Gavin Brown

25 Jul 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-16191 by John Swinney on 24 July 2013, how much of the £20 million for the Business Innovation and Growth Programme is new money.

Answer · John Swinney: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-16516 on 2 September 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamenta…

25 Jul 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-16196 by John Swinney on 24 July 2013, how much of the Business Innovation and Growth Programme funding comes from (a) underspends returned from projects, (b) anticipated underspends and (c) unallocated funding being allocated for the first time.

Answer · John Swinney: Variations in the value of the programmes caused by exchange rate fluctuations means that it is not possible at this stage to provide this breakdown. The decision to allocate funding in this way is based on lessons learned from previous programmes which show …

22 Jul 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of how the 2013-14 third sector budget has been allocated, showing the amounts allocated to each organisation funded.

Answer · John Swinney: The following table breaks down funding for third sector intermediaries (largely grant funding), business support contracts and support for third sector events and initiatives, which represents the major part of the third sector budget. The table includes f…

28 Jun 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the priorities of the business innovation and growth programme that it announced in its news release of 19 June 2013, £20 million drive for business innovation and growth, represents the underspend from the pre-existing European Regional Development Fund 2007-13 programmes.

Answer · John Swinney: The funding of the Business Innovation and Growth Programme includes underspends that have been returned from projects, anticipated underspends and unallocated funding that is being allocated for the first time.

28 Jun 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the business innovation and growth programme that it announced in its news release of 19 June 2013, £20 million drive for business innovation and growth, has a closing date of 9 July 2013.

Answer · John Swinney: The closing date for Stage One of the application process was set by officials to facilitate a project selection process that requires scheduling of external advisory groups before allocations are announced in late September.

28 Jun 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the priorities of the business innovation and growth programme that it announced in its news release of 19 June 2013, £20 million drive for business innovation and growth, are the same as that of the pre-existing European Regional Development Fund 2007-13 programmes and, if not, …

Answer · John Swinney: As an open call, the Business Innovation and Growth Programme invites applications under any of the priority areas for the European Regional Development Fund 2007-13 programmes. Our commitment to focus the remaining structural funds on creating opportunities …

28 Jun 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the money announced in its news release of 19 June 2013, £20 million drive for business innovation and growth, is new money and what the basis was for describing all of the £20 million as new money.

Answer · John Swinney: The funding package supporting the Business Innovation and Growth Programme has not been announced prior to 19 June 2013. The funding is available to fund new activity.

28 Jun 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of (a) how much funding was given to and (b) what the current status is of each key policy priority announced in its news release of 27 June 2012, Over £100m to stimulate economic growth.

Answer · John Swinney: The information relating to part (a) was provided to MSPs on the 27 June 2012 but has been included in the following table together with the information relating to part (b). The negative figures indicate where funding has been accelerated to an earlier year.…

28 Jun 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the £7.7 million shared equity underspend for 2012-13 will be spent on shared equity in 2013-14.

Answer · Margaret Burgess: The £7.7 million underspend on shared equity will be deployed in 2013-14 to support the Scottish Government’s overall investment in its housing programme. On 10 July 2013, I announced a new £62 million investment over two years for the Open Market Shared Equi…

28 Jun 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government which capital projects had an underspend in 2012-13 and what the (a) amount and (b) reason was for each.

Answer · John Swinney: In our Budget for 2013-14, we had factored into our plans a carry forward from 2012-13 of £8 million capital DEL. The actual carry forward is £29 million. The majority of the additional underspend is due to timing differences between demand and the availabil…

21 Jun 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it spent on shared equity schemes in 2012-13, also broken down by scheme.

Answer · Margaret Burgess: In 2012-13, the Scottish Government spent £20.60 million through the Open Market Shared Equity Scheme, £1.49 million through the New Supply Shared Equity with Developers Scheme and £9.564 million through New Supply Shared Equity Scheme.

21 Jun 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it planned to make available for shared equity schemes in 2012-13, also broken down by scheme.

Answer · Margaret Burgess: In 2012-13, the Scottish Government allocated £25.80 million to its Open Market Shared Equity Scheme and £2.50 million to its New Supply Shared Equity with Developers Scheme. There was not a separate budget for the New Supply Shared Equity programme delivered…

13 Jun 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of the £22.75 million of support from Scottish Enterprise and Business Gateway for the SME Growth Programme that was announced on 12 June 2013 is money that had not previously been announced.

Answer · John Swinney: None of the £22.75 million has been previously announced. This is match funding for new European Regional Development Fund activity.

13 Jun 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of the £22.75 million of support from Scottish Enterprise and Business Gateway for the SME Growth Programme that was announced on 12 June 2013 will be cash.

Answer · John Swinney: All match funding for European structural funds projects has to be cash. This can include specific additional staff costs to directly support businesses.

13 Jun 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of the £22.75 million of support from Scottish Enterprise and Business Gateway for the SME Growth Programme that was announced on 12 June 2013 will be provided by (a) Scottish Enterprise and (b) Business Gateway.

