Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-14846

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 9 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what actions it plans to take to ensure that any national infrastructure company is equipped to be able to provide advice on how local authorities can plan for wellbeing and net zero in their infrastructure investments.

Question reference: S6W-14836

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 9 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of the stakeholders that have been consulted in relation to any creation of a new national infrastructure company.

Question reference: S6W-14839

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 9 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to redirect resources from the Scottish Futures Trust to any national infrastructure company.

Question reference: S6W-14837

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 9 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what research and modelling it has carried out to ensure that any proposed national infrastructure company will support local authorities in finding the best solutions for designing, building, financing, operating and managing their own projects.

Question reference: S6W-14838

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 9 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to mandate any national infrastructure company with providing unbiased advice on investing in repairing and repurposing older buildings as part of Scotland's commitment to net zero.

To support delivery of the National Infrastructure Mission we established the Infrastructure Commission for Scotland to provide long term strategic advice on national infrastructure priorities. Our infrastructure plans build on these recommendations and work is ongoing to develop our infrastructure improvement programme, through developing a new method of appraisal and prioritisation to ensure our infrastructure commitments match long-term goals and in preparing a cross-sector infrastructure needs assessment. This will ensure we are making the best capital investment decisions possible across the public sector to deliver on our ambitious programme for Scotland.

The Infrastructure Investment Plan 2021-25 sets out a hierarchy for infrastructure investment which aids decision making and planning on investment choices by encouraging maintenance and enhancement of existing assets over new assets, where appropriate. This Infrastructure Investment Plan sets maintenance and enhancement as a Scottish Government infrastructure priority and all public bodies, including Local Authorities can draw on this when making investment decisions. The Scottish Futures Trust and Scottish Government have jointly developed an Asset Strategy Guidance note to support the application of the infrastructure hierarchy (link Here ) and have developed a Net Zero Public Sector Buildings Standard to support the whole public sector in making good investment decisions. More information on the Net Zero Public Sector Buildings Standard can be found here: Net Zero Public Sector Buildings Standard and on the Infrastructure Investment Plan, here: Infrastructure Investment Plan for Scotland .

Question reference: S6O-02015

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has plans to reform the compulsory purchase order process to make it easier to convert empty buildings into council housing.

Question reference: S6W-15323

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to establishing the post of an Older People’s Commissioner.

We do not have plans to introduce legislation to establish an Older People’s Commissioner. There are existing commissions that protect the rights of older people. The Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) and the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) already play a role in relation to the rights of older people in respect of age as a protected equality characteristic. In addition, we continue to work closely with the Older People’s Strategic Action Forum on a range of priorities for advancing age equality.

We are committed to promoting the rights of older people and ensuring that they benefit from all that we are doing to improve people’s lives. That is why we provide over £2.2million to support older people's organisations to tackle inequality and discrimination and support our aim to promote the rights of older people.

Question reference: S6W-15325

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the 2022 Scottish teacher census, which showed that there had been a reduction in teacher numbers in East Dunbartonshire, compared with 2021.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that numbers of teachers and support staff are protected. We will provide local government with £145.5 million in next year's budget, which is conditional on the successful delivery of the following objectives:

Maintaining teacher numbers at 2022 census levels, as published in the Summary School Statistics in December 2022.
Maintaining pupil support staff numbers at 2022 census levels, which we will publish on 21 March 2023 based on the data collected from local authorities in September 2022.
Ensuring that places remain available for probationer teachers who need them through the Teacher Induction Scheme.

In the event of these requirements not being met, the Scottish Government reserves the right to recover or withhold relevant monies allocated to individual authorities for these purposes.

Question reference: S6W-14827

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support local authorities in efforts to repair older public buildings for continued use.

The Scottish Government has provided local government with an additional £147.1 million capital funding in 2023-24. The maintenance of buildings and assets is the responsibility of individual local authorities and it is up to councils to manage their own budgets and allocate the total financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities.

Local authorities also have a range of powers enabling them to take action on buildings that fall into disrepair, such as the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 and Building (Scotland) Act 2003 (the Act). Section 28 of the Act gives local authorities powers to take action on defective buildings, this includes serving a notice to bring the building back into a reasonable state of repair having regard to its age, type and location.

