 The First Act of Business is consideration of business motion 10151, in the name of Joe Fitzpatrick, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, setting out a revision to today's business programme. Any member who wishes to speak against motion should press a request-to-speak button now, and I call on Joe Fitzpatrick to move motion number 10151. No members ask to speak against motion now, for I now put the question of the chamber. The question is that motion number 10151, in the name of Joe Fitzpatrick, be agreed to. Are we all agreed? The motion is therefore agreed to. The next item of business this afternoon is portfolio questions. Question number 1 is Dennis Robertson. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Do you ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support employment in the oil and gas sector? The Scottish Government published its oil and gas strategy. The Scottish Government, together with the Enterprise Network, has delivered an extra 80 companies that are account managed. We have led delegations to many destinations all over the world. We have provided an extra £6.5 million to establish energy skills Scotland. We have ring-fenced 500 modern apprenticeships for energy. We work with Opeto, Oil and Gas, UK and many others in the industry to deliver skills in a co-ordinated fashion. We have set up the oil and gas innovation centre, and I have personally met more than 100 companies in the sector in Aberdeen and elsewhere to lead our support for this most important sector of the economy. I thank the minister for his comprehensive answer, and I look forward to him visiting my constituency in the future. Minister, I am sure that you will agree with me that, despite Scottish Government efforts, we still don't seem to have enough young girls and women coming into the industry. Can the minister perhaps engage with the new cabinet secretary for training youth and women's employment to see if we can rectify this? Minister? Yes, I am happy and do work closely with Angela Constance on these and all other matters. I should say to Dennis Robertson that there is rarely a week goes by where I am not visiting his constituency, including this week. I am pleased to say that Energy Skills Scotland and Education Scotland are working together to develop a co-ordinated long-term plan for better partnerships between industry and schools. It is a lesser-known fact that, insofar as attracting more young women to pursue and wish to pursue a career in the oil and gas industry, that around about 90 per cent of the jobs in the oil and gas industry are not offshore jobs. I think that that is something that, if we can explain more, might remove some of the misperceptions about the industry and lead to more young women being interested in taking up a career in what is arguably our most successful sector. Question 2, Drew Smith. As the Scottish Government, what its response is to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland's comment that the white paper in independence contained very little detail on tax? Cabinet Secretary, John Swin? Scotland's future sets out how taxation will operate in independent Scotland and how this Government plans to use tax powers to build a tax system that stimulates Scotland's economy, builds social cohesion and sustains our public services. Independence will guarantee for the first time that decisions about what taxes to apply in independent Scotland and at what level will only be taken with the approval of a Parliament elected entirely by people in Scotland. Drew Smith? The only thing that we know for sure about a tax system in independent Scotland is the SNP's desire to engage in a reckless tax competition by cutting tax for big business by 3 per cent more than the Tories ever would, but I cast have highlighted the complete lack of information from the Scottish Government on the cost of creating a new tax system. The Scottish Government has said that it will be small and Scotland's accountants have asked how small is small. Will Mr Swinney tell Parliament how much he thinks that setting up a new tax system will cost? Does he know that? Cabinet Secretary, I think that the best way to answer Mr Smith's question is to say that independence provides the opportunity for Scotland, as has been acknowledged by a whole range of different experts in this field, to create a system that is more simple to the minister, more efficient in its organisation and more focused on the particular requirements of an independent Scotland. If we look at the UK system with over 10,000 pages of tax legislation, 1,042 exemptions within the UK tax system in 2010 alone, we can see that the complex approach that has been taken to the tax system in the United Kingdom has not made for a tax system that is efficient or straightforward. On the question of cost, the Government has set out detail on the way in which we would want to structure and take forward the tax system in Scotland. The proposals that we have brought to Parliament in relation to the Revenue, Scotland and Tax Powers Bill demonstrate that we can undertake tax administration in Scotland at a cheaper rate than is the case with the proposals that have been put forward by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, which are 25 per cent cheaper in relation to the Revenue, Scotland and Tax Powers Bill. That is an illustration to Mr Smith of how an independent Scotland can take decisions and approaches that better meet the needs of people in Scotland and deliver a greater degree of efficiency into the bargain. Adam Brown. In this year's budget, there is £10 million and next year's budget, there is £40 million for the transitional costs of the Scotland Act taxes. What would be the transitional costs of devolving all of the taxes upon separation? The