Seòmar agus comataidhean

Since its first meeting on 17 May 2023, the New Deal for Business Group has been working at pace to examine how the Scottish Government can improve its relationship with businesses and partners to help build a fairer, greener and growing wellbeing economy.

The group, which I co-chair with Dr Poonam Malik of Strathclyde University, has been considering the key areas of a shared awareness of economic conditions and performance; ensuring the best environment to do business; enhanced partnership working and a transition to a wellbeing economy

Today, I am publishing a report on the progress of and the recommendations of the group which can be found here:

https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781835210826

The report has been informed by the work of five subgroups and focusses on regulation, business partnership, Non-Domestic Rates, Wellbeing Economy and Data and Metrics.

The report has been sent to the First Minister for his consideration and we are developing an implementation plan to support the recommendations being taken forward.

I would like to thank all of those who have contributed to the NDBG and its Subgroups, bringing their knowledge and expertise to this important work.

The study to map the net zero skills on Scottish Islands is progressing and we hope to be able to report on progress by the end of the summer.

Today I am pleased to announce the launch of the new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy for Scotland, in partnership with COSLA.

The Strategy sets out our new long-term shared Vision for Mental Health and Wellbeing in Scotland, which is:

“of a Scotland, free from stigma and inequality, where everyone fulfils their right to achieve the best mental health and wellbeing possible .”

The Strategy is rightly ambitious. It covers all ages and all levels of need, and is built around the three pillars of “Promote, Prevent, Provide”. The Strategy identifies a set of outcomes that illustrate what a high-functioning whole system should look like, and the standard of support that anyone should be entitled to expect when they ask for help for any aspect of their mental health.

The Strategy reflects what we have heard over 18 months of consultation and co-production, with a particular focus on the voices of lived experience and the role of inequalities.

Whilst recognising that specialist services will always be a critical part of the whole system, the Strategy has a particular focus on the principles of prevention and early intervention, with support, care and treatment being delivered in a way that is as local as possible, and only as specialist as necessary. It also focuses on the social determinants and underlying causes of poor mental health, including inequalities. As well as being published jointly with COSLA, it is a cross-Government Strategy.

The accompanying Delivery Plan and Workforce Action Plan will both be agreed with stakeholders, and will be published in Autumn 2023. I will seek to secure a slot for a Ministerial statement at that stage to ensure that all members can contribute to a discussion on the full package of Strategy and Delivery Plans.

Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781805259275

Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy Executive Summary: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781805259282 .

Secondary legislation on the establishment of The National Smart Ticketing Advisory Board (NSTAB) came into force in May 2023 and as such recruitment for board members is now underway, with a proposal to undertake the inaugural meeting by the end of the year. The board will advise on a national technological standard for smart ticketing, to be used in ticketing schemes and to help improve the interoperability of smart ticketing in Scotland, setting the foundation for better integration. It will also advise Scottish Ministers on the strategic direction for smart ticketing to improve passenger’s experience and help boost use of sustainable public transport modes.

Additionally, via our £1.1m Smart Pay Grant Fund, we have supported bus operators to accept contactless payment so this is now available on around 98% of buses. We have also made ITSO smartcards interoperable so you only need one smartcard for various operators’ commercial smart tickets, as well as our own concessionary bus travel schemes, simplifying access to smart travel. We have commenced a feasibility study to consider the different ‘smart’ platforms that could be used for the national concessionary travel scheme, including mobile, contactless, and ’blended’ smart device solutions.

We are refreshing the 2018 Smart Delivery Strategy, which will outline the programme of work and strategy for the next 5-10 years for smart and integrated ticketing in Scotland. This is being informed by a public survey, which ran between March 2023 and May 2023, plus engagement with operators and local transport authorities.

As the tax authority with responsibility for the collection and management of Scotland’s devolved taxes, Revenue Scotland publishes monthly and annual data on its website regarding the number of property conveyances and non-residential leases subject to the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) and the associated tax liabilities. These are available at https://revenue.scot/news-publications/publications/statistics .

Local authority level data is published on an annual basis, as part of Revenue Scotland’s Annual Summary of Trends in the Devolved Taxes. The report for 2021-22, which provides data for the period from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022, is available at: https://revenue.scot/news-publications/publications/statistics/annual-summary-trends-devolved-taxes-2021-22 . The report for 2022-2023 is due to be published in late 2023.

In particular, the figures and tables file of this publication at 'Figure 12' includes estimates of residential LBTT payable, broken down by year and local authority area.

For non-residential LBTT, 'Figure 17' sets out revenue data by year and by Nomenclature of Territorial Units (NUTS 2) areas. Local authority level data is not used for non-residential LBTT statistics to minimise the risk of disclosing protected taxpayer information.

