Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government announced on 17 December 2024, that the use of WhatsApp and similar mobile messaging applications in Scottish Government would end.

I am pleased to confirm the new Policy and Guidance on Mobile Messaging Applications will be introduced as of 20 June 2025.

The Policy and Guidance now reflects that the use of Mobile Messaging Applications such as WhatsApp is not permitted.

The guidance sets out the approved corporate channels of communication and the scenarios that they are to be used in. The guidance also sets out the responsibilities and actions to be taken in exceptional circumstances when corporate devices and services become unavailable.

A time bound and limited transition period until the end of 2025 has been requested to allow a small number of agencies and parts of the organisation to continue to use mobile messaging. These areas currently have no practical alternative that can be used immediately to provide communication in existing or emergent circumstances such as:

• For the purpose of multi-agency communication to work with others effectively in situations like responding to wildfires
• For communicating with media in the transfer of high-quality large audio or video files
• For overseas operational tasks with local contacts and stakeholders who use mobile messaging as standard or where connectivity may be impacted
• Matters of overseas staff safety and security.

The number of staff identified to have a transition phase has been carefully scrutinised. The agencies are as follows: Forestry and Land Scotland, Science Advice for Scottish Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Food Standards Scotland. In Scottish Government, the areas are Rural Payments and Inspection Directorate, Communication staff (News staff only) for communications purposes, Culture and External Affairs Directorate, EU Directorate and the Directorate of International Trade and Investment.

On 13 June 2025, I represented the Scottish Government at the summit meeting of the British-Irish Council hosted by the Northern Ireland Executive and jointly chaired by the First Minister – Michelle O’Neill and the deputy First Minister – Emma Little-Pengelly. The meeting was attended by Ministers from all eight of the BIC Member Administrations.

The theme of the summit focussed on “The role of AI in reform and transformation” which offered the opportunity to share and learn from the range of initiatives being taken across these islands to maximise the benefits presented by this rapidly evolving technology.

On the Latest Political Developments item, the Council reflected on international issues including the situation in Gaza as well as the concerning escalation of conflict between Israel and Iran. I also welcomed the recent trade deals with the European Union and the United States and called for better engagement with the UK Government to ensure that the deals take Scotland’s needs into account.

During the summit, I held bilateral meetings with the Taoiseach, the Tnaiste, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the Northern Ireland First Minister and deputy First Minister, the First Minister of Wales and the Chief Minister of the Isle of Man.

The Communiqué that was issued by the British-Irish Council after the meeting can be found on its website at:www.britishirishcouncil.org/resources/

43rd British-Irish Council Summit

Newcastle, County Down, 13 June 2025

Communiqué

The British-Irish Council (BIC) held its 43rd Summit meeting today, Friday 13 June 2025, hosted by the Northern Ireland Executive in Newcastle, County Down.

The Summit meeting had a thematic focus on The Role of AI in Reform and Transformation and was co-chaired by First Minister, Michelle O’Neill MLA and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly MLA.

The Role of AI in Reform and Transformation

The Council discussed the approaches of the British-Irish Council’s Member Administrations to harnessing AI technologies for public sector reform and transformation in the provision of public services across these islands.

The Council discussed the potential benefits, and the associated challenges, of the more widespread and scaled-up use of AI technologies in public administration.

Latest Political Developments

Council members reflected on significant recent developments within their administrations and discussed a number of domestic and international topics of mutual interest.

Next Summit Meeting

The Council noted that the next BIC Summit will be hosted by the Welsh Government in late 2025.

BIC Secretariat

13 June 2025

Plenary Participants

This information is not held by the Scottish Government.

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The Scottish Government will continue to provide vital assistance to enable older people to heat their homes, to help disabled people live independent lives and will keep thousands of children out of poverty. The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s May 2025 forecasts show that our investment in Social Security over and above the money we get from the UK Government is projected to be less than 3.5% of the total Scottish Government Resource Budget by 2029-30.

As part of our Medium-Term Financial Strategy, which we will publish on 25 June, we consider the medium to longer-term drivers of public spending and assess these against forecast funding. It is then for Ministers to prioritise expenditure, as part of the annual budget process and Spending Reviews, in line with the principles and policies on the use of borrowing and reserve powers.

The Fiscal Sustainability Delivery Plan which will publish alongside the Medium-Term Financial Strategy on 25 June will set out the actions we’re taking to improve the sustainability of the public finances over the medium-term.

