Comparing the figures published in Local Government Finance Circular 2/2013 with those in Local Government Finance Circular 1/2025, the total Local Government finance settlement has increased by over £5 billion or 49.7% since 2013-14, that’s a real terms increase of 8.4%.

The use of contractors in SG is largely accounted for by resourcing requirements to strengthen key professional skills such as expanding our digital capabilities. Employing temporary and agency workers provides the flexibility required to meet immediate business and access specialist and other skills quickly.

Having grown the workforce to respond to the Covid-19 epidemic, the Scottish Government reviewed its workforce plans at the beginning of the 2022-23 financial year and the Resource Spending Review. Recruitment controls were introduced in 2022 and the Scottish Government has continued to prioritise reductions in contingent workers as an initial means of reducing the workforce size and cost. This approach has been in partnership with recognised Trade Unions. The number of contingent workers is now 39% lower than in March 2022.

One of the areas in which this was delivered was the Digital Directorate within DG Corporate. A number of roles were identified that would be needed on a long term basis which were currently occupied by contingent workers. An intentional cost saving strategy was implemented to replace some posts being held by contingent workers with directly employed staff. It is estimated that this process has saved Scottish Government £3.2m.

Since the November 2023 publication of the Scottish Government’s position paper, Taking a Feminist Approach to International Relations, officials have taken forward a range of activities as part of our commitment to mainstream a feminist approach across key policy areas, including international development, climate justice, trade, and peace & security.

This includes working to embed gender equality throughout our international development work as well as developing specific gender equality programmes. In seeking to equalise power in our international development activities, we work directly with organisations in our partner countries of Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia and have established a Global South Advisory Panel. On trade, the Scottish Government is committed to addressing the gender export gap in Scotland, confirmed by the findings in the recent Gender Export Gap research report. We will be working with our delivery agencies and stakeholders in implementing the report’s recommendations, providing tailored advice, assistance, and international market access opportunities to help women-led businesses succeed on the global stage.

Scottish Government ministers regularly discuss human rights issues with international partners, including individual cases. We do not keep statistics on how often these issues are raised.

NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) was allocated £6.9m of capital funding for the purchase of the Hassockrigg Eco Park and equipment, to increase the resilience of the system for disposing of NHS clinical waste and to secure its long-term future.

Ongoing running and maintenance costs associated with the site are the responsibility of NSS as site owner, and it is for NSS to allocate appropriate funding for these costs from within the Board’s overall budget. The 2025-26 Scottish Budget provides funding of £428.5 million to NSS. NSS will receive a 3% baseline uplift of £12.5 million – this represents a 0.6% real terms increase compared to 2024-25.

The programme to devolve social security powers sits within DG Communities and accounts for the majority of its contingent worker headcount. This programme employs both directly employed and contingent workers to ensure it has the right blend of skills and experience to deliver ministerial commitments on social security at any one time. In addition, using contingent workers means headcount is increased on a temporary basis when the work of the programme has been at its greatest and allows resources, and therefore costs, to be quickly and easily reduced as the programme moves towards closure. This is why the figures for contingent workers have increased in the period identified (which correlates with the run up to and delivery of the bulk of the devolved benefits, including disability benefits for both children and adults) and now show a significant decline, given the programme comes to an end in the next financial year.

A Contingent Worker is defined as non directly employed workers that are engaged in any capacity for the Scottish Government. Contingent worker statistics published include consultants, contractors, interim managers, inward secondments/ Service Level Agreement, temporary workers, short-term youth initiatives, other contractors and Government UK Fast Stream.

The use of contractors in SG is largely accounted for by resourcing requirements to strengthen key professional skills such as expanding our digital capabilities. Employing temporary and agency workers provides the flexibility required to meet immediate business and access specialist and other skills quickly.

I have asked Stephen Pathirana, Chief Executive of the Scottish Public Pensions Agency, to respond. His response is as follows:

The current position for the delivery of remediable service statements to retired police officers is set out in the Scottish Public Pension Agency’s website: https://pensions.gov.scot/police/police-remedy-hub/police-remedy-im-retired

SPPA will keep retired officers informed through updates to its website and with a dedicated newsletter which is due to be issued by the end of March 2025.

There is a requirement for Health Boards to maintain accurate and up to date information on PACS Tier Two requests. The Scottish Government does not hold validated data on the number of PACS applications that Health Boards have received from clinicians. This information would need to be requested from Health Boards directly.

Health Boards are required to capture and share data as retrospective “in confidence” summary reports with the Scottish Government on a quarterly basis. The data received by Scottish Government is retained for internal management purposes only and is not formally validated.

Notably, the majority of collated PACS Tier Two requests are for fewer than five medicines; and data for numbers fewer than five are deemed to be patient identifiable and cannot be published.

We have received a reply from the Secretary of State for Scotland. This reply gives in-principle agreement to the proposed section 104 Order.

Scotland Office has asked for further information on what the Order could cover. The Scottish Government will write to Scotland Office accordingly and will also work with them to agree a timetable.

It may still take some time for the work on the Order to be completed. Scottish Government officials will keep people who have expressed an interest updated on developments.