definitive answer to that question would lie as a result of the negotiation that we undertake with the United Kingdom Government over how we use the existing apparatus of tax infrastructure in Scotland, principally in relation to the Inland Revenue, to the pensions administration and to the benefit system and how we negotiated the arrangements of the use of those systems and their application in independent Scotland. What that is an argument for is very early negotiation with the United Kingdom Government to prepare for an orderly transition to an independent Scotland in the aftermath of a yes vote in the referendum in September. Question number three is in the name of Markleby Agiw. The member has not seen fit to join us to ask the question. I will expect an explanation from the member by the end of the day. Question number four in the name of Kenny Gibson has not been lodged. Mr Gibson is abroad on parliamentary duties. Question number five, Alex Rowley. Thank you, Presiding Officer, to ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that the future growth of the economy lies in a highly skilled workforce and what steps it will take to attract businesses to Scotland that require a highly skilled workforce. Cabinet Secretary. Presiding Officer, increased internationalisation with greater business investment and exports will drive future sustainable economic growth. A highly skilled and flexible workforce will help facilitate this and ensure Scotland remains in attractive location for inward investors. Therefore, building on our success to date in securing inward investment. In 2012, according to Ernst and Young, the number of jobs attracted from inward investment was at the second highest level in 12 years. Since 2008, SDI support has led to the creation of the safeguarding of over 33,000 planned jobs in Scotland. Alex Rowley. Thank you, I thank the Cabinet Secretary for his response. I would love to confess that and put this question together. I had to add a bit about attracting businesses to Scotland to get the question to qualify to be able to be asked in this section. I think that that highlights the issue because where I'm trying to get to, and would the Cabinet Secretary agree, that we actually need to look at skills in terms of schools, primary, secondary schools, colleges, higher education and crucially employers and the key to the Scottish economy whether it's inward investment or whether it's companies here, because I meet companies that say that they're having to recruit abroad because the skills aren't here. Do we not need a better joined up approach that brings all these partners together and drives the skill agenda so that we have people being able to get the jobs that are available in Scotland? Thank you for your speech, Cabinet Secretary. I now feel very anxious about saying I very much concur with Mr Rowley's remarks after the words of the Presiding Officer and let me say to Mr Rowley that despite the configurations of parliamentary decisions on who answers what questions, I think that what he's raised with me is an entirely relevant question for the issues that I confront. I think that I agree entirely with him that we must have cohesion and alignment in all of our approaches to skills and development from the earliest years of education. So, for example, some of the problems that we have in occupational segregation for employees in their 20s are perhaps determined by steps that are taken in primary school when particular opportunities and areas of activity that we've talked about and discussed with greater relevance to males rather than females, and we have to tackle those issues from throughout the education system. I think that what I would say to Mr Rowley is that the Wood commission report I think will give us a lot to think about and to address in this area. I think that Sir Ian Wood has taken particular steps to ensure that we have the type of cohesive discussion that Mr Rowley is seeking in this respect and I look forward to the publication of the Wood commission report very shortly. And the final point I'd raised is that Mr Rowley makes an entirely reasonable point about the need for business to be at the epicentre of this discussion. And far too often, business is not closely immersed in the discussion about skills and skills development pipelines within our society, and if they were, we would be able to resolve many of the issues of demand and supply that Mr Rowley has rightly highlighted. Well, we've got a speech in return to allow us to make progress through the questions. Can I remind members the questions should be brief and can I remind the ministers? I'd appreciate fairly brief answers. Question number six, Joe McAlpine. What measures it's considering to support turnout at local authority elections? Minister Derek Mackay. The Scottish Government is committed to improving voter turnout at all Scottish elections, including local government elections. On the 9th of April, we published a consultation document Scotland's electoral future, delivering improvements in participation and administration. The consultation is focused on how we can improve the quality of democracy in Scotland by encouraging wider engagement and participation in elections. It draws on a number of previous reports, measures under consideration, including all postal voting, online voting and telephone voting, among other suggestions that will be informed by a cross-party stakeholder round table I have convened, which met for the first time today. Joe McAlpine, and then I'm going to call Dennis Robertson after the answer. I thank the minister for his answer. What specific measures could be considered to encourage more young people to participate in the democratic process? Minister. In addition to some of the measures that I've just mentioned, I