Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government believes in equality and fairness for all. Our 2025-26 Programme for Government includes a commitment to create safe spaces for the LGBTQI+ community - funