Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government published ‘Migration - Meeting Scotland's Needs’ in January setting out the economic benefits of migration to Scotland.

Scotland’s has distinct demographic challenges. While the UK’s working population is projected to increase by 0.5% between 2025-75 Scotland’s is projected to fall by 14.7%. Positive net migration increases the size of the working-age population, which is crucial for economic growth as well as fiscal sustainability. The UK Migration Advisory Committee has found that a 1% increase in the migrant share of the workforce is associated with a productivity improvement of between 1.2% and 3%. Research has shown that migrants contribute more to government revenue through taxes than they receive in public services. Migration can help meet the needs of our economy, public services and communities.

The information is not available in the format requested, however, the Scottish Government routinely publishes data on local authority voids, with the latest data available here: Housing statistics: Local authority housing stock - gov.scot.

The Scottish Government expects all incidents of violent and abusive behaviour towards staff to be recorded.

In Scotland our local councils employ education staff and we expect all local authorities to be ensuring that their schools have policies in place which determine clearly what action should be taken to address challenging behaviour and to best protect their staff in the workplace. This would include having processes in place to record violent and abusive incidents towards teachers and staff.

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. An update on the plan will publish in the coming weeks.

Research conducted by Public Health Scotland estimated that Minimum Unit Pricing had reduced alcohol-attributable deaths in Scotland by 13.4%, or 156 per year, up to the end of 2020, compared to what would have happened if Minimum Unit Pricing had not been in place.

Public Health Scotland’s final report on the independent evaluation of the impact of Minimum Unit Pricing can be found here:

https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/evaluating-the-impact-of-minimum-unit-pricing-for-alcohol-in-scotland-a-synthesis-of-the-evidence/

Data on alcohol-specific deaths for 2024 is due to be published later this year. The Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment for the continuation and future pricing of Minimum Unit Pricing includes estimated impacts of a 65p per unit minimum price on mortality outcomes based on modelling undertaken by the University of Sheffield. It is estimated that, compared to the removal of Minimum Unit Pricing, a minimum price of 65p per unit would result in 110 fewer alcohol-specific deaths in the first year. Additionally, it is estimated that there would be 191 fewer all-cause deaths, as reducing alcohol consumption can prevent deaths from causes beyond those wholly attributed to alcohol, such as injuries or other health conditions.

The Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment can be found here:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/minimum-unit-pricing-mup-continuation-future-pricing-business-regulatory-impact-assessment/

The number of hospital admissions wholly attributable to alcohol is published on the Public Health Scotland’s (PHS) website. For the five year period, the number of hospital admissions wholly attributable to alcohol is presented in the following table.

The Scottish Government is committed to addressing the gender export gap in Scotland, confirmed by the findings in the recent Gender Export Gap research report.

Recognising the significant economic potential of women-led businesses, we are determined to ensure they are supported to expand internationally.

Our delivery agencies, including Scottish Enterprise, Business Gateway, and the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, play a pivotal role in delivering this support. Working with the Scottish Government, they will be instrumental in implementing the report's recommendations, providing tailored advice, assistance, and international market access opportunities to help women-led businesses succeed on the global stage. Through these efforts, we aim to foster a more inclusive and dynamic exporting landscape in Scotland.

The Gender Export Gap report and Scottish Government’s response to it is available here: Gender export gap report: response - gov.scot.

The Scottish Government and Scottish Ministers act in a manner consistent with the Scottish Government’s duty to uphold the Equality Act 2010 at all times.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Any form of violence is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Schools should be safe and consistent learning environments for all.

Since May 2023, we have responded to teachers’ concerns about relationships and behaviour in a number of ways. This includes the publication of new guidance on gender-based violence, updating our guidance on mobile phones and anti-bullying, and providing £900k to local authorities to support training of support staff.

In August 2024, we published a joint relationships and behaviour in schools action plan with COSLA. The action plan sets out 20 actions to be taken by 2027 at both national and local level to help support schools to improve relationships and behaviour. This includes guidance on the use of consequences in schools and updating our national guidance on exclusions.

In addition, in 2025-26 we are providing:

• A further £29 million of additional investment to local authorities for additional support needs.
• £130 million Pupil Equity Funding to schools.
• £186.5 million to local authorities to restore overall teacher numbers across the country to 2023 level, and maximise the number of teaching posts available.

Finally, through implementation of the Violence Prevention Framework for Scotland, we have invested over £4m in the last two years to help prevent and reduce violence across Scotland. Over 2024-25, £2m of this investment has been used to support delivery of prevention activity including action focussed specially towards young people in collaboration with a range of partners.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of additional strokes that could be detected by adopting BE FAST.

The Scottish Government’s position is that the current evidence base does not support a move to the use of BE FAST, and this is supported by Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland and Stroke Association, however we will regularly review this position based on the best available evidence.