Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-23891

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 27 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23630 by Derek Mackay on 18 June 2019, what response has been received from the Chief Secretary to the Treasury to the letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work of 4 April 2019.

The Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy, and Fair Work received a reply from the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on the 26 April 2019. The Chief Secretary re-stated the position of the UK Government, which is that increases to the Personal Allowance in 2018-19 and 2019-20 do not constitute a post-devolution change in government policy, and therefore this is not an example of a direct spillover of the kind set out in the Fiscal Framework Agreement.

Question reference: S5W-23892

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 27 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23630 by Derek Mackay on 18 June 2019, when the discussions took place between officials of the Scottish Exchequer and the Treasury.

Question reference: S5W-23893

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 27 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23630 by Derek Mackay on 18 June 2019, whether it has asked the Scottish Fiscal Commission to (a) advise on the spillover effect and (b) compare the spillover effect with the likely compensating change to the Block Grant Adjustment.

Question reference: S5F-03463

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 24 June 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 June 2019

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S5W-23631

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 18 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its estimate is of the necessary compensating transfer for the spillover effect arising from the increase in the personal tax allowance, as stated in the Medium Term Financial Strategy published on 30 May 2019, and how this compares with the estimate used in the answer to question S5W-00400 by Derek Mackay on 15 June 2016.

Question reference: S5W-23632

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 18 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government for which financial years it has requested a compensating transfer for the spillover effect arising from the increase in the personal tax allowance, as stated in the Medium Term Financial Strategy published on 30 May 2019.

Question reference: S5W-23630

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 18 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when it requested consideration of a compensating transfer for the spillover effect arising from the increase in the personal tax allowance, as stated in the Medium Term Financial Strategy published on 30 May 2019.

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury and I agreed a detailed process for considering spillover effects in December 2017, which came into effect in 2018-19. I wrote to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 4 April 2019 presenting estimates that the Scottish Budget was around £30m worse off in 2018-19 and around £70m worse off in 2019-20 as a result of increases in the personal allowance. This correspondence followed discussions between officials of the Scottish Exchequer and HM Treasury, in accordance with paragraph 53 of the Fiscal Framework Agreement. It did not consider the impact in 2017-18 as this predated the agreement on direct spillover effects coming into force. The Fiscal Framework Agreement requires that any decision or transfer relating to a spillover effect must be jointly agreed by the Scottish and UK Governments, as must the understanding of the evidence on which estimates are made.

Question reference: S5F-03443

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 17 June 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 June 2019

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S5W-23621

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 14 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it provided to each education institution in each of the last three years for (a) medical student and (b) nurses’ training places, and how much it plans to provide in each of the next three years.

The Scottish Government has provided over £325 million in funding for medical, nursing and midwifery places in the last three years.

Table 1: Funding for Medical students’ places	2016-17 (£)	2017-18 (£)	2018-19 (£)
Aberdeen, University of	9,074,682	9,451,262	9,553,772
Dundee, University of	8,070,006	7,826,073	8,039,271
Edinburgh, University of	10,247,245	10,375,802	9,777,119
Glasgow, University of	13,239,634	13,474,532	13,980,763
St Andrews, University of	1,540,618	1,598,536	1,862,677
Total	42,172,187	42,726,206	43,213,604

Includes Scottish Graduate Entry Medicine (ScotGem) places, clinical training cost for rUK students and assumed level of fees for SAAS.

Includes pre-clinical and clinical training costs

Table 2: Funding for Nursing and Midwifery students’ places	2016-17 (£)	2017-18 (£)	2018-19 (£)
Abertay Dundee, University of	998,445	1,162,070.	1,270,566
Dundee, University of	8,168,202	8,074,563	8,591,081
Edinburgh Napier University	11,488,785	11,798,514	12,269,807
Edinburgh, University of	944,160	1,064,637	1,081,073
Glasgow Caledonian University	11,273,157	11,397,736	12,905,092
Glasgow, University of	1,108,989	1,346,478	1,383,599
Highlands and Islands, University of the	0	936,390	1,905,846
Open University in Scotland	287,835	357,720	554,489
Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh	973,049	1,252,377	1,421,411
Robert Gordon University	6,498,954	7,010,290	8,013,933
Stirling, University of	7,051,737	5,784,009	5,340,801
West of Scotland, University of the	13,880,181	14,283,549	15,867,276
Total	62,673,494	64,468,333	70,604,974

Source: SFC

Includes, cost of honours year paid directly to institutions, pilot course delivered by the Open University in Scotland and assumed fees paid via SAAS.

Intake numbers for Nursing and Midwifery for 2019-20 will not be confirmed until the end of this financial year in March 2020 and Medical places for the same academic period will be confirmed by the end of this calendar year. Future intake figures for 2020-21 and 2021-22 have not been agreed and are not available.

Question reference: S5O-03402

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 June 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther.

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