Chamber and committees

The Independent Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC) are now responsible for the creation of economic and tax revenue forecasts for Scotland. Before April 2017 these forecasts were undertaken by the Scottish Government and the SFC scrutinised these forecasts. The SFC found the Scottish Government income tax forecasts produced in February 2017 to be reasonable.

HMRC have estimated annual running costs of between £1.5 and £2m if income tax rates and bands remained the same as the rest of the UK. A more significant divergence between the rates and bands that apply in Scotland when compared to the rest of the UK may lead to an increase in costs of up to a total of £5m.

HMRC estimate total implementation costs of between £20m and £25m for the Scottish Rate of Income Tax, with a further £2.6m for the Scotland Act 2016 income tax powers. These costs are required to implement the income tax powers devolved to the Scottish Parliament in Scotland Acts 2012 and 2016, and are independent of the rates and bands the Scottish Parliament sets.

Income tax is paid by individuals on the basis of their earnings, and council tax by occupants of a domestic dwelling based on the property’s banding. There is therefore no direct link between the income tax and council tax an individual pays.

The Draft Budget 2017-18 outlines that, for a given income, 70% of taxpayers will pay less income tax in 2018-19 than they do in 2017-18. Additionally, the Scottish Government reformed the Council Tax system with 2016 legislation that raised additional revenue for public services whilst protecting three in four Scottish households from paying more.

The Scottish Government's draft budget 2018-19 increases the health resource budget by more than £400 million, taking it to a record high of over £13.1 billion and providing an additional investment in our frontline NHS Boards of 3.7%. The budget includes a continued focus on early intervention and prevention including an additional £20 million in alcohol and drugs treatment and support services. This is in addition to our consultation on a new diet and obesity strategy and the measures we are progressing to limit marketing on products high in fat, sugar and salt, which disproportionately contribute to ill health and obesity.

This information is not held centrally. NHS Scotland Health Boards have fully delegated powers to recruit and deploy staff in line with their service provision responsibilities. The Scottish Government supports NHS Health Boards in their efforts to ensure that they have the right staff in place to meet the healthcare needs of the local population.

This information is not held centrally. As employers, NHS Scotland heath boards have fully delegated powers to recruit and deploy staff on a variety of contractual patterns, in order to meet their service delivery responsibilities. The Scottish Government supports NHS Health Boards in their efforts to ensure that they have the right staff in place to meet the healthcare needs of the local population.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-13144 on
19 December 2017. 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

In August 2017 the Scottish Government published both the ‘Funeral Cost Plan’ which commits to 10 key actions to tackle funeral poverty during this Parliamentary term; and ‘Planning You Own Funeral’ a leaflet to help people to make, record, and share their own plans for their funeral with their families. Over 100,000 of these leaflets have been distributed across Scotland. This includes leaflets being available within the North East Scotland parliamentary region from local authorities, NHS trusts, and Citizens Advice Bureaux. The leaflet is also available online at: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2017/08/4930/0

Whilst we know severe weather will cause disruption in the north east, this Government has taken a wide range of steps to improve our resilience to the challenges of winter in this area, to mitigate its impacts and to recover our transport networks, businesses and get daily life back to normal as quickly as possible. This has been done in partnership with a broad range of public, private and third sector partners and has included new investment, development and innovation - all learning the lessons from recent winters.

Transport Resilience

The Traffic Scotland National Control Centre (TSNCC) at Queensferry co-ordinates a more joined-up response during major travel incidents and severe weather, as well as targeting reduced journey times across the transport network.

The TSNCC hosts the Transport Scotland Multi-Agency Response Team (MART) arrangements which enable a strategic overview of event and incident handling. This is a joint process with Police Scotland and includes trunk road Operating Companies, the Met Office and others. We have also seconded personnel from Police Scotland, British Transport Police and the Met Office to enhance closer partnership working.

Transport Scotland has a specific Resilience Team, which ensures there are arrangements in place to prepare and provide support for major impacts to the transport network. They played a full part in all recent, major resilience events in Scotland including the closure of the Forth Road Bridge and the partial closure of the M80 in February as a result of snow. They are currently focusing on working alongside the UK Government departments to prepare for Counter Terrorism responses.

