Chamber and committees

This Government firmly believes that every child growing up in Scotland, regardless of their background, should have an equal chance of attending university and participating in higher education.

Funding for widening access to colleges and universities is allocated to institutions via the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) through a number of mechanisms. For colleges, this includes the Access and Inclusion Fund and student support funding. For universities, this includes the Widening Access and Retention Fund, which is currently allocated to eight post-92 institutions with a higher proportion of widening access students; and embedded additional funding for widening access places. Monitoring is undertaken to focus on outcomes achieved in return for these funds.

The SFC also funds work to support the intake of widening access students, including the National Schools Programme and the Scottish Wider Access Programme, which use a range of eligibility criteria for participation.

Officials are working with stakeholders from the college and university sectors through a Short-Life Working Group on widening access data to ensure that we are best able to identify widening access students across Scotland. Recommendations are expected to be made by the group in Autumn 2023.

Officials are also actively engaging with stakeholders on the interim Purpose and Principles that were published last December which consider how we can deliver a post-school education, research and skills system that is supportive and equitable, which would include our approach to widening access. The final Purpose and Principles will be published later this year.

The Public Sector Pay Strategy 2023-24 applies to staff in the Scottish Government and its associated departments, agencies, non-departmental public bodies and public corporations.

All organisations covered by our Pay Strategy are required to pay at least the real Living Wage rate to all their staff, including apprentices. Apprentices are employees and as such benefit from the same rights and protections offered to other employees through their employment. Skills Development Scotland will continue to encourage all employers outside our Public Sector Pay Strategy to pay apprentices at least the real Living Wage rate, including those aged 19 and under and those in their first year.

The commissioning of NHS national services is the responsibility of NHS National Services Division (NSD), a sub division of NHS Services Scotland (NSS).Eligible patients for magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) for essential tremor can be referred to NHS Tayside in conjunction with the University of Dundee.

At present, no new application has been received to designate MRgFUS as a national specialist service to NHS Tayside. NSD will continue to work with the MRgFUS team in NHS Tayside in the meantime.

As set out in the Future Skills Action plan, the Scottish Government is committed to the important work that the DYW Groups do to improve the relationship between young people and employers. To support this commitment, allocations and grant letters were issued on 31 March to the DYW regional groups for the first 6 months of the financial year 2023-2024.

Operational decisions on resourcing and staffing matters are for colleges to consider and decide but the Scottish Government expects colleges to align their staffing complement and skills with the needs of the economy and future skills. Colleges should work together with unions to make every effort to protect jobs where possible but colleges are not bound by Public Sector Pay Policy.

Public Health Scotland publish figures on how many 2C, 17C and 17J practices there are in each Health Board. The following information has been gathered from the GP Workforce and Practice List Sizes publication available at: General Practice - GP Workforce and practice list sizes 2012 - 2022 - General Practice - GP workforce and practice list sizes - Publications - Public Health Scotland .

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. We advise the member to contact the NHS Boards directly.

Work on the FOI Improvement plan continues to be a priority for the Scottish Government. Progress has been made in a number of areas contained in the Improvement Plan to strengthen internal processes and delivery of this statutory function. In his evidence to the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee on 23 March the Scottish Information Commissioner noted that unlike most other Scottish public authorities, the Scottish Government has seen a sustained increase in FOI request volumes since the pandemic. The Scottish Government is continuing to see persistent yearly increases in numbers of FOI requests. Efforts are therefore also underway to establish a sustainable case-handling model for the Scottish Government.

Revised guidance for case handlers is now live and this is complimented by increased case handler training, as well as a push on the mandatory FOI awareness training for all staff. Officials are also undertaking internal audits on cases ensuring that responses comply with our internal control and assurance procedures as agreed with the Commissioner. Lessons learned are being shared widely and several directorates are undertaking local improvement activity with advice and assistance from trained Quality Improvement practitioners.

FOI performance figures are published on a monthly basis on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/freedom-of-information-foi-reporting/ . The Scottish Government remains committed to the principles of open and transparent government.

Information about Ministerial engagements is proactively released on the Scottish Government website. The spreadsheets include a wide range of information including details of the organisation/individuals Ministers met with, as well as the subject discussed.

Scottish Government Ministers meet STUC regularly (list of meetings is available at the link above), reflecting the important role that unions play as key social partners in sustaining effective democracy in society, and contributing to economic competitiveness and social justice.

The First Minister meets STUC on a biannual basis, where current issues are discussed. Recent topics in this forum have included: Cost of Living Crisis, National Care Service Bill and Public Sector Pay disputes. The previous Minister for Just Transition, Employment and Fair Work engaged with STUC and affiliate unions regularly on workplace safety and other issues during the pandemic and initial recovery period. Other Ministers meet STUC regularly on issues relating to their own portfolios for example Budget, culture, transport, health etc.

The Scottish Government does not hold a central record of meetings held with suppliers so is therefore unable to confirm what meetings have been held with Deloitte LLP since May 2021.