Answer · John Swinney: 32% (£7.2 million) is provided by Scottish Enterprise, 36% (£8.25 million) is provided by Highlands and Islands Enterprise with the remaining 32% (£7.3 million) being provided by Business Gateway/local authorities.

13 Jun 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the £15.1 million announced on 12 June 2013 for the SME Growth Programme from the European Regional Development Fund was included in the money that was announced by the Scottish Government on 9 May 2012.

Answer · John Swinney: The announcement on 9 May 2012 set out the Scottish Government’s commitment to focus remaining structural funds allocations towards youth employment. The announcement on 12 June 2013 was to provide the detail of the additional support services that will be of…

13 Jun 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of the SME Growth Programme funding has been ring-fenced for people age 16 to 24.

Answer · John Swinney: The SME Growth Programme has been designed to maximise the opportunities for young people to benefit from the jobs that will be created, for example through, the alignment of the Business Gateway additional growth services, with the employer recruitment ince…

13 Jun 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of the £88 million for the Youth Employment Scotland Fund and the SME Growth Programme had not been announced prior to 12 June 2013.

Answer · Angela Constance: All Scottish Government budgets are announced first as part of the budget process laid out to Parliament each year between September and the following February. Following the budget, the Scottish Government subsequently announced more specific plans for how b…

13 Jun 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the First Minister described the Youth Employment Scotland Fund and the SME Growth Programme as "a further £88 million investment".

Answer · Angela Constance: The Youth Employment Scotland Fund and SME Growth Fund are additional to expenditure made by the Scottish Government and partner organisations previously in reducing youth unemployment from 25.4% in December 2011 (Labour Force Survey, Aug-Oct 2011) to 15.2% i…

13 Jun 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the main types of in-kind support toward the Youth Employment Scotland Fund from employers and local councils will be.

Answer · Angela Constance: Recruitment incentives funded by the Youth Employment Scotland Fund cover fifty per cent of the salary cost for the first 26 weeks of a new youth job. The contribution from employers will be the other fifty per cent. The main contribution from local authoriti…

13 Jun 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of the £25 million of in-kind support toward the Youth Employment Scotland Fund from employers and local authorities will be in wages.

Answer · Angela Constance: Employer recruitment incentives funded through the Youth Employment Scotland Fund cover fifty per cent of the salary costs for the first 26 weeks of a new youth job. The remaining salary costs will be paid by employers.

13 Jun 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it faced any difficulties in setting up and launching the Youth Employment Scotland Fund and, if so, what.

Answer · Angela Constance: Setting up any scheme such as this requires challenges to be overcome. These include ensuring best value, compliance with EU funding rules and determination of the practicality of projects. The development of the Youth Employment Scotland Fund did not differ …

13 Jun 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reasons the Youth Employment Scotland Fund was not launched before June 2013.

Answer · Angela Constance: The application process for the Youth Employment Scotland Fund opened on 25 March 2013 and grant letters from the Scottish Government were sent to all local authorities on 30 May 2013. ?A number of dates were considered for announcing the outcome of that proc…

13 Jun 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it initially planned to launch the Youth Employment Scotland Fund earlier than June 2013 and, if so, when.

Answer · Angela Constance: The application process for the Youth Employment Scotland Fund opened on 25 March 2013 and grant letters from the Scottish Government were sent to all local authorities on 30 May 2013. ?A number of dates were considered for announcing the outcome of that proc…

13 Jun 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the £25 million toward the Youth Employment Scotland Fund from it and the European Social Fund that it announced on 12 June 2013 is the same money announced in the 2013-14 draft budget statement on 20 September 2012.

Answer · Angela Constance: In the draft budget statement of 20 September 2012, the Scottish Government announced £15 million towards employer recruitment schemes in 2013-14.

30 May 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish its plans for the regulation of financial services in advance of the white paper on independence, and whether the white paper will contain its proposals for these regulations in full.

Answer · John Swinney: The Fiscal Commission Working Group report set out five key recommendations in areas such as currency and financial stability to assist the Scottish Government in shaping and designing a robust macroeconomic framework for an independent Scotland. In April we…

28 Mar 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the Help to Buy equity loan scheme announced by the UK Government; whether it plans to introduce a similar scheme in Scotland, and when it will announce how it will use the Barnett consequentials arising from the scheme.

Answer · Margaret Burgess: The majority of the consequentials funding has come to the Scottish Government in the form of loans, without any details about the terms and conditions of their use having thus far been provided by the Treasury. Decisions will be taken about how these consequ…

28 Mar 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the total running costs have been for public sector data centres in each of the last 10 years.

Answer · John Swinney: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-14046 on 19 April 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentaryb…

28 Mar 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the cost has been of establishing public sector data centres in each of the last 10 years.

Answer · John Swinney: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-14046 on 19 April 2013 All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybu…

28 Mar 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many public sector data centres there are and how many have been (a) established and (b) closed in each of the last 10 years.

Answer · John Swinney: John McClelland’s Review of ICT Infrastructure in the Public Sector in Scotland published in June 2011 estimated that within the public sector in Scotland there were more than 120 data centres and cost circa £275 million to build and maintain. These figures w…