will undertake alongside the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister an event in Glasgow Scotland's future at a young voter event in partnership with other stakeholders, such as Young Scot, Scottish Youth Parliament and YouthLink Scotland. So we look forward to hearing their suggestions on how to improve and engage with them further in the democratic process. Dennis Robertson. To ask the minister what more can be done to encourage people from minority groups, and especially those who are with disabilities, to engage in the process and certainly to become candidates and hopefully be elected into local authority or parliamentary elections. Minister. The stakeholder group I've referred to has a wide range of opinion and representation. In addition to our collective duties as political parties, there is a specific pilot under way that is working together with Inclusion Scotland to deliver an internship for people with disabilities to try and give greater exposure and involvement in the democratic process and in the Parliament. If successful, we can roll it out more widely. Inclusion Scotland has been allocated funding of over £70,000 to run this programme. Question 7. To ask the Scottish Government what experts it has consulted about the consequences of independence for interest rates. Cabinet Secretary. The Scottish Government's views on monthly policy are based on the comprehensive work of the Fiscal Commission working group, which is comprised of international around economists. This group of economic experts published a detailed report in February of last year, which includes proposals for currency and interest rates. Although it outlined that Scotland would have a number of credible options, it concluded that a formal monetary union would be in the interests of both Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom. The Bank of England would continue to set a single interest rate for both Scotland and the rest of the UK, which makes sense for two economies with such close trading patterns. Welcome to some. The cabinet secretary agreed that it is particularly important when it comes to the economics of independence that we listen to independent experts. Is it not the case that all independent experts agree that there would be a sovereign debt premium even if there were to be a monetary union? Is it not the case that the vast majority of those experts say that without a monetary union there would be an even higher interest rate premium? Indeed, in the case if the Scottish Government was not to take on its share of debt, there would be an astronomical interest rate premium. 5 per cent on interest rates according to Geoffrey's investment bank. Cabinet secretary. I think that what I'd say to Mr Chisholm is that clearly the Scottish Government's proposal is for a monetary union between an independent Scotland and the rest of the UK. I'm reminded that a significant amount of independent opinion has judged that that would be in the best interests of both Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom, not least of which most recently Professor Anton Muscatelli at the economy committee of this Parliament. If I look at other contributions to the discussion, you find, for example, standard and poor have said that an independent Scotland would qualify for our highest economic assessment. Moody's said that all possible outcomes point to Scotland being amongst the wealthiest sovereigns in the world. So I think that there's a great deal to be very sure about the credit rating of an independent Scotland. If I look also at the credit ratings of small countries of a size comparable to Scotland, I find that Austria, Finland and Denmark, to name but three, have all got lower interest rates, lower debt costs than the United Kingdom at the present time. So I think that if we look at all of this evidence in the round, it demonstrates the arguments in favour of the proposals put forward by the Scottish Government. John Mason. Yes, I know what the cabinet secretary says about Austria, and I just wonder if he can explain how it can be that a smaller country, like Austria, can end up with a lower interest rate than apparently a large country like the UK? Minister. Ultimately, we'll come down to the way in which the stewardship of the economy has been undertaken in Austria, and anyone looking at the stewardship of the United Kingdom's economy demonstrating that we're now in a situation in which we have debt that's heading for £1.5 trillion indicates the degree of economic mismanagement when we look at the very strong public finances that existed around the turn of the century, from the late 1990s throughout the first decade of the century. How we could have ended up with the level of debt that we have is a testament to the economic mismanagement of the United Kingdom. Gavin Brown. Just for clarity, Presiding Officer, is it the Scottish Government's formal position or formal view that a separate Scottish Government would be a lower rate of interest on government debt than the UK Government? Cabinet Secretary. I'm simply illustrating to Mr Brown the comments that have been put in the public domain by ratings agencies. I think that they speak for themselves. They say that Scotland would qualify for our highest economic assessment. I think that Mr Brown should be cheerful about that and confident about that. He can go forward in the future with great certainty about the economic foundations of an independent Scotland. I know that it's only a matter of time before he realises this conclusion for himself. Question 8, Jeane Irker. Thank you to ask to the Scottish Government what measures it's taking to sustain employment in Caithness and North Sutherland. Cabinet Secretary. Through the Caithness and North Sutherland regeneration partnership, we are