Chamber and committees

The freeze on public sector marketing expenditure was part of a wider exercise to introduce the necessary emergency spending controls to achieve a balanced budget. Cabinet Secretaries were given a directive to freeze all marketing expenditure with immediate effect, with any spend deemed essential then requiring to be assessed accordingly in line with individual policy priorities and outcomes, and approved by the First Minister before proceeding. Many campaigns have gone ahead.

Further details on this process are set out in the answer to question S6W-30726 on 20 November 2024, alongside the now approved public health campaigns listed in the answer to question S6W-30729 on 20 November 2024. 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 does not collect information on the type of employee as part of the Public Sector Employment data collection.

Some of the trend information on headcount can be obtained from the data sources below:

NHS Scotland Workforce data: NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence

Scottish Government Workforce data: Scottish Government workforce information - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Police Officer numbers: Police officer quarterly strength statistics: 30 June 2024 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Please note that the statistics on Police Officer numbers are provided in terms of Full-Time Equivalent, not headcount.

As part of the process to assess essential marketing expenditure for 2024-25, the use of paid-for-media activity is considered where it is required to help achieve specific policy outcomes. This can include a requirement to reach specific audiences or to ensure audiences are presented with messages a number of times to achieve the desired impact.

Marketing activity and campaigns that are without expenditure, such as no-cost approaches that have no external production, service or media costs, continue to support delivery of policy outcomes as part of the communications mix.

This is a matter between the University and UK Government, and general UK Government budgeting is continuing to be reviewed. However, the Scottish Government recognises the University’s unique track record and further potential as the UK’s foremost supercomputing centre, and we will continue to work to influence UK Government public finance discussions to positively benefit our economy and key sectors, including computing and AI.

The route is viable and is currently being served by MV Isle of Arran. The Scottish Government remains committed to ensuring the Arran ferry service is fit for the future, and to find a solution at Ardrossan that can be delivered in a cost effective way reflecting the needs of all of the partners involved.

Persons undertaking basic checks on pets travelling with their owners on the Cairnryan ferry route are ferry employees and are, therefore, responsible to the ferry operator. These staff are not however authorised pet checkers as movements from Northern Ireland are within the UK. Where ferry staff on the Cairnryan route suspect a commercial movement or otherwise non-compliant activity, they will inform the harbour police and/or local authority to enable appropriate action to be taken.

Authorised pet checkers on official Pet Travel ferry routes into England from the EU are also ferry operator personnel responsible to their employer, but they have been specifically trained by the APHA to undertake checks on documentation and conduct visual inspections of animals. Authorised pet checkers will alert APHA or the local authority where issues are identified either with travel documentation or with the animals.

In terms of enforcement responsibility at Cairnryan where puppy smuggling offences are suspected, this generally sits with the local authority and/or Police Scotland. However, either may request that the Scottish SPCA intervene to take appropriate action under the Animal Health & Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006.

The Scottish Government has committed up to £500 million strategic investment over five years, to leverage private investment in critical offshore wind infrastructure and supply chain.

Additional support for energy transition in Aberdeen and the North East region is also being provided through:

• The Just Transition Fund, through which we have allocated up to £75 million across the North East region to support projects, including the Supply Chain Pathway and Energy Transition Challenge Fund helping supply chain companies to transition and access new net zero and global business opportunities, and the Offshore Energy Skills Passport aiding the cross sector transferability of the offshore energy workforce.
• The Energy Transition Fund, which is supporting four major projects in Aberdeen and the North East region. These include supporting development in Aberdeen of the Energy Transition Zone, providing the necessary facilities and investment opportunities to attract renewable energy manufacturing companies and the creation of the Global Underwater Hub, to provide sub sea supply chain companies with access to multiple sector markets worldwide.

The Scottish Government analyses a range of impacts, including on the economy, when considering Income Tax policy options during the annual budget process. We also closely monitor the impacts of our existing policies on revenues, taxpayers, and the economy. Scottish Income Tax performance remains strong – Scotland outperformed the rest of the UK in both tax and earnings growth for both 2022-23 and 2023-24. Scottish Income Tax policy for 2025-26 will be announced during the annual Budget process.

The independent Cowal and Rosneath Community Needs Assessment concluded that there is evidence of over-provision on the Gourock-Dunoon passenger ferry service in terms of sailings per day and in terms of the length of the operating day in winter. The Assessment does not calculate the cost of the over-provision. There are several options considered to address the findings and the preferred approach and associated costs will be determined in due course.

Income Tax data does not break down by public and private sector.

As set out in the Public sector: economic overview - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) publication, after tax, the average full-time public sector employee in Scotland earned around £1,500 more than the UK average in 2023, up from around £400 in 2019.