Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government fully supports individuals’ rights to freedom of expression, and believes universities to be places where freedom of expression should always be promoted and fostered, but this should be done in a courteous and respectful manner. As autonomous bodies, universities are responsible for internal institutional matters such as complaints made or disciplinary action taken against staff and students.

The Scottish Government has received six complaints in the last five years relating to concerns regarding freedom of speech on university campuses.

We are unable to provide the information requested on advertising expenditure broken down by newspaper title because an exemption under section 33 of FOISA applies. This is because disclosure of the information would (or would be likely to) substantially prejudice the commercial interests of the organisation (section 33(1)(b)).

All Scottish Government media buying and planning is undertaken via agencies appointed through the Media Planning, Buying and Associated Services Framework Agreement – Ref. SP-18-007, and never directly with media owners or channels. Using standard media buying software, common to the sector, media buying agencies can access data showing the volume of media purchased by their competitors. Providing the costs alongside this available data would therefore enable competitors to determine the buying rates (price) for individual media companies. This information is highly commercially sensitive within the sector and disclosure would materially disadvantage the Scottish Government contractor. Providing the specific expenditure for a newspaper or outlet would potentially allow competitors of the media buying agency to calculate the rates negotiated by the appointed media buying agency who work on behalf of the Scottish Government.

Scottish Government marketing and advertising spend is published each year and can be found at https://www.gov.scot/collections/marketing-spend/ including a breakdown by media type and includes press expenditure.

The Planning and Environmental Appeals Division has to date received 220 appeals against SEPA's sea lice control variation notices; more are anticipated. All 220 appeals are currently being checked and SEPA’s response to the grounds of appeal has been requested.

The Scottish Government has not had any discussions with the Scottish Funding Council, or individual universities, regarding the Office for Students’ ruling concerning the University of Sussex in March 2025.

The Scottish Government has no plans to introduce legislation in relation to freedom of speech at universities, however it fully supports individuals’ rights to freedom of expression, and believes universities to be places where freedom of expression should always be promoted and fostered, but this should be done in a courteous and respectful manner.

The Scottish Government expects universities to comply with relevant legal requirements in respect of academic freedom (which is addressed in section 26 of the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 2005), and carefully consider existing Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) guidance on freedom of expression for higher education providers in Scotland.

The Scottish Government expects institutions to comply with relevant legal requirements already in place, and carefully consider existing Equality and Human Rights Commission guidance on freedom of expression for higher education providers in Scotland. In 2020 the Scottish Funding Council entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Equalities & Human Rights Commission to support colleges and universities in meeting Public Sector Equality Duty requirements.

The Scottish Government collects and publishes statistics related to the No One Left Behind strategic approach including the number of participants supported into employment.

The most recent statistics for Scottish Government funded employability support are available at: Scotland's Devolved Employment Services statistics - gov.scot.

I have asked Alison Byrne, Chief Executive of National Records of Scotland to respond. Her response is:

The number of individuals in Scotland whose partner has died under the age of 50 is not held. Marital status of the deceased is collected through death registrations so the number of deaths by marital status is provided in the following table.

Table 1: Deaths of those aged under 50 by marital status, registered in Scotland, 2014 to 2023

The Scottish Government collects and publishes statistics related to the No One Left Behind strategic approach including the number of participants supported into employment. This includes a range of Scottish Government funding such as the Parental Employability Support Fund.

Since February 2022, statistics have been reported by totality of all funds and as such, no breakdowns for Parental Employability Support are available.

The most recent statistics for Scottish Government funded employability support by all parents are available at: Scotland's Devolved Employment Services statistics - gov.scot.