. The regional economic partnerships that we can see growing from city region deal governance are expected to be a key part of securing inclusive regional economic growth.

To date, £50 million of public sector investment through the Tax Incremental Financing and Growth Accelerator Schemes has secured a further £1 billion of private sector investment.

The most attractive non-domestic rates relief package in the UK supports a range of national and local priorities, the Business Rates Incentivisation Scheme encourages councils to attract new economic growth and Local Authorities have wide ranging powers to reduce the rates paid by any ratepayer in their area, following the Community Empowerment Act.

The external Barclay review recommended that the next rates revaluation should take place in 2022 and thereafter revaluations should take place every three years.

The Scottish Government has accepted those recommendations and the next rates revaluation in Scotland will take place in 2022.

NHS Tayside is continuing the implementation of its five year Transformation Plan, as set out in the second progress report from the Assurance and Advisory Group chaired by Professor Sir Lewis Ritchie, which was published on 23 February 2018. That report highlights the implementation of a Business Planning and Budgeting Programme which provides a structure for the Board to work towards achieving sustainable financial balance.

As noted in response to S5W-14878 on 14 March 2018, NHS Tayside is in the process of reviewing its financial plans and projections for 2017-18 and 2018-19. The results of the review will not be known until 19 March. NHS Tayside has received brokerage of £33.2 million to 2016-17 and plans were in place to provide an additional £4 million of brokerage in 2017-18, taking the total level of brokerage to £37.2m. A further deterioration in the year end position will therefore result in additional brokerage.

The Board will receive a resource budget uplift of 1.9% in 2018-19, taking the Board’s annual resource budget to £734.8 million. We expect NHS Tayside to make best use of these resources to deliver better health, better care, and better value.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

As reported to Parliament on 7 March, and in response to information which has recently come to light regarding the recording of eHealth funds within its accounts, NHS Tayside is currently carrying out a formal internal review of its financial plans and projections for 2017-18 and 2018-19. The results of this review will not be known until 19 March.

NHS Tayside has received brokerage of £33.2 million to 2016-17 and plans were in place to provide an additional £4 million of brokerage in 2017-18, taking the total level of brokerage to £37.2m. A further deterioration in the year end position will therefore result in additional brokerage.

NHS Tayside will receive a resource budget uplift of 1.9% in 2018-19. This includes a £2.9 million share of additional NRAC parity funding and takes the Board’s annual resource budget to £734.8 million.

In common with the rest of NHS Scotland, we expect NHS Tayside to make best use of available resources to deliver better health, better care, and better value.

As paragraph 2.152 of the Scottish Fiscal Commission’s report has stated, the Scottish Government’s policies “are not of a large enough magnitude to have a significant aggregate impact on the Scottish economy”. Next year, 70% of Scottish taxpayers will pay less income tax than they do this year, for a given income. The SFC's report can be found here: http://www.fiscalcommission.scot/media/1196/scotlands-economic-fiscal-forecasts-publication.pdf .

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-14875 on 13 March 2018. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

We are working closely with the Scottish Retail Consortium to determine the exact details of the range of issues that will be covered in the joint retail strategy, with an ambition to publish the strategy in the summer of 2018.

In line with our manifesto commitment we have set a 3% cap on locally determined increases in the council tax. This provides councils with the flexibility to raise up to an additional £77 million of revenue this year, while ensuring band D properties have a maximum annual increase of less than £37.50.

In agreeing the provision of any additional support for an NHS Board, the Scottish Government’s focus is on maintaining patient safety, service quality, and financial sustainability.

The total development costs for the NHS Self-help Guide was £36,408 - there is no annual running costs associated with this app.

The total development costs for the national KWTTT product was £10,000 - the ongoing costs for this are just under £4,000 per annum.