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The Scottish Government does not plan to develop a strategy to tackle pensioner poverty. We already work closely with partners, including through the Older People’s Strategic Forum on a range of issues related to age equality. This includes the Strategic Action Framework ‘A Fairer Scotland for Older People, in which Ensuring Financial Security is a priority area. In addition, the forthcoming Human Rights Bill will include provision for older people.

Our Cost of Living website contains dedicated information on the support available for older people, including benefits and travel.

The Scottish National Investment Bank’s investment portfolio is funded directly by the Scottish Government through the use of Financial Transactions. Financial Transactions (FTs) are loans from HMT with interest and repayable over an agreed period. They must go ‘beyond the public sector boundary’ and are used for by a variety of Scottish Government portfolios, such as Higher Education, Enterprise bodies, Transport, Energy, Housing and Digital, etc. Due to the structure of these transactions, the Bank currently cannot lend to any aspect of the public sector.

There are no immediate plans to alter from the existing model operated by the Bank towards either investing into the public sector or issuing bonds.

The Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) (most recently published in 2021) ( The Scottish Government's Medium Term Financial Strategy - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ) sets out the range of funding available to the Scottish Government to invest in infrastructure, including revenue finance models. As part of the National Infrastructure Mission commitment, the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) were commissioned to examine new privately financed profit-sharing schemes. SFT assessed different funding models (such as evolved Private Finance Initiatives, financial transactions and MIM variations) against their ability to deliver additional investment, value for money, affordability, investor interest and financial risk. More information on the analysis performed by SFT can be found here: sftoptionsappraisalreportlowres.pdf (scottishfuturestrust.org.uk) .

The Scottish Futures Trust also supports the Scottish Government in considering the range of sources of finance and their relative merits for different types of infrastructure investment– a summary of which can be found in Appendix 5, here:

NPF4_Draft_3.QXP_Layout 1 (scottishfuturestrust.org.uk)

Surveys have shown us the extent of asbestos in the NHS estate. The Health and Safety Executive’s guidance states that it is safe for asbestos to remain in place if it is in good condition, well-protected and unlikely to be disturbed. Health boards carry out annual asbestos monitoring surveys and asbestos management plans are in place across the NHS estate. Ideally, all asbestos would be removed from NHS buildings immediately. However, the removal of asbestos is disruptive and can increase the risk of exposure to disturbed fibres. It is therefore not sensible or proportionate to remove asbestos in an active clinical setting if it does not pose a risk to staff and patients. The Scottish Government is doubling its health infrastructure maintenance budget. That money can be used by health boards to remove asbestos where necessary or when the opportunity to do so arises.

We recognise the hazard of asbestos and the risks to health it poses. However, asbestos is only dangerous when it is disturbed or in poor condition. The Health and Safety Executive’s guidance states that it is safe for asbestos to remain in place if it is in good condition, well-protected and unlikely to be disturbed. Health boards carry out annual asbestos monitoring surveys and asbestos management plans are in place across the NHS estate. The Scottish Government will double its NHS estate maintenance budget and health boards can use that money to remove asbestos as and when it is appropriate to do so.

The Scottish Government continues to engage with the UK Government as part of the forthcoming Fiscal Framework Review. The scope and timings of the review are subject to agreement with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

The review must ensure the Scottish Government and Parliament has the necessary powers to manage the risks we face within our devolved responsibilities, and to support economic recovery.

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.

The Scottish Government have no plans to propose the use of private finance for any new local authority led infrastructure projects. As a government however, we are committed to ensuring that existing private finance contractual obligations are delivered and that contracts are affordable. That is why we have asked the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) to work with public bodies to realise contract management improvements including re-scoping services, sharing in insurance cost savings, and optimising the risk transfer in contracts. SFT have published several guidance notes in relation to operational contract management which are available from their website at the following link www.scottishfuturestrust.org.uk/operational-ppp

As the first mission orientated investment bank in the UK, the Scottish National Investment Bank was established to respond to the need for long term ‘patient’ capital investment in Scotland. This means support for innovation and the creation of new markets where private investors are not yet ready to act.

The Missions, which were agreed across Parliament, are designed to steer the activity of the Bank into areas facing considerable challenge. The missions for the Bank are:

• Achieving a Just Transition to net zero carbon emissions by 2045
• Extending equality of opportunity through improving places by 2040
• Harnessing innovation to enable our people to flourish by 2040

As the Bank operates independently, how they set out their investment strategy in order to achieve these missions is a matter for the Bank to decide.

To highlight an individual investment as an example, in January 2022 the Bank invested £35 million into the expansion of Aberdeen Harbour. This expansion allowed greater land and water access for offshore wind developers. The increased capacity will also play a vital role delivering the supply chain benefits of the ScotWind leasing round, supporting the Bank’s mission to achieve a just transition to net zero.

Although guided by its missions, which are set by Scottish Ministers, and the legislation within the Scottish National Investment Bank Act 2020, the Bank operates independently. So, any potential future investment roles or opportunities would be a matter for the Bank to decide.

Work is ongoing to develop our infrastructure improvement programme. As part of that improvement work we have been engaging across government and, at this stage, with the Scottish Futures Trust to understand some of the issues that have affected previous capital investment projects and how we can best take action to improve delivery, as part of our work to develop options for a national infrastructure company.

The Scottish Government annually update and publish information relating to Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and Non-Profit Distributing (NPD) contracts which is available from the following link www.gov.scot/npd/pfi .

In addition, the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) have published several guidance notes relating to the operational management of these contracts which are available from their website at the following link www.scottishfuturestrust.org.uk/operational-ppp

The Scottish Government also has a transparent approach to the delivery of infrastructure projects that reports on the progress of major projects every six months to Parliament. Our major projects reporting shows how projects progress from proposal to detailed design and costing to procurement and subsequent delivery. Our major projects reporting is published and available from the following link www.gov.scot/infrastructure/projects

The NPD model replaced the PFI model in 2010 and although not used for new projects since 2018, NPD improved documentation as unlike PFI, most commercial information in NPD contracts was published two years after the asset was completed rather than the twenty-five years that older PFI contracts envisaged. NPD standard contracts were also more flexible than PFI allowing public bodies to make small changes or use agreed contracted rates to price changes. Further information on NPD contracts is available from the SFT’s website at the following link www.scottishfuturestrust.org.uk/contracts

The only private finance approach currently available is the Mutual Investment Model (MIM), which will be restricted to deployment by the Scottish Government, its agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies. This route was identified by SFT in response to the request to identify a profit sharing, privately financed infrastructure investment route that could be added to the range of public sector funding and financing routes. SFT published the Options Appraisal on the use of MIM which is available from their website at the following link www.scottishfuturestrust.org.uk/mim .

The deployment of MIM is currently being explored by the Scottish Government.