I refer the member to the answers to the following questions:

• S4W-05728 on 2 July 2012
• S4W-17608 on 3 October 2013
• S4W-25214 on 2 April 2015
• S4W-26746 on 17 July 2015
• S5W-00837 on 20 June 2016
• S5W-12960 on 24 November 2017
• S5W-17596 on 5 July 2018
• S5W-26805 on 19 December 2019
• S5W-36009 on 24 March 2021
• S6W-17817 on 5 May 2023
• S6W-16899 on 5 May 2023

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government recognises that local bank branches provide an important service across Scotland – particularly for rural communities. The regulation of financial services is reserved to the UK Government and, therefore, Scottish Ministers cannot intervene in commercial decisions made by banks to close branches, even where it leaves some rural communities without convenient access to a local branch.

We note the cash access provisions within the Financial Services and Markets Bill progressing through the UK Parliament and the additional powers the Bill will grant to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to monitor access to cash across the UK. Scottish Government officials are in regular dialogue with the FCA to ensure Scotland’s unique interests are articulated and advanced, and the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy will meet with Nikhil Rathi, Chief Executive of the FCA, shortly where he will set out the need to ensure that the banking needs of rural areas are fully considered by the FCA’s new regulatory regime. The Scottish Government regularly engages with the banking sector in Scotland through bi-lateral meetings and the Financial Services Growth and Development Board. We will continue to urge all banks to address their customers banking needs and to support rural communities without branches with industry initiatives such as shared Bank Hubs, improved Post Office banking services and Community Bankers.

Recognising that many services, including banking, are becoming increasingly digitised, the Scottish Government is also providing significant investment in Scotland’s digital infrastructure. The £600 million Reaching 100% (R100) broadband programme and the £28.75 million in the Scottish 4G Infill (S4GI) mobile programme will enable communities to better access online banking services. Around 70% of premises that will be connected through the £600 million Reaching 100% (R100) contracts are in rural areas and all of the 55 mast sites to be delivered through S4GI are located on islands or in rural Scotland.

The Scottish Government have no plans to fully dual the A1 between Edinburgh and Berwick-Upon-Tweed.

A range of potential improvements to the trunk road and motorway network, including the A1, were appraised in the second Strategic Transport Projects Review. However, full dualling of the A1, or any other route, was not included in the final 45 recommendations. The evidence and rationale for that is provided within the publications for STPR2; the member may wish to refer to Sections 6 and 7 in the final technical report for more detail.

In line with the sustainable travel and investment hierarchies, the transport appraisal reflected that, rather than measures that increase capacity, the priorities for investment in Scotland’s trunk road network are on improving road safety, reliability and resilience, as well as adapting the network to deal with the challenges of climate change.

The Scottish Government is acutely aware of the suffering of those who were infected with Hepatitis C or HIV, or both, as a result of NHS treatment in the 1970s and 1980s. Consequently, the Scottish Infected Blood Support Scheme (SIBSS), which was established in 2017, was set up to provide support and assistance for those people infected as a result of NHS treatment, as well as for their immediate family members.

The Scottish Government made extensive efforts in 2016 and 2017 to raise awareness of SIBSS through media campaigns and by distributing posters to GP surgeries and hospitals in an attempt to reach those who would be eligible for payments under SIBSS. However if, despite these efforts, a person has not previously claimed from SIBSS because they were not aware of their entitlement, that person could still make an application to SIBBS and, if successful, would receive any lump sum and regular support payments to which they are entitled. This includes widows, widowers and partners, with entitlement to such payments having effect from the date they apply to join the scheme.

Such infected persons, or their bereaved partners, would also be eligible, upon a successful application to SIBSS, to receive the interim compensation payments of £100,000 as recommended by the first interim report of the Infected Blood Inquiry, which was published in July 2022. These payments were made to all existing SIBSS members in Scotland in October 2022. The second interim report of the Infected Blood Inquiry, which was published in April 2023, sets out recommendations for further interim payments and for a wider framework for compensation. This second interim report is currently being considered, in consultation with all the Devolved Administrations, by the UK Government.

In common with the practice in all of the other UK infected blood support schemes regular support payments, which are designed to assist with the costs of day to day living, are only generally backdated to the date of application to SIBSS. However, the Scottish Government did publish an amendment to the SIBSS scheme document in April 2023 which allows for backdating of regular support payments for infected persons transferring late from the Skipton Fund, which was one of the previous UK support schemes, in cases where that infected person was not contacted by the Skipton Fund for the purpose of requesting their consent to have their details transferred to SIBSS. Further information is available on the Scottish Government website.

All Ministerial Engagements, travel and gifts received are proactively published within 3 months in line with the Scottish Ministerial Code . I refer the member to the following link: Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)