Transport Scotland, through Traffic Scotland, has developed and utilises multiple technology platforms to inform transport network users of issues, alternative routes and methods of travel to minimise transport disruption. These platforms include desktop and mobile websites, smartphone apps, internet radio, a customer care line and social media.

Trunk Roads

The winter service, provided across Scotland from the start of October through to mid-May, is a critical front-line service. With the actions we are taking and with road users playing their part by planning ahead, together we can get Scotland moving throughout the winter.

New contract specifications, greater use of technology and getting information to people ‘on the move’ are just a few of the ways we have strengthened the winter treatments, decision making and communication with road users. The enhanced preparedness is also beneficial outside of winter, as the procedures and practices such as the MART improve our resilience for other severe weather events and major events such as T in the Park and The Open golf.

With climate change and the prediction of wetter winters, flooding will continue to be an area that has the potential to cause disruption on the trunk road network. The trunk road network has known areas that are susceptible to flooding which are monitored during periods of heavy or sustained rainfall to provide an appropriate response endeavouring to keep roads open where possible or close them should the flooding compromise the safety of road users.

Our Operating Companies have flooding management plans in place for areas that are susceptible to flooding and have appropriate plant, equipment and traffic management strategically placed across the trunk road network to deal with these events in a timely and effective manner.

To mitigate the impacts of high level flooding events, Transport Scotland has procured a Relief Vehicle, which will be strategically located. The unit will be custom fitted with items such as a radio remote controlled crane and pump.

In summary, our winter service operations allow the safe movement of users of the trunk road network and minimises delays and disruption caused by severe weather. With a fully mobilised winter fleet, our winter service capability has never been higher; and our pre-winter preparations, audits, scenario workshops and weekly winter calls will ensure that there is no room for complacency in our winter service, despite the recent mild winters.

Rail

We are working with The ScotRail Alliance to prepare for potential severe winter weather and expect to see further improvements in operational and customer services and travel advice offered. This will include:

• Continued improvements across all ScotRail fleets to improve their robustness to the issues caused by winter weather in previous years.

• ScotRail depots and maintenance facilities to have winter maintenance equipment installed and undertake a winter resilience check at all depots and train fleets.

• Winter working preparation for all stations, ensuring de-icing equipment and materials will be in place.

• Network Rail will carry out a winter resilience check both at regional and local level.

• Network Rail will again make available the mobile snow and ice clearance machine that can thaw junctions quickly. In addition, all local teams will be equipped with winter clearance equipment and provided with latest weather forecast and impact briefing.

• A robust communications plan will be delivered ensuring passengers are prepared for adverse weather, including customer road shows at key stations throughout December, and the creation of a dedicated website and social media campaign for key messages.

Ferries

The Scottish Government is committed to maintain and improving lifeline ferry services that play a key role in supporting the economic, social and cultural development of island and remote communities.

During periods of bad weather the ferry operators providing lifeline ferry services to the Scottish Government under a Public Service Contract will, where possible, advise the travelling public in advance of any potential disruption. This information is provided via the ferry operator’s website, texting, social media, as well as the national and local media.

In addition, where periods of bad weather are anticipated, the ferry operator will seek to try and flex the scheduled ferry service timetable to provide sailings in advance of, or following on from, the disruption to the timetabled services, to try and minimise any impact on our remote and island communities.

Ferry travel has its own distinct challenges, particularly high winds, and the ship’s Master has a duty to ensure the safety of passengers above other considerations. The Merchant Shipping (Master’s Discretion) Regulations 1997 gives the ship’s Master sole responsibility for deciding whether it is safe to sail.

Aviation

Aberdeen Airport has a fully robust winter plan in place which has been used in previous years and is ready for implementation as and when the weather arrives. This includes both airside and landside facilities, access and egress for passengers and staff and additional staff resource when required.

The Independent Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC) are responsible for producing tax forecasts in Scotland. Last year, before taking on this statutory responsibility, the SFC concluded that the Scottish Government’s income tax forecasts were reasonable. As the SFCs recent report points out: off model adjustments are used by forecasters because a single statistical model is unlikely to cover all the different elements impacting on income tax receipts. Therefore, a number of “off model” adjustments are applied to the income tax forecasts to account for issues, such as Gift Aid payments, Tax Motivated Incorporations and other behavioural responses to policy changes.