Further support is made through the Place Based Investment Programme which aims to align place based investment, working collaboratively with local communities to deliver shared aspirations for their place. The programme includes investment of £140 million over the course of the parliament to local authorities. This investment is expected to support delivery of our policy ambitions for place, 20-minute neighbourhoods, town centre action, community led regeneration, community wealth building and contribute to net zero. The funding can be used for example for the repurposing of buildings, maintenance and repairs, reallocating external space and community led land acquisition.

Question reference: S6W-14826

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what actions it is taking on each of the headline recommendations made in Audit Scotland’s 2020 review, Privately financed infrastructure investment: The Non-Profit Distributing (NPD) and hub models.

The Scottish Government welcomed Audit Scotland’s report, which provided useful lessons which we are already implementing through successor schemes to the NPD and hub models which the report considered. These schemes allowed us to deliver much needed new schools, new NHS facilities, new colleges and other key infrastructure that would otherwise not have been possible. They also provided a significant boost to the Scottish economy at a time of constrained private sector investment.

The eleven main recommendations in the Audit Scotland report are in included within the following tables along with accompanying Scottish Government comments.

The Scottish Government should:

REPORT RECOMMENDATION

SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT COMMENTS

1. Better document and report how decisions on the use of private finance are made at a programme level, and how the overall combination of programme and project funding aims to maximise investment and benefits (paragraph 29)

The Scottish Government’s five-year Infrastructure Investment Plan (IIP) published in February 2021 showed how we will enhance our approach to choosing the right future investments and introduced a new infrastructure investment hierarchy. We consulted on the new IIP to ensure the right final approach that benefits the whole of Scotland both now and in the future.

The IIP builds on the recommendations of the independent Infrastructure Commission for Scotland. As a result of the Commission and consultation, the IIP includes the following:

? An expanded definition of infrastructure to include Natural Infrastructure.

? A new investment hierarchy framework to prioritise making the most of existing infrastructure ahead of building new assets.

? Commitments to develop new methods of appraisal and prioritisation to ensure they match long-term goals.

? A commitment to prepare a cross-sector infrastructure needs assessment to inform the next Infrastructure Investment Plan.

? A commitment to develop a broader approach to public engagement in forward infrastructure plans.

2. Better communicate the rationale of project financing and funding decisions to public sector organisations and Parliament (paragraph 32)

Local authorities determine their own programmes for capital investment and are required by legislation to comply with The Prudential Code for Capital Finance in Local Authorities, which was developed by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA). The Prudential Code requires local authorities to ensure that all capital investment decisions are prudent, affordable and sustainable.

3. Continue to monitor existing NPD and hub projects to review if the models are successfully achieving their original aims, and documenting lessons learned (Parts 2 and 3)

The Scottish Government annually update and publish information relating to contracts within the NPD programme which includes unitary charge payments, fixed debt providers, SPV’s and equity holders. This information is available from the following link www.gov.scot/npd .

The Scottish Futures Trust also publishes NPD and hub DBFM investor information as well as NPD and hub financial indicator information. This is available from the following respective links www.scottishfuturestrust.org.uk/npd

www.scottishfuturestrust.org.uk/hub

4. Set out how the MIM will operate, and establish clear criteria for selecting programmes and monitoring risks (paragraph 88)

The approach to the Mutual Investment Model (MIM) governance is being developed and considered following SFT’s options appraisal. The use of MIM is being considered alongside a range of financing approaches including capital grant, capital borrowing, financial transactions and other forms of finance when determining how to finance projects.

5. Develop its public reporting to provide more information on the costs and benefits of using private finance, the management of risks and outcomes delivered, and its contribution to supporting economic policies and growth (paragraph 97)

The Scottish Government monitor the affordability of revenue financed investment through imposing a cap on revenue commitments which is assessed as part of the annual budget process. This is in place to ensure that revenue-funded methods of investment are used at a sustainable level and do not overly constrain our choices in future years.

Procuring authorities have governance processes in place to evaluate their revenue financed projects through for example, post project reviews and post project evaluations. They also monitor the contractual commitments of the private sector in delivering the associated public facilities for use.