Scottish Income Tax is forecast to raise a record £20.5 billion in 2025-26 with the latest SFC forecast showing a positive contribution to the 2025-26 Scottish Budget of £616 million. This is additional revenue raised to support our investment in public services.

Scotland’s tax base continues to grow strongly, with the SFC forecasting higher average earnings growth in Scotland over the next five years compared to the OBR’s outlook for the UK.

The Scottish Government is working across the economy to maximise opportunities that prioritise economic growth, using our limited devolved powers.

Scotland’s economy remains one of the best performing parts of the UK with GDP per person in Scotland growing by 10.3%, compared to 6.1% in the UK and productivity has grown at an average rate of 1.1% per year compared to the UK average of 0.4% since 2007.

The Scottish Government published its National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET) in 2022, setting out a ten year transformation plan with the objective of creating a fair, green and growing economy. This year’s Programme for Government places economic growth and working to create business opportunities, sustainable fair work, higher wages, more housing and better infrastructure, at the forefront.

However, our limited powers mean we also require decisive action from the UK Government to counter the damaging economic impacts of Brexit and the employers national insurance increases, and tackle the economic uncertainty currently being felt by business.

The Scottish Government has no formal role in Local Government pay negotiations, although we recognise workers’ desire for an agreement to be reached between COSLA – as the employer – and trade unions as soon as possible. I have engaged closely with Cllr Katie Hagmann, COSLA’s Resources Spokesperson, to agree additional support available from the Scottish Government. This allowed COSLA to make a fair and affordable multi-year offer on 12 June which will now be considered by members of all three SJC unions.

Local authorities have responsibility for the delivery of education, which includes ensuring all employees receive adequate training.

In August, we published our action plan on relationships and behaviour in schools, jointly with COSLA. This includes a specific action on empowering staff through provision of relevant professional learning to support relationships and behaviour approaches and practice and to respond to emerging trends in behaviour.

Our Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research (BISSR) 2023 highlighted a number of barriers faced by support staff in accessing training. Support staff themselves requested appropriate training in order to support them in their roles. To further support school staff, as part of our response to BISSR we provided £900,000 for local councils to aid training of support staff respond to the new challenges in our schools, post-Covid.

Education Scotland has a national professional learning framework to help pupil support staff access and engage in their own professional development. This includes a range of professional learning relating to relationships and behaviour in schools. The national framework can be accessed at Pupil support staff framework | Self-directed professional learning | Professional Learning | Education Scotland. A Pupil Support Staff induction resource will also be published for the next academic session, aligned with the PSS professional learning framework.

Education Scotland’s Inclusion, Wellbeing and Equalities professional learning framework offers a range of resources to support relational approaches at the Informed level of the Relationships theme. The learning can be accessed at Inclusion, wellbeing and equalities framework | Leading professional learning | Professional Learning | Education Scotland.

In response to the Joint Budget Review conducted with the Parliament in 2022, the Scottish Government continues to improve the information available on the climate impacts of our decision-making.

This is the second year in which we have produced our enhanced taxonomic assessment of the full Budget providing a standardised approach to the classification of both resource and capital budget expenditure relative to their climate impact. We are committed to learning and improving how we do it and, while the overall approach to the taxonomy is the same as last year, to increase its rigour and robustness the key change to the process this year has been to bring in a wider range of official expertise through a more panel-based approach improving confidence in the assessment of budget lines.

The improved taxonomy methodology has been published on the Scottish Government website today. https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781836916550

The Scottish Government is firmly committed to advancing equality and improving outcomes for disabled people across Scotland. I’m pleased to confirm that the Disability Equality Plan will be published today.

This plan has been shaped through close collaboration with Disabled People’s Organisations at every stage of its development. I want to sincerely thank each organisation for their time, insight, and dedication in helping us create a plan that aims to deliver meaningful and lasting change.

The plan sets out a series of actions to ensure disabled people are more visible and actively involved in shaping policy and decision-making. It also commits to improving disability competence across government, so that the needs and rights of disabled people are considered from the very outset of policy development. I will personally champion this work to ensure it is embedded across all areas of government.

Finally, the plan introduces a robust governance framework to hold us accountable for delivering on our commitments—whether that’s reducing the disability employment gap, reforming social care, or promoting and protecting disability rights.

The publication of this plan marks an important milestone. It lays the foundation for systemic change and is a vital step toward building a fairer, more inclusive Scotland for everyone.

Link to the plan: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781836915508