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

NHS Grampian has been experiencing significant financial and operational pressures for several months. This led to the Health Board’s escalation to Stage 3 of the NHS Scotland Support & Intervention Framework for financial management in January 2025. Whilst Stage 3 is the first formal stage of escalation and, as such, NHS Grampian has been receiving tailored support, there remain concerns about the Board’s financial position, plans, leadership and governance; and any associated impact this may have on the delivery of local services.

Following careful consideration, the Government has decided that NHS Grampian’s escalation status be raised to Stage 4 for finance, leadership and governance. Further, formal escalation is felt necessary (along with the additional support and scrutiny this provides) to help mitigate the significant risks to both the local Board and wider, overall NHS Scotland financial positions.

The key focus of this further escalation will be to arrest the rate of expenditure in NHS Grampian and help mitigate immediate concerns about financial and associated operational pressures, and to stabilise the system. One of the key, initial elements of this package of enhanced support and scrutiny will be a whole system diagnostic, to be carried out by an external consultancy and is expected to conclude in June. That will help to inform the tailored support package that follows and will provide a robust basis for the wider, transformation work required over the longer term in NHS Grampian; in support of the local leadership under the new Chief Executive, with the interviews for that post taking place in early June.

With the agreement of Parliament, a ministerial statement will be provided at the appropriate point to keep members updated on this matter.

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 aim of the four-day working week (4DWW) public sector pilot is to enhance collective understanding of the benefits and costs of implementing a 4DWW in the public sector.

Prior to the beginning of the pilot, there was a review of economic literature related to shorter working weeks, and this informed modelling of different scenarios for reduced hours of work across the economy. The modelling demonstrated how the impact of reduced hours could be offset by productivity gains or increased investment, consistent with the economic literature. As such, the pilot has been carefully designed and implemented in order to capture a range of evaluation metrics to assess the environmental, health and wellbeing impacts and efficiency gains, that a four-day working week could bring.

The pilot will conclude with a report on findings, which will be published in due course.

Over the course of this Parliament, the Scottish Government has invested almost £1.7bn in our Enterprise Agencies. In 2023-24, the three agencies were able to help companies unlock over £2 billion of capital investment.

As part of our Green Industrial Strategy, the Scottish Government has committed to strategic investment of up to £500 million over five years in order to leverage £1.5 billion of private investment in the infrastructure and manufacturing facilities critical to growing the offshore wind sector.

We continue to ensure that Scotland is seen as an attractive investment opportunity, and also refer you to Parliamentary Question response S6W-36526 on 29 April 2025 which offers further information.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

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.

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 refer the member to the answer to questions S6W-36833 on 9 May 2025 and S6W-36835 on 6 May 2025 and S6W-36840 on 6 May 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government collects and publishes statistics related to the No One Left Behind strategic approach as a totality of all funding. Therefore, no breakdowns for Parental Employability Support, including a cost per person, 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.