Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how much his Department spent on recruitment consultants in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lord Jack of Courance
The Scotland Office has not spent any money on recruitment consultants in the last three years.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how much his Department has spent on headhunters in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lord Jack of Courance
The Scotland Office has not spent money on headhunters in any of the last three years.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what the cost to the public purse has been of Ministerial severance pay in his Department in each year since 1 January 2016.
Answered by Lord Jack of Courance
Under the Ministerial and Other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991, eligible Ministers who leave office are entitled to a one-off payment equivalent to one quarter of their annual salary at the point at which they leave Government. This applies only where a Minister is under 65 and is not appointed to a ministerial office within three weeks of leaving government.
Individuals may waive the payment to which they are entitled. That is a matter for their personal discretion, but this approach has been taken in the past. Details of such payments are published in departmental annual reports and accounts, and ministerial salaries are published on GOV.UK at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministerial-salary-data
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what recent discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on providing additional support to Scottish businesses.
Answered by Iain Stewart
We have regular discussions with the Scottish Government. The Chancellor boosted small business growth by increasing the Employment Allowance with small business owners saving over £250 from the changes to National Insurance thresholds. We call on the Scottish Government to focus on support for business through an agenda for growth as set out by this government in the Queen’s Speech.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in the Scottish Government on the effect of the cancellation of the Autumn Budget on the devolved budget and furlough arrangements.
Answered by Lord Jack of Courance
At all stages of the pandemic the UK Government has sought to work constructively with the devolved administration in Scotland and will continue to do so.
HM Treasury made an unprecedented upfront guarantee to the devolved administrations, guaranteeing Scotland would receive at least £7.2 billion in additional funding this year on top of their Budget 2020 funding. This gives Scotland the budget certainty for coronavirus response in the months ahead.
In addition, the UK Government has taken substantial action to rescue the economy from the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, including through the Plan for Jobs, published in July.
In September, the Chancellor announced a targeted package of measures in his Winter Economic Plan to support jobs and business through the winter months, by supporting businesses to keep staff on through the introduction of a new Job Support Scheme and an extension to the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) Grant.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what progress he has made on to ensuring Scotland benefits from the Stronger Towns Fund launched in March 2019.
Answered by Lord Jack of Courance
The Towns Fund is an ambitious package of support for towns in England, expanding existing funding programmes. The Barnett formula will be applied in the normal way to this investment for England, and as a result the Scottish Government will receive a share of funding. This is because responsibility for the activities the Towns Fund is supporting is devolved. In addition, we will discuss with the Scottish Government how we can work together, using our powers and funding, to support towns in Scotland.