Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government spent £16,662.50 (ex VAT) on 1,164 domains in 2022. Of these, 645 are categorised as active, and 507 are inactive.

Ministers and officials meet regularly with wellbeing economy stakeholders, including the Wellbeing Economy Alliance, to discuss our shared commitment to Scotland’s transition to a wellbeing economy. On 4 April 2023, within one week of my appointment as Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy, I met with representatives from the Wellbeing Economy Alliance Scotland as part of a roundtable discussion with wellbeing economy stakeholders.

The Resource Spending Review included commitments to hold the total public sector pay bill (excluding Local Government) at around 2022-23 levels whilst returning the overall size of the public sector (excluding Local Government) broadly to pre-COVID-19 levels. The overall aim was to ensure sustainable public bodies.

Following further analysis and engagement, our proposal on how we achieve sustainable public bodies evolved and in the 2023-24 Budget, we set out that it is for individual public bodies to locally determine the target operating model for their workforces and to ensure workforce plans and projections are affordable in 2023-24 and in the medium term. This approach recognises the accountability of public bodies to deliver efficiently and effectively within their budget and that budget allocations reflect our priorities.

Our Public Sector Pay Strategy for 2023-24 published on 22 March 2023, recognises that pay and workforce must, more than ever, be explicitly linked to both fiscal sustainability and to reform, to secure the delivery of effective public services over the medium term. It set out that bodies may need to consider the size and shape of the workforce to ensure affordability, alongside opportunities around, for example, digital reform, revenue generation, estates rationalisation and improved procurement and that where a reduction in workforce is required, we would expect this to be through natural turnover wherever possible given our on-going commitment to No Compulsory Redundancies. There are no centrally set targets.

The Unsuitable Accommodation Order was extended to all households in May 2020 to ensure all homeless households are provided with the highest quality accommodation to support them out of homelessness.

This means that the maximum number of days that local authorities can use unsuitable accommodation for any homeless person is seven days and has the effect of ending stays in unsuitable accommodation, such as hotels, apart from in emergency situations.

Any household placed in unsuitable accommodation for longer than seven days should be recorded as a breach.

The Scottish Housing Regulator is obliged to monitor and assess local authority compliance with the Unsuitable Accommodation Order (UAO) and, if any UAO breaches are reported, will intervene as appropriate.

NHS Boards are each distinct Scottish public authorities for the purposes of FOI legislation and each one is responsible for its own compliance with its statutory obligations under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

The Section 60 Code of Practice, produced by the Scottish Ministers, provides guidance for all Scottish public authorities on discharging their functions under the legislation. Additionally, as the independent public official responsible for promoting and enforcing FOI law, the Scottish Information Commissioner encourages Scottish public authorities to develop good FOI practice, providing guidance and support materials on his website: https://www.itspublicknowledge.info/law-and-guidance .

The Scottish Government has been clear that we have no plans to introduce a three-mile fishing limit around the coast of Scotland.

Such blanket spatial restrictions are not consistent with an evidence-based approach, do not embrace the benefits of new technology and are inconsistent with the nuanced approach outlined in our 2020-2030 Fisheries Management Strategy.

The Scottish Government believes that windfall taxes should be levied on unearned, excess profits to fund support for struggling households and businesses. However, windfall profits are not permanent by definition. A permanent, additional tax on energy companies predominantly based in Scotland would therefore not be appropriate, and may serve to undermine businesses’ confidence and investment in an important sector of Scotland’s economy.

(a) Transport Scotland received the following number of applications for the Mode Shift Revenue Support scheme since 2018:

2018-19 2 applications for support in Scotland and contributed to 6 cross border flows.

2019-20 2 applications for support in Scotland and contributed to 5 cross border flows.

2020-21 2 applications for support in Scotland and contributed to 5 cross border flows.

2021-22 2 applications for support in Scotland and contributed to 6 cross border flows.

2022-23 2 applications for support in Scotland and contributed to 7 cross border flows.

(b) Transport Scotland received the following number of applications for the Freight Facilities Grant scheme since 2018:

2018-19 - 0

2019-20 - 1

2020-21 - 1

2021-22 - 0

2022-23 - 2

CalMac ferries continue to plan recruitment around the latest delivery date provided for the MV Glen Sannox and recruitment is currently ongoing. The recruitment process is continually monitored to ensure any risks and issues are identified and managed. Recruitment plans are also continually updated to reflect required changes.

The Scottish Government spend on “maintenance and safety schemes" on each of Scotland's A roads in each year since 2007, also broken down by individual A road, is in SPICe at BIB 6412.