Chamber and committees

This response relates to Scottish Government Core workforce.

Historically, a range of factors, including newly devolved responsibilities such as establishing Social Security, EU Exit, and our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, are behind the growth in the workforce. Like many organisations, the Scottish Government has also needed to respond to the cost of living crisis that has led to increases in pay across the labour market.

The Scottish Government is proactively addressing the need to control workforce size to remain fiscally sustainable.

The Scottish Government has reduced its total workforce by 4% from March 2022 to December 2024. It has achieved this through recruitment controls and prioritised the reduction of expensive contingent workers in making these reductions, in partnership with our Trade Unions. The number of contingent workers is now 46% lower than in March 2022.

Scottish Government workforce numbers are regularly and carefully reviewed to ensure efficient and effective delivery for the people of Scotland and recruitment controls remain in place. The Budget has set a commitment to continuing to reduce the workforce in this financial year.

Due to differences in education systems and school-leaving ages across the different countries of the UK, direct comparisons are not possible.

Analysis has been carried out for Scottish leavers and is available on the Scottish Government website. Infographic overview of evidence on school leavers in Scotland - gov.scot

Although, it is the statutory responsibility of local authorities to manage their school estate, we expect them to provide safe learning environments for all school users.

If there were concerns raised to Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) regarding perceived high levels of risk to life from fire, the SFRS would undertake an urgent audit and ultimately could, if necessary, prohibit the use, or parts, of a school until the situation was satisfactorily rectified.

Decisions in relation to Exceptional Circumstances and Appeals services for the National Qualifications are an operational matter for the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA).

Figures quoted in a recent media article related to SQA’s Exam Exceptional Circumstances Consideration Service (EECCS). SQA is the only awarding body in the UK that offers an exceptional circumstances service which specifically reviews alternative evidence. It has been designed to offer young people the best opportunity to demonstrate evidence of attainment if their examination experience is impacted by, for example, bereavement, illness or other personal circumstances. This is a pre-certification process, with requests being submitted within 10 working days after the relevant exam. This means that if a young person experiences bereavement or other personal circumstance ahead of an exam, they can ask for alternative evidence to be taken into account when their grade is being determined – whether or not they are able to attend the exam.

The SQA Appeals service is a separate process that takes place following certification for learners who consider they have not achieved their expected results, and involves a marking review of SQA-marked assessments. Candidates who have undergone exceptional circumstances consideration are excluded from the Appeals Service for the same qualification. This is because the EECCS includes a marking review of any/all submitted external assessments that are related to the request.

SQA provided figures in response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request from The Herald newspaper on the number of EECCS requests made and cancelled. SQA do not categorise EECCS requests as successful or rejected. It is incorrect to interpret the data as showing that the SQA did not approve over 90% of exam appeals made on the grounds of bereavement.

While SQA may cancel an EECCS request in some circumstances (where, for example, estimates had not been provided, coursework not completed, or a lack of supporting evidence), a larger number of requests are cancelled by the candidate’s centre (school, college or training provider).

For personal circumstances, such as bereavement, the type of EECCS request submitted is determined by the Head of Centre. SQA do not assess the reason for the request or require access to further details regarding the submission. A centre may cancel an EECCS request if they later determine that either there is not a justification for the request, or the alternative evidence available is not sufficient.

To maintain impartiality and fairness, examiners are not provided with any information about the nature of an EECCS request. This is an important safeguard that has been built into the EECCS to ensure that all candidates are treated equally and receive grades based on evidence-based demonstrated attainment against the national standard.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-37627 on 27 May 2025.

The following table sets out any representations that officials have identified as being received by the Scottish Government referencing bereavement-based exceptional circumstances or appeals arrangements in relation to the National Qualifications.

It should be borne in mind that different exceptional circumstances and appeals arrangements were in place in 2020, 2021 and 2022 as a result of the alternative awarding processes in place due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Scottish Government has already published the estimated financial contribution made to public spending by the voluntary Ministerial pay freeze since it was established on 1 April 2009. Between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2025, Ministers made an estimated £2.2 million available for public spending from their own pay packets. This is public funding that would not have been available had Ministers not voluntarily decided to return a proportion of their pay. In 2024-25, Ministerial pay was 30.4% below where it would otherwise have been. From 1 April 2025, the MSP element of the pay of all Ministers except the First Minister was equalised with that of all other MSPs, while the freeze on the Ministerial element of their pay continues for a seventeenth consecutive year. In 2025-26, Ministers will make an estimated £166,000 available for public spending from their own pay packets and, as such, public funds this year will again be higher than they would have been without the pay freeze. This is the point that the Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport was making.

The Scottish Government is committed to driving key efficiency programmes such as Scottish Single Estates, Commercial Value for Money (CVfM), Collaborative Procurement frameworks, the Intelligence Automation Centre of Excellence, and Digital programme. There has been strong progress across these programmes which are expected to reach up to £280 million of cost avoidance and cash releasing savings over a two-year period by the end of 2024-25. This figure is not related to pay costs for board members of public sector or other non-departmental bodies.

Calls to the 111 service can go unanswered for a variety of reasons, including callers choosing to end their call after being connected to the automated messaging service and hearing the options available to them – including an NHS 24 callback service during busier periods.

Other options include accessing self-care advice via the NHS Inform website or contacting another area of the health service which may be more appropriate to meet their needs.

We continue to support NHS 24’s ongoing work to help reduce unanswered calls, including recently revising NHS 24’s key performance indicators to better reflect and understand the current demands on the service.

This work allows the Service to capture any unmet demand, and any potential risks where callers have made multiple attempts to access 111 without success.

In addition, over the past two financial years NHS 24 has received additional funding of £28.3m to support their wider role in the re-design of unscheduled care. This has allowed the service to boost their staffing numbers with 22 WTE additional clinicians recruited this year and the Service now almost at desired capacity in terms of call handlers.

Offshore oil and gas licensing, as well as consenting and the associated fiscal regime, are all matters that are currently reserved to the UK Government.

The Scottish Government has been clear in our commitment to achieving net zero by 2045. Any further extraction and use of fossil fuels must be consistent with Scotland’s climate obligations and just transition commitments and we have advocated for a licencing approach that has a Climate Compatibility Checkpoint as well as taking energy security into account. It is vital that we take an evidence-based approach to the energy transition. At the heart of our approach is ensuring a just transition for Scotland’s valued and highly skilled oil and gas workforces whose skills will be critical to the success of Scotwind and other low carbon energy projects.