A key requirement of the NPD programme was to deliver local community benefits and support the local economy. The Scottish Futures Trust have confirmed that contractual targets were exceeded for the number of work placements, graduates and apprentices employed and the construction phases supported approximately 8,000 jobs across Scotland. This information is available from the following link www.scottishfuturestrust.org.uk/community-benefits

The Scottish Government publish an annual progress report relating to the Infrastructure Investment Plan which outlines the contribution made to economic development by major capital projects. This is available from the following link www.gov.scot/iip-progress-report

The Scottish Futures Trust should:

REPORT RECOMMENDATION

SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT COMMENTS

6. Demonstrate more clearly the links between the financial savings attributed to centralised activity and individual projects (paragraph 52)

From 2019-20, SFT changed its approach of reporting from financial benefits (i.e., an annual Benefits Statement) to Outcomes Reporting.

In SFT’s 2019-24 Corporate Plan, it published ten infrastructure outcomes which further the goals of the Scottish Government’s National Performance Framework (NPF). Together with many public and private sector partners SFT are working to deliver business objectives which are aligned to those ten infrastructure outcomes.

SFT’s latest updated Outcomes Report was published on 17 November 2022 and is available from the following link www.scottishfuturestrust.org.uk/outcomes

7. Monitor any secondary market transactions in hub equity and NPD and hub Special Purpose Vehicle equity to record ownership and, potentially, to inform the design of future privately financed contracts (paragraphs 58 and 76).

The Scottish Futures Trust publishes NPD / hub DBFM investor information as well as NPD / hub financial indicator information. This is available from the following respective links:

www.scottishfuturestrust.org.uk/npd

www.scottishfuturestrust.org.uk/hub

The Scottish Government also annually update and publish information relating to contracts within the NPD programme which includes unitary charge payments, fixed debt providers, SPV’s and equity holders. This information is available from the following link www.gov.scot/npd

If private sector companies subsequently choose to ‘trade’ future income for upfront cash, the initial investors accelerate their return, but no additional profit is made over the life of the project. This does not increase what is paid by the public sector, or impact the value-for-money of the underlying NPD contracts

Councils and other public sector organisations should:

REPORT RECOMMENDATION	SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT COMMENTS
8. Systematically assess the implications of participating in the financing and contract approaches led by the Scottish Government, before going ahead with individual projects (paragraphs 30–32)	The NPD programme allowed the delivery of much needed new infrastructure such as schools, new NHS facilities, new colleges and other key infrastructure that would otherwise not have been possible. Audit Scotland reported this, and that NPD had supported £3.3 billion of additional investment in Scotland’s infrastructure. In relation to NPD projects, the Scottish Futures Trust published a ‘Value for Money Assessment Guidance: Capital Programmes and Projects’ on behalf of the Scottish Government which described the value for money process for capital programmes and projects and the requirements that Procuring Authorities need to consider before making relevant investment decisions. This included guidance on Qualitative and Quantitative Assessments. The guidance was mandatory for all capital programmes and projects for the Scottish Government, its associated Directorates, Executive Agencies, Non-Departmental Public Bodies and for all public bodies in receipt of funding from the Scottish Government or its Agencies. Other accompanying guidance notes were also subsequently published. See also recommendation 2.
9. Clearly report current commitments under privately financed contracts, and the ongoing commitments related to these, as part of their annual budget setting (paragraph 32)	See recommendation 2.
10. Review all projects and services procured through the hubs to assess the costs, savings and benefits against other procurement options (page 29).	See recommendation 1.

The Scottish Government and councils should:

REPORT RECOMMENDATION

SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT COMMENTS

11. Continue to work together to develop arrangements for the new schools investment funding model, ensuring opportunities and risks are fully understood and properly managed (paragraph 93).

The first phase of school projects to benefit from the Learning Estate Investment Programme (LEIP) were announced in September 2019 and a second phase was announced in December 2020 (37 projects in total). The first LEIP projects started construction during the summer of 2021.

Phase 3 of LEIP was opened to local authorities in 2022 and we hope to announce the successful projects soon.

Seòmar agus comataidhean