Discussions with Scottish Ministers on the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill have principally been led by the Minister of State in the Department for Business and Trade, Minister Hollinrake. I have not had discussions with the Lord Advocate regarding the Scottish Government’s proposed amendments to the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill.

Noting Scotland’s historically separate legal jurisdiction and the unique role of the Lord Advocate and Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in respect of prosecutions in Scotland, it is the UK Government’s view that it is appropriate for the Scottish Government to bring forward proposals to address prosecutions on this matter in Scotland, and for those to be scrutinised by the Scottish Parliament. The UK Government remains committed to supporting the Scottish Government in bringing forward its own proposals.

The UK is a world-leader in the development and manufacture of cell and gene therapies thanks to government investment in innovation and skills, including through the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult (CGTC).

DSIT also invested £10 million - alongside £10 million from Scottish Enterprise – to support a new Oligonucleotide Manufacturing Innovation Centre of Excellence in Glasgow.

The Vaccine Taskforce provided funding for a state-of-the art CGTC facility in Braintree to accelerate the development and manufacturing of advanced therapies at clinical and commercial scale.

My department also supported CGTC to establish apprenticeships and training programmes to upskill people across the UK.

The government is investing significantly to support manufacturing and delivery of cell and gene therapies.

Since 2021, government has launched three UK-wide capital grant schemes – up to £118 million of funds – to incentivise manufacturing investments, including in advanced therapies. Last year, government announced a further £520 million to increase investment in Life Sciences manufacturing.

The UK is a world-leader in the development and manufacture of cell and gene therapies thanks to government investment in innovation and skills, including through the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult which also coordinates the Advanced Therapy Treatment Centre network.

As per paragraph 2.13 of the Ministerial Code, it is not possible to disclose whether Law Officers have or have not provided advice on such matters. Paragraph 2.13 states: “The fact that the Law Officers have advised or have not advised and the content of their advice must not be disclosed outside Government without their authority”.

As a result of decisions at Spring Budget, the Scottish Government are now receiving around £295 million in additional funding in 2024-25 through the Barnett formula. It is for the Scottish Government to allocate their resources in devolved areas as they see fit.

Reliable estimates of the revenue raised from businesses in Scotland from the apprenticeship levy are not available as any estimate would need to be based on where employers are registered, and therefore would not necessarily reflect where the liabilities are accrued or where employees are based. Any estimate would not include businesses registered in Wales, Northern Ireland, or England, who have a presence and pay employees in Scotland.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 5001 on 11 December 2023.

We recognise the important role that culture can play in levelling up. That is why we have set aside £100 million for culture through the third round of the Levelling Up Fund. Further details of this funding will be announced in due course.

The UK delivery plan for the Fairwater Footprints (FWF) programme will improve the governance of water in supply chains. Already FWF is shaping new investment in collective water action in over 60 UK food and drink retailers in water-scarce regions of Peru, Kenya and Morocco, reforming procurement, regulation and investment policy in Panama, Madagascar, Finland and the Netherlands, and strengthening the voice of vulnerable communities in Malawi. In March 2023 the UK announced £1 million to design the flagship Just Transitions for Water Security programme to support the FWF alongside two other COP26 initiatives: the Water Tracker and the Resilient Water Accelerator.

Following the laying before Parliament of the four reports by the Speaker of the House of Commons on 28 June, the Secretary of State submitted on 27 October a draft Order in Council, giving effect to the new parliamentary constituencies boundaries recommendations, to the Privy Council Office, so that the Order can be considered at the next Privy Council meeting thereafter.

The Government is backing the plan with over £2.4 billion over the next five years to fund additional education and training places. This is on top of increases to education and training investment, reaching a record £6.1 billion over the next two years.

The education and training budget for 2024-25 was set at the last Spending Review and the Government is working with NHS England to finalise the budget to make sure it reflects recent pay deals.

The Government is backing the plan with over £2.4 billion over the next five years to fund additional education and training places. This is on top of increases to education and training investment, reaching a record £6.1 billion over the next two years.

