Programme for Government 2016 roundup

A £500m boost for business has been pledged by the First Minister, in a Program for Government which includes plans for a social security overhaul, measures to tackle child poverty and a cut to air passenger duty.

Nicola Sturgeon said the new three-year Scottish Growth Scheme will provide individual investment guarantees, and some loans, of up to £5 million to small and medium sized firms who would otherwise be unable to grow because of a lack of investment finance.

She said the move was aimed at easing uncertainty faced by the private sector following the Brexit vote.

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The First Minister also announced plans to introduce a “distinctive Scottish social security system based on dignity and respect” through the Social Security Bill.

She said: “The bill will support delivery of key policy commitments: for example, an increase in carers allowance, a new best start grant for low-income parents, a new and more humane approach to disability assessments, and abolition of the bedroom tax. 

“The bill will be a powerful demonstration of our determination to use new powers to create the fairer Scotland that we wish to see.”

The FM said the planned Child Poverty Bill is “arguably the most important piece of legislation we will introduce this year”, and that it will establish Scotland as the only part of the UK with statutory income targets on child poverty.

She added: “The new best start grant will provide financial support to low-income parents when their child is born, when their child starts nursery and, again, when their child starts school.

“Over the coming year, I am proud to say that we will also introduce the baby box, offering essential items such as clothing, bedding and books for all new-born babies.

“Our overall aim is clear: from the moment that parents receive their baby box, right through to when young adults go to college or university or into apprenticeships and jobs, supporting children and families is at the heart of this Government’s priorities.”

Sturgeon said four of the bills set to be introduced this year will utilise the new powers being devolved to Holyrood, including air passenger duty which the government plan to half overall by the end of this parliamentary session.

The FM also pledged to consult on a draft referendum bill, to be ready for introduction should the Scottish Government conclude that independence is necessary to maintain Scotland’s links with Europe.

The move drew criticism from opposition parties, with Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson saying Sturgeon should “remove the threat of a second referendum” and instead try and make the best of Brexit.

She said “Elsewhere in the UK, politicians who – like the First Minister and like me – did not support the decision to leave the EU are putting aside their own disappointment at the result in an effort to try to make a crack of it.

“By contrast, our own Scottish Government’s response was to release a risible fag-packet calculation of costs, purely to try to hide the facts surrounding Scotland’s own deficit.”

Davidson also called on the government to improve opportunities for the poorest communities in education and boost the number of doctors training in general practice.

She questioned the APD cut, saying the Tories “believe in a more tailored approach than a blanket 50 per cent reduction could ever achieve”.

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said her party would seek to maintain the relationship with the EU and the UK. She said the move “is the will of the people of Scotland on both issues and it is a will that my party shares”.

Dugdale called on Sturgeon to use new powers to introduce more progressive taxation policies. She said: “The Government faces a choice: it can look left, and join with like-minded and progressive forces; or it can look right, and make an alliance with a Tory Opposition with no plan to take this country forward.”

Scottish Greens leader Patrick Harvie said his party will “engage constructively” with the government should in the event of a referendum bill being presented.

Harvie was critical of the planned cut to air passenger duty, however. He said: “The case against that policy is very strong not only in environmental terms, but in social justice terms. Even if the tax giveaway for the airlines is handed on to individual passengers, the lion’s share of that benefit will go to the wealthiest frequent flyers—and that would be at a time when the public transport that people depend on daily is eye-wateringly expensive”.

Harvie also called for a more radical overhaul of local taxation.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said the First Minister should “get on with the day job”, accusing the government of neglecting the economy and services.

He criticised falling numbers of GPs and claimed the SNP “is still nailed to the fence on fracking”.

He said: “We must deliver a step change in mental health services so that they are treated on a par with physical illness services and we must deliver policies that enable us to exceed our climate change targets. We should make Scottish education the best again, but we need to make a transformational investment for that to happen. We need to guarantee our civil liberties, as well.”

The full list of bills announced include:

Air Passenger Duty Bill 
Budget Bill 
Child Poverty Bill 
Contract (Third Party Rights) Bill 
Domestic Abuse Bill 
Expenses and Funding of Civil Litigation Bill 
Forestry Bill 
Gender Balance on Public Boards Bill 
Housing (Amendment) Bill 
Islands Bill 
Limitation (Childhood Abuse) Bill 
Social Security Bill 
Railway Policing Bill 
Wild Animals in Circuses Bill
Draft referendum Bill

A Climate Change Plan and an accompanying Energy Strategy will be published this winter.