working to develop a resilient local economy and support sustainable job creation. Between 2008 and 2013, the partnership action secured commitments from 190 local businesses to create or maintain 750 jobs. Those activities are complemented by over £100 million in infrastructure investment in the last five years, including £20 million in developing Scrabster Harbour. This investment supports jobs during construction, as well as building the asset base to support future economic development and job creation in growth sectors such as renewables. Jeane Irker. I thank the cabinet secretary for his reply. Finding new employment for workers in Dwnry has been an on-going theme of its decommissioning. Can I ask the cabinet secretary how this experience will inform other diversification in the future in places like Faslain in the event of independence? Certainly, Mike Spitt met representatives of the Caithness and North Sutherland Regeneration Partnership. Having taken part in discussions hosted by the Caithness Chamber of Commerce when I was last in Thurso a couple of years ago, I have been impressed by the way in which the very focused work of the partnership has brought together all relevant agencies to try to find ways of reskilling and redeploying individuals who are involved in the work in Dwnry. Crucially, to find other sustainable business opportunities to support employment within the Caithness economy. I think that there are wider lessons to be drawn from what has been a very good exercise in meeting what is a change to the economic landscape in the north of Scotland, which could have very dramatic implications for that local economy unless properly managed, which I think has been properly managed by the Caithness partnership. Question 9, Cameron Buchanan. To ask the Scottish Government when ministers last met representatives of their local authorities. Minister Derek Mackay. Ministers meet representatives of local government regularly to discuss a wide range of issues as part of our commitment to working in partnership with local government to improve outcomes for the people of Scotland. Mr Buchanan. Thank you. Following the revelation over the weekend that Edinburgh City Council has spent around £60,000 on attracting foreign investment or entertaining, that it initially refused to release details of how those costs were accrued, can it give assurance that it will press home the importance of transparency to Scottish councils, particularly when resources are so scarce at the moment? Minister. Of course, this is a matter primarily for the city council and they will be judged by the electorate and how they choose to use resources. I'm not aware of the full details. I'm happy to look further at it and advise Edinburgh City Council accordingly. But what I would say is Scotland's capital city should absolutely herald its successes and promote Edinburgh and Scotland across the world, but of course use resources wisely and transparently. Neil Findlay. When the minister last met representatives of councils, did he discuss concerns about the planning system and continue in my region a planning application for a 190ft turbine was rejected twice by the council and by ministers only to be overturned behind closed doors by a second reporter inquiry? Will the minister look at reforming the planning system to ensure that it is fairer and more transparent because at the moment it is heavily weighted against communities and in favour of developers? Minister. I would disagree with Mr Findlay's comments around the planning system. Essentially, the last planning act was agreed very much on a cross-party basis. In fact, the Labour Party were largely responsible for much of the legislation going through. So if I think that the planning act has given the government powers that you regret, we should look across the chamber and reflect on that point. I think that the planning act is bedding down well and appeals mechanism is necessary. I would disagree that communities aren't fully engaged, but I'm making great progress in both national planning framework, Scottish planning policy and delivery on the ground in partnership with local authorities. The last time that I met and discussed planning with Scotland's local authorities, no, they did not ask me to abolish the appeals system. Question number 10, James Kelly. Thank you, Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle low pay. Cabinet Secretary John Swinney. The Government is leading by example and helping those on the lowest of incomes by ensuring that all staff covered by the public sector pay policy receive the Scottish living wage, which is above the statutory minimum wage. We encourage others to follow our example and have funded the poverty alliance to deliver a living wage accreditation scheme, which aims to increase the number of employers paying the living wage and make decent pay the norm in our country. James Kelly. I thank the Cabinet Secretary for that answer. Following the debates on payment of the living wage in public contracts and the procurement bill, what measures will the Government put in place to monitor the payment of the living wage in public contracts? And would the Cabinet Secretary consider setting up a living wage unit in order to assist with this process? Cabinet Secretary. I will certainly explore the issue that was raised by Mr Kelly in relation to the monitoring of those points. I suspect that, in the information that we gather on contracts, and certainly, if a comparable example such as community benefit clauses, those are all monitored as part of the commitments that we undertake through public sector procurement. There is certainly scope for us to consider the point that Mr Kelly makes. It is a serious point. Obviously, our work with the poverty alliance has been designed to engage organisations that have been critical to advancing the arguments in this respect to gain wider participation within the living wage campaigns. I will certainly ensure that consideration is given to the idea that I put forward by Mr Kelly, and I will write to him according. Question 11, in the name of Christian Alart, has been withdrawn. The member has provided a most satisfactory explanation. Question 12, Angus MacDonald. To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the national planning framework 3 and the revised Scottish planning policy. Minister Derek Mackay. We will publish the national planning framework 3 in the Ryan Scottish planning policy on 23 June 2014. Angus MacDonald. I thank the minister for his reply and the imminent publication of NPF3 and the SPP. I particularly welcome the proposed inclusion of the Grangemouth investment zone as one of the national developments, as well as the CCS proposals for Grangemouth with appropriate environmental safeguards. However, can I ask the minister how the recommendations from the committees of this Parliament have been considered as part of the NPF3 process? Minister. I provided an interim response to recommendations of Parliament's committees earlier this month. The Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee highlighted the concerns of local residents about the impacts of two proposed national developments at Grangemouth, and we are finalising NPF3 and taking those concerns into account. A co-ordinated approach to the development in this area as proposed in NPF3 will be key to balancing development aspirations and quality of life for local communities and the environment. Speaking more widely on the recommendation of Parliament's committees, I believe that I have taken a number of process policy and narrative contributions on board. I am sure that members will be aware that I have gone further in the scrutiny process and the legislation required me to, and I have also offered to attend the local government regeneration committee to outline our final position. That all leads to an excellent plan for Scotland, delivering sustainable economic growth. Question 13, in the name of Rhoda Grant, has been withdrawn. The member has provided a satisfactory explanation. Question 14, Graham Day. To ask the Scottish Government what conclusions emerge from the recent payday lending summit. Minister Derek Mackay. The Scottish Government is committed to tackling their eyes on payday lenders in betting shops in Scotland's high streets. We have already taken steps to address this by securing passage of the Bankruptcy and debt bill and by removing business rates relief from payday lenders, but we recognise that more needs to be done. I therefore chaired a summit on the 23rd of April that brought together a wide range of interests, including local authorities, financial advice services, welfare organisations and credit unions to consider what further action could be taken. A report outlining the summit's discussions and conclusions will be published later this week. Those conclusions include the development of an action plan that will build on existing commitments and will be finalised in the near future in collaboration with stakeholders. Graham Day. I thank the minister for that answer. Can I ask specifically whether there is scope for planning policies to be used to tackle the clustering of betting and payday loan premises in town centres? Derek Mackay. There are a number of options being considered, including changes to planning policy. The forthcoming action plan will provide more detail on the way forward. I can confirm that emerging planning policies will assist in tackling the clustering of payday lending and betting premises and working hard to maintain the cross-party support to achieve that within local government and Parliament equally. I would restate that regulation would be much easier if the reserve powers were transferred to Scotland. Question 15. Graham Baxter. Thank you. To ask the Scottish Government what support it offers to community planning partnerships. Minister Derek Mackay. The work of community planning partnerships is in the first instance primarily supported by Scottish Government funding through the statutory partner bodies. For instance, we are maintaining the local government finance settlements for both 2014-15 and 2015-16 at over £10.6 billion and our initial revenue resource allocations for territorial NHS boards in 2014-15 total more than £8.27 billion, 3.1 per cent higher than in 2013-14. The Scottish Government supports CPPs in other ways too. We intend to legislate in the forthcoming community empowerment Scotland Bill to strengthen community planning, including clear duties on public sector partners to support the work of CPPs. We are running a national conference for community plan practitioners and others on 5 June to share good practice. And with the economic and social research council, we are investing £3 million in what works Scotland, an independent centre which will support CPPs, building evidence on what works to deepen the impact of public service delivery and reform. Graham Baxter. I thank the minister for that answer. There are many great examples of small community-based organisations in Midscotland and Fife, including the Resonate Arts project in Allawa, which I visited last week, and which takes a holistic approach to working with local people to build community resilience and capacity. Could I urge the minister to ensure that support for community planning crosses all portfolios to ensure a sustainable long-term future for organisations like Resonate? Minister. Yes, of course. I think that that's a very valid point. I had the pleasure of visiting Fife just the other day to meet to a third sector conference there, hearing from the third sector direct and some of the fantastic projects that they are delivering around prevention, integration, people and improved performance, the very pillars of Christy and our response to Christy and public service reform. So absolutely the capacity of the third sector and community-led regeneration and support is critical delivering on this agenda an absolute looking car with the comments that have been made. Question 16, Rob Gibson. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I sent you a note. I'm sorry that I'm late. To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to use tax powers to tackle wealth inequalities. Presiding Officer, the Scottish Government has limited powers in its existing responsibilities to exercise the use of tax powers to tackle wealth inequalities. But where we have acquired new powers in terms of the Scotland act, we've demonstrated our desire to deliver a progressive system which is exactly the approach that we've taken to the design of the land and buildings transaction tax and we seek to apply that in other forms of taxation in which we have the responsibility to do so. Rob Gibson. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I welcome the cabinet secretary's answer but in order to fund the public services that so many communities need and deserve, we need to tackle tax avoidance and trusts and so on amongst rural and urban businesses. But since many of these tax powers are actually currently retained in Westminster, is there any discussion going on about how we can get control over some of those in order to help our economy to deliver for the communities that I mentioned? Clearly, if the Parliament has a wider range of tax powers, it will have much greater flexibility to address those issues. I think that on the issue of tax avoidance, I would reassure Mr Gibson and I think that this has been welcomed across the political spectrum in Parliament that the Government has demonstrated by the approach that we have taken to the Revenue and Scotland and Tax Powers Bill, a determination to tackle the issue of tax avoidance and the general anti-avoidance rule that has been designed in which, of course, will be scrutinised by Parliament at stage 2 and at stage 3, further deliberations is designed to establish our tax system on exactly the right footing where we make it clear our intolerance of tax avoidance and put in place the measures which we believe are of the widest possible scope to tackle that. However, as I have already said to Parliament, I am very willing to be challenged on the degree to which we could make that provision ever more effective than we have already designed as part of the bill as it has been considered by stage 1 by Parliament. Bruce Smith Will the cabinet secretary take the opportunity to remind the radical voices behind him of house-slash-incorporation tax for big business and forcing regressive taxation and regressive tax competition on the rest of the UK would result in a more equal Scotland? Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills I would simply remind Mr Smith that the Government has taken an approach which is designed to focus on how we improve and expand the economic base of Scotland. I would take Mr Smith more seriously. However, earnestly, he tries to put forward those points of view about co-operation tax. If he was not a member of a party that on two occasions dramatically reduced co-operation tax so it just seems to be that the logic, the great intellectual logic of Mr Smith is all right if it is the Labour Party that is doing it but it is not all right if it is anybody else that it does it. I simply say that the Scottish Government has set out our argument about the advantage of encouraging and motivating investment through a competitive tax base. That does not mean to say that people who are obliged to pay tax are somehow exonerated from paying it. Those who are obliged to pay tax have to pay the tax to which they are obliged, which is exactly what the general anti-avoidance show that I am establishing within statute is designed to do and to set the signal that whatever the tax rates decided and determined by Parliament they must be followed and adhered to by all relevant parties. Thank you. At last week's meeting of this Parliament's Economy, Committee, Dennis Canavan, who is the chair of the Yes, Scotland campaign, said that he wanted to see a radical redistribution of wealth in Scotland and tax policies that would bring that about. Does Mr Swinney agree? The first thing I want to say is that Dennis Canavan is a man for whom I could not have the higher respect. I sat with him in the House of Commons and in this Parliament and I saw the courageous things he had to deal with politically and personally, and I have nothing but the highest of admiration for Mr Canavan. He would of course be the first to say that he and I are not exactly two peas out of the same pod if I can use that gardening analogy for the benefit of anybody over there that is interested in gardening. Obviously, there will be differences of opinion among the various interested parties in the Yes side. However, what Mr Canavan and I are absolutely agreed on is that the only way we will attack the inherent inequalities of the United Kingdom is to acquire the powers of an independent Scotland and then start resolving the issues of inequality in our society. Question 17, Jimmy Hepburn. To ask the Scottish Government what would be the position of civil servants working for the UK Government in Scotland following a yes vote in the referendum. Cabinet Secretary. Presiding Officer, the Scottish Government will work with the Westminster Government to preserve continuity of employment for all civil servants in Scotland either by transfer to the Scottish Government as we take on new