Scottish Government consolidated accounts: 2018-2019

16. Other Financial Commitments

16a. Other Commitments

The payments to which the Scottish Government is committed analysed by the period during which the commitment expires are as follows:

	2018-19	2017-18
	£m	£m
Payable in 1 year	991	780
Payable between 2 - 5 years	4,520	4,366
Payable in more than 5 years	-	-
Total	5,511	5,146

Other financial commitments payable within one year include £563m (2017-18: £336m) as a committed income stream to Network Rail in accordance with the Deed of Grant; £394m (2017-18: £381m) to Abellio ScotRail and £20m (2017-18: £27m) to Serco Caledonian Sleeper under the Franchise Agreements. There is also £12.1m (2017-18: £12m) to host the Solheim Cup in 2019.

Commitments payable within 2 to 5 years include £2,787m (2017-18: £2,680m) to Network Rail, £1,628m (2017-18: £1,594m) to Abellio; and £76m (2017-18: £79m) to Serco. There is £30m (2017-18: £nil) to host the 2023 UCI World Cycling.

16b. Guarantees, Indemnities and Letters of Comfort

The Scottish Government entered into the following guarantees, indemnities or provided letters of comfort. None of these is a contingent liability within the meaning of IAS 37, Provisions, Contingent Liabilities and Contingent Assets, since the likelihood of a transfer of economic benefit in settlement is too remote. They therefore fall to be measured following the requirements of IAS 39, Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement. They are included for parliamentary reporting and accountability purposes. A number of these arrangements cannot reliably be quantified; where values can be determined these have been provided.

Guarantees

The Scottish Government has underwritten the Abellio ScotRail and Serco Caledonian Sleeper pension funds, in line with guarantees provided to other train operators by the Department for Transport.

Section 54 guarantees issued as part of the rail rolling stock procurement process.

Pension fund guarantees

Guarantees for 10 local government pension schemes, as a result of Visit Scotland taking on the staff from the local area tourist boards.

Guarantee to Lothian Pension Fund in relation to the admission of Scottish Futures Trust.

Guarantee to Lothian Pension Fund in relation to the admission of The Scottish Homes.

Guarantee to Lothian Pension Fund in relation to the admission of The Scottish Agricultural College.

Guarantee to Fife Council in relation to the admission of The Scottish Agricultural College to the Local Government Pension Fund.

Guarantee to Dumfries and Galloway Council in relation to the admission of The Scottish Agricultural College to the Local Government Pension Fund.

Guarantee to Highlands and Islands Enterprise in relation to their pension scheme.

Guarantee to Strathclyde Pension Fund in relation to admission of Scottish Canals.

Guarantee to Lothian Pension Fund in relation to the admission of The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission.

Indemnities

At the beginning of the year there was an existing indemnity relating to objects lent under the National Heritage Act 1980 and the National Heritage (Scotland) Act 1985. The year-end balance depends on new acquisitions and the number of exhibitions that these pieces are included in during the financial year, and at 31 March this was £967m (2017-18 (restated): £1,268m).

Existing indemnity for local museums and galleries dependent on the number of new acquisitions and number of exhibitions that these pieces were included in during the financial year, valued at £21.7m (2017-18: £21.8m) at 31 March.

A specific indemnity of £8.2m has been agreed with the Australian Museum Trust with regard to the Tyrannosaurus Exhibition hosted by the National Museum of Scotland, opening in January 2020.

Mortgage lenders held indemnities by Scottish Homes for £0.476m (2017-18: £0.503m) at 31 March.

Existing indemnity related to operating agreements in respect of the ScotRail and Caledonian Sleeper Franchise Agreements.

Indemnity clause in roads contracts to compensate Network Rail for any damage or loss of access.

Liability agreement for any issues caused by the Glasgow Airport Rail Link ground investigation work for the next 3 years.

Indemnity cover of up to a total of £0.4m (2017-18: £0.4m) to cover legal costs incurred by the Carbon Trust or Salix in the novation of loans to another party.

Letters of Comfort

None