The education and training budget for 2024-25 was set at the last Spending Review and the Government is working with NHS England to finalise the budget to make sure it reflects recent pay deals.

Research and Development tax reliefs are a vital driver of innovation, growth and productivity and are crucial to the government’s pledge to grow the economy. It’s important that these reliefs are easy to claim and are provided quickly to genuine claimants.

HMRC does not record details of the number of additional requests for information, however, HMRC asks for information only where it is needed to support a claimant in justifying their claim.

The potential impacts of the recent changes to alcohol duty rates were published at Spring Budget in HMRC’s Tax Information and Impact Note and can be found online (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-alcohol-duty-rates/alcohol-duty-rate-changes#summary-of-impacts).

The whisky industry is the UK’s largest single food and drink sector, accounting for 25% of the UK’s food and drink exports and 75% of Scottish food and drink exports, impacting 200 markets worldwide. The whisky sector generates £3.3 billion directly to the UK economy, and totals £5.5 billion when Gross Value Added (GVA) is added to the overall to UK Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Research by VisitScotland found that 20% of respondents stated they visited a whisky distillery on their holiday in Scotland, making it one of the top activities for overnight tourists on their trip to Scotland.

Visits to whisky distilleries in Scotland have increased by two thirds since 2010, and over 1000 people are now directly employed in tourism roles which equates to 10% of the industry’s direct employment in Scotland.

HMRC does not expect staff working on Research and Development (R&D tax relief schemes to be experts in the field of technology. That is not required because it is HMRC’s responsibility to ask questions to establish that the claimant understands and has correctly applied the definition of qualifying R&D. HMRC are seeking to gather information to test against the requirements for eligibility.

HMRC staff work with customers to understand the commercial context of their activities and whether they qualify for R&D relief and as part of the checking process. Where HMRC deal with complex matters HMRC staff can seek technical support or specialist advice.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is an operationally independent non-governmental body responsible for regulating and supervising the financial services industry. Although the Treasury sets the legal framework for the regulation of financial services, the FCA is responsible for developing and implementing rules, including relating to trading names. Further information on the FCA’s approach is available on its website.

Through the Financial Services Act 2021, the government granted the FCA new powers to remove permissions from firms when they are not carrying out the regulated activities they are permitted to. The FCA has since undertaken a ‘use it or lose it’ exercise, removing firms’ permissions where they are not carrying out regulated activities.

This has seen the FCA carry out 1,090 assessments in 2021/22 and resulted in 264 firms applying to voluntarily cancel, and a further 47 to modify, their permission to carry out regulated activities.

Ministers regularly engage with the FCA on a range of issues while recognising that the independence of the FCA is critical to its functions.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is an operationally independent non-governmental body responsible for regulating and supervising the financial services industry. Although the Treasury sets the legal framework for the regulation of financial services, the FCA is responsible for developing and implementing rules, including relating to trading names. Further information on the FCA’s approach is available on its website.

Through the Financial Services Act 2021, the government granted the FCA new powers to remove permissions from firms when they are not carrying out the regulated activities they are permitted to. The FCA has since undertaken a ‘use it or lose it’ exercise, removing firms’ permissions where they are not carrying out regulated activities.

This has seen the FCA carry out 1,090 assessments in 2021/22 and resulted in 264 firms applying to voluntarily cancel, and a further 47 to modify, their permission to carry out regulated activities.

Ministers regularly engage with the FCA on a range of issues while recognising that the independence of the FCA is critical to its functions.

In May this year, the Government published its response to Lord O’Shaughnessy’s Review into Commercial Clinical Trials in the United Kingdom. The response accepted the recommendations from the O'Shaughnessy Review and identified five priority commitments to take forwards in the immediate term, backed by £121 million, all aimed at speeding up the set up and running of commercial clinical trials in the UK.

The UK signed a Memorandum of Understanding with BioNTech in January, bringing their innovative research and development to the whole of the UK. Through the agreement, UK cancer patients will have access to trials exploring personalised mRNA cancer therapies. Ministers regularly meet with parliamentary colleagues across a range of health issues, meeting requests should be sent direct to the Department.