Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government, in partnership with UK Government, agreed to deliver two Green Freeports in Scotland, and we are focussed on supporting the two selected Green Freeports to deliver maximum impact as soon as possible. There are no current plans to create additional Green Freeports in Scotland.

The following provisions of the Act have come into force

• Section 76 dealing with the effect of divorce, dissolution or annulment on special destination;
• Section 77 involving the rights of succession to intestate estate respectively;
• Section 7, under which an unfit trustee may be removed by the court for the purposes of section 8; and,
• Parts of section 9 concerning removal from office by a majority of co-trustees of a trustee who is no longer a member of a regulated profession or entitled to practice, and who was appointed or assumed to provide professional services in managing the trust, together with sections 13 and 14 by which decisions on the removal of a professional trustee by co-trustees are to be governed for these purposes.

The remaining provisions of the Act will come into force in due course although no decision has been taken about a date for that. The decision on when to commence the rest of the provisions generally is closely related to ongoing work with UK Government regarding the provisions covering the reserved matter of pension trusts.

We recognise that pulmonary rehabilitation is an important element in managing respiratory disease and it is already a key recommendation for all appropriate patients in NICE clinical guidelines which we expect all NHS Boards to follow.

The funding announced in the UK Autumn Statement is welcome, however, the Scottish Government continues to face the most challenging financial situation since devolution. The new Scottish Budget will be presented to Parliament on Wednesday 4 December 2024. This will detail Scottish Ministers spend proposals for the year ahead.

Statistics on the percentage of primary school teachers moved directly from their Teacher Induction Scheme probation period to a permanent teaching contract are shown in the post-probationer teacher employment dashboard, available from the Scottish Government website here:

Post-probationer teacher employment dashboard - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

The statistics are not available by parliamentary constituency as the Scottish Government does not hold information on the address of teachers. The statistics are available split by local authority as the employers of teachers.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. However, the information in this report https://www.gov.scot/publications/miscarriage-care-facilities-scotland-scoping-report-national-overview/ which details the findings of a scoping exercise to enable better understanding of miscarriage care in Scotland nationally may be of interest.

The Scottish Government provides core funding annually to Health Boards for sexual health and blood borne virus (BBV) services. From 2018-19 to 2023-24, Health Boards received funding through the annual Outcomes Framework allocation to cover a range of outcomes, including sexual health and BBVs. It was up to Health Boards to decide how much to allocate to each outcome within this envelope. In order to give Boards more control over local priorities this funding was baselined in 2023-24.

The total value for Outcomes Framework allocations since 2018-19 is set out in the following table.

Given the wide range of bodies that make up the public bodies landscape in Scotland, and that not all public bodies share the same relationship with Government, there are no set rules as to the frequency ministers and officials should meet with them. Ministers with portfolio responsibility for public bodies do meet with them on a regular basis, and I have met with multiple public bodies over the past 6 months.

Of the 131 public bodies referred to there are some public bodies such as Parliamentary Commissioner that Ministers are not responsible for, but those public bodies that Ministers have responsibility for, civil servants make up the public body sponsor team within the Scottish Government.

Sponsor teams are the first point of contact between an Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs) and the Scottish Government. They provide advice, help and support to the public body and advice on accountability, governance and performance to Ministers and Portfolio Accountable Officers both on an ad-hoc basis and as part of regular meetings. Sponsorship is flexible, proportionate and responsive; and facilitates positive relationships between the body and the Scottish Government. Each public body will have a Framework Document that outlines the working relationship between itself and the Scottish Government. The Framework Document should be published on the public bodies website and will set out expectations for regular meetings.

Literacy, which includes reading, remains the responsibility of all educators and a key priority in the National Improvement Framework. The National Improvement Framework and improvement plan 2024 included a range of actions to support literacy under the National Response to Improving Literacy, all of which are relevant to reading. The 2025 National Improvement Framework, which will be published in December 2024, will include a new long-term strategy setting out how we will work in partnership with local authorities and wider children's services to improve outcomes for young people. Improving achievement in literacy will remain a key priority.

Of particular note, in February 2024 Education Scotland published an Early Reading Professional Support Overview followed by a number of Professional Learning Resources from March to June 2024 for educators who support children and young people to learn to read. This guidance covers a range of themes including developing skills for reading and it seeks to provide clarity on the position of systematic phonics within an overall approach to early reading. The guidance is accompanied by an enhanced national primary schools professional learning programme on early reading.

In addition, the Scottish Government continues to fund the Scottish Book Trust to deliver both the Reading Schools programme and Read Write Count with the First Minister (RWC). Reading Schools offers three accreditation levels to Primary, Secondary and Additional Support Needs schools, designed to champion schools’ efforts to build and sustain a reading culture, while RWC gifts books and other materials to Primary 2 and 3 pupils across Scotland. The Scottish Government also continues to fund the School Library Improvement Fund to support creative and innovative projects within the school library sector.

The National Response to Improving Literacy Partnership Board (NRIL) brings together Scottish Government, Education Scotland and the Association of Directors of Education Services (ADES) to identify and support actions to improve literacy. A key priority for the “NRIL” in 2024 and 2025 is the Literacy and English Curriculum Improvement Cycle which will seek to strengthen and update Scotland’s Literacy and English Curriculum.

The independent Pathways review and recommendations were developed through extensive consultation and engagement with entrepreneurs and analysis of data on women in entrepreneurship.

Activity within the South of Scotland Enterprise Pilot pre-start programme and projects funded through the Pathways Fund will be evaluated to determine effectiveness and to support the development of further implementation of the Pathways recommendations.

The Scottish Government is working intensively with business organisations and stakeholders to deliver on our shared ambitions, including through the New Deal for Business Group, which helped shape the First Minister’s recent Programme for Government and is informing our key priorities regarding economic growth.

There are good examples of business already feeding into policy development in areas like public health, circular economy and fair work. Deepening this relationship is an ongoing process, and I’m committed to building on the progress to date.

The Scottish Government will keep working with business to improve productivity, bring investment and create high quality jobs for Scotland.