functions or through continued employment by the Westminster Government where it continues to require their skills. UK civil servants transferring into the Scottish Government will benefit from our good employment practices, including a continued commitment to no compulsory redundancies. Jimmy Hepburn. HMRC, which is a big employer in my constituency and across Scotland and the DWP, have experienced large cuts to numbers employed by their organisations in recent years. In 2004, there were 40,000 and a half thousand job losses in those organisations followed by further cuts in 2006, and we know the current UK Government is cutting back too. Does the cabinet secretary agree that the real risk to jobs in those services is the UK Government's handling of them and that the white paper commitment to transfer workers to the employment of the Scottish Government with the policies that he has set out makes independence a much better prospect for such staff? Presiding Officer, the Scottish Government took a very deliberate decision despite all the economic challenges that we face to provide a more stable employment environment for civil servants in Scotland through our commitment to no compulsory redundancies I think that that has been a very welcome measure to amongst the employees involved. They have had the security of knowing that their continuity of employment was assured and that if there was a requirement to reduce staff numbers within the Government's organisation it will be done by negotiation and agreement with the relevant trade unions and individuals involved as part of any voluntary severance arrangement. So I think that we have created and have every intention of maintaining a progressive approach to employment practices in the civil service in Scotland. Presiding Officer, can the cabinet secretary tell me how far his policy of no compulsory redundancies extends in the public sector? I am thinking specifically about the compulsory redundancies currently being considered for academic staff at Dundee University. Not sure it's quite relevant but if you want to answer to cabinet secretary please do so. The University of Dundee is a self-governing institution. Although the Government funds it, the University of Dundee is entirely autonomous in determining the decisions that it takes. Clearly the Government leads by example and the commitment to no compulsory redundancies applies to all bodies over which the pay policy that the Government applies and the bargain units that are relevant for that purpose is where the policy applies. Question 18, Chuck Grady. Thank you. To ask the Scottish Government when it last reviewed the funding sources for social enterprises and what steps it is taking to support crowdfunding. The Scottish Government is in discussions with a range of stakeholders to identify opportunities for innovation and development and explore future approaches to ensure a buoyant and sustainable social enterprise and wider third sector. Those discussions will continue throughout 2014 and will include future funding sources. Chuck Grady. He will be aware of the rapid growth of social enterprises and the voluntary and third sectors in recent years. Associated with this growth has been the growth in the number of funding sources both private and public. Will the cabinet secretary now institute a full review of the many sources of funding to ensure that properly directed qualified financial support is given to likely winners in these sectors and that crowdfunding be considered as one such qualified investment vehicle? I think that crowdfunding is an example of real innovation. I have seen a number of very successful measures to attract crowdfunding for social enterprises which have reaped very significant rewards. I can assure Mr Grady that that will be one of the areas that is explored as part of the review that we undertake. I can also say to him that the Government has set out and we set this out in 2007 as one of our priorities was to expand the scope of social enterprise activity in Scotland. We have seen that significantly across the country and I can give Mr Grady the assurance that we have every intention of encouraging that in the years to come. To ask the Scottish Government what measures it has put in place to increase the number of business startups in Glasgow. The Scottish Government is committed to creating the economic environment to enable businesses to start up and to thrive. The latest official startup figures published by the ONS in December 2013 show that there were 2,300 new business registrations in Glasgow in 2012 up from 2,220 in 2011. That is the third consecutive year in which the number of startups in Glasgow has increased. It will need to be brief, Ms McTarga. I thank the cabinet secretary for his reply. Women in Scotland continue to be half as lightly as men to establish a business in light of the significant entrepreneurial potential of Scotland's women that remains untapped. What specific measures have the Scottish Government taken to address this concerning gender gap in business startup rates? We have taken a very large number of measures and Angela Constance is driving this work forward as the member well knows. We supply over 92,000 businesses in Scotland with low or no business rates. We have enormous support from the business gateway and we encourage more women to consider self-employment as a successful means of supporting the economy. So we entirely support the efforts that the member talks about. My apologies to Mr Lamont. I did my absolute best to get to your question but unfortunately time has caught on with us. The next item of business is a statement by Keith Brown on the Caledonia and Sleeper franchise. The minister will take questions at the end of his statement and there should therefore be known to