Chamber and committees

Improving gender balance and tackling inequity within STEM learning and careers is at the heart of the Scottish Government’s STEM Education and Training Strategy. To support schools challenge long-established stereotypes, a range of resources have been developed by Education Scotland, based around understanding bias and highlighting the impact of inequality.

Education Scotland also work with organisations, including Tech She Can and Code Club, to promote female role models and provide professional learning for Computing Science teachers. In addition, the Scottish Government has provided over £800,000 to Scottish Teachers Advancing Computing Science (STACS) to promote Computing Science as a subject for all, helping to challenge gender stereotypes.

As a result of the STEM Education and Training Strategy, SSERC continues to deliver the Young STEM Leader Programme which enables young people to inspire, lead and mentor through delivery of inspirational STEM activities. Since its inception, over 20,000 young people have engaged with the programme, with 51% of awards being completed by female participants.

The Scottish Government is also investing in programmes designed to increase the engagement of young people in STEM activity. This includes £70,000 of funding to Digital Xtra to support their work on the development of digital technology skills and over £90,000 to support Edinburgh Science’s ‘Generation Science’ workshops and Prosper’s ‘Stemovators’ programme.

Through the Curriculum Improvement Cycle we have established a systematic approach to curriculum improvement including in respect of Science and Technology. This exercise provides a further opportunity to ensure STEM subjects are attractive to all learners, particularly girls.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that people living in Scotland with musculoskeletal conditions can access the best possible care and support.

While there are no current plans to develop a musculoskeletal digital pathway, the government has commissioned the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) to oversee a Rheumatology Specialty Delivery Group. This group includes multidisciplinary representatives from all Health Boards providing rheumatology services.

Scottish Government officials and the CfSD national planned care team meet monthly with the Chief Operating Officer and Acute Directors from all mainland Health Boards to assess performance and delivery across all Planned Care specialities, including rheumatology. For island Health Boards, these meetings typically take place every two months.

The Scottish Government is absolutely committed to ending violence against women and girls. As part of this commitment, in March 2024, the Scottish Government published a new framework on preventing and responding to gender-based violence.

The framework sets out guidance for schools on recording and monitoring incidents of gender-based violence. Schools will have their own reporting and recording systems connected to their local authority system or as a grant-aided or independent school. If a behaviour is covered by the definition of GBV provided in the framework, it should be recorded in the Bullying and Equalities module of SEEMiS, or under an equivalent section of a schools’ recording system. The Bullying and Equalities Module of SEEMiS should not be interpreted as being focused solely on bullying; it is designed to capture a range of behaviours related to equalities, and includes ‘GBV’ as a specific category.

Schools will have separate recording systems for incidents where a staff member is affected by a GBV incident, connected to their Health and Safety at Work or Dignity at Work policies. It is important that such incidents are part of the same monitoring and evaluation systems to capture a whole school picture of prevalence.

Finally, the joint relationships and behaviour in schools action plan includes an action to review all current processes for recording incidents, to identify potential means of streamlining processes and improving consistency. That work is scheduled to begin later this year.

Community benefits from renewable energy developments are voluntary arrangements between communities and developers. Despite the powers to mandate community benefits being reserved to the UK Government, Scotland has made significant progress with a voluntary approach through our Good Practice Principles. Over the past 12 months, renewables developers have offered more than £30 million to local communities.

We are currently consulting on our Good Practice Principles for onshore and offshore renewable energy developments, to ensure we continue to support sustainable and meaningful outcomes for people in Scotland. This includes seeking views on local, regional and national approaches to community benefits. The consultation closes on the 11 April and we will consider all responses as we work towards updating the guidance by the end of 2025. We want to gather a wide range of views from across communities, industry, the third sector and public sector partners, and encourage everyone to take part.

The Scottish Government and its enterprise agencies have provided £1,354,000 for the development of carbon capture and storage technology in 2025.

The Scottish Government has committed £2m of grant funding support to the National Gas Transmission SCO2T Connect Project and to date, £1,345,000 of this funding has been provided.

The Scottish Government remains wholly committed to supporting the development and deployment of CCUS, including the Acorn Project and the Scottish Cluster. Unfortunately, the UK Government continue to delay making a final decision on the Acorn Project which is risking billions of private sector investment and thousands of jobs.

The implementation of regulation has not prevented physician associates (or anaesthesia associates) who are currently practising from continuing to do so, nor has it prevented NHS Boards or other employers from designing services around, and recruiting to, these professional groups.

As set out in Section 19(1)(b) of the Anaesthesia Associates and Physician Associates Order 2024, from December 2026 it will be an offence to practise as a PA or AA in the UK without holding registration with the General Medical Council (GMC).

Surgical Care Practitioners, also a Medical Associate Profession, are not regulated by the GMC.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Decisions regarding the employment of individual members of staff are a matter for each NHS Scotland Board.

The Medical Associate Professionals (MAPs) Programme Board meets on a quarterly basis to discuss and advise on matters regarding the deployment of MAPs across NHS Scotland. The Board will next meet on 3 April 2025. Papers for the Programme Board can be viewed at https://learn.nes.nhs.scot/77069.

The national public bodies directory contains a full list of non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) and shows their creation date. The national directory can be viewed at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-public-bodies-directory/pages/executive-non-departmental-public-bodies/.

Since 2007, the following public bodies have been established as NDPBs:

Care Inspectorate

Children’s Hearing Scotland

Community Justice Scotland

Creative Scotland

Ferguson Marine

First-tier Tribunal for Scotland

Historic Environment Scotland

Independent Living Fund Scotland

Judicial Appointments Board

National Smart Ticketing Advisory Board

Poverty and Inequality Commission

Redress Scotland

Scottish Canals

Scottish Commission on Social Security

Scottish Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel

Scottish Futures Trust

Scottish Land Commission

Scottish Legal Complaints Commission

Scottish National Investment Bank

Scottish Rail Holdings Ltd

Skills Development Scotland

South of Scotland Enterprise

Upper Tribunal for Scotland

Zero Waste Scotland

Since 2007, the following public bodies no longer operate as NDPBs, due to merger, abolishment, or reclassification:

Additional Support Needs Tribunals for Scotland

Advisory Committee on Sites of Special Scientific Interest

Building Standards Advisory Committee

Children’s Panel (x32)

Deer Commission for Scotland

Fisheries (Electricity) Committee

General Teaching Council for Scotland

Historic Environment Advisory Council for Scotland

Lands Tribunal for Scotland

Learning & Teaching Scotland

Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland

Police Complaints Commission for Scotland

Private Rented Housing Panel

Public Transport Users Committee for Scotland

Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland

Scottish Arts Council

Scottish Charity Appeals Panel

Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care

Scottish Industrial Development Advisory Board

Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee

Scottish Police Services Authority

Scottish Records Advisory Council

Scottish Screen

Scottish University for Industry

The Scottish Government continues to identify opportunities to remove unnecessary duplication across the public bodies landscape.

In July 2024, public bodies were asked to provide information to identify opportunities for delivering services in alternative ways and to increase efficiencies across corporate functions. A report of the findings from this commission was published on 15 November 2024, and can be found at Public Bodies Expenditure: Supplementary Report of Data Commission - gov.scot.

A key strand of the Public Service Reform (PSR) programme is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our public services for the people of Scotland. As part of this, we continue to engage with public bodies to progress the programme and deliver long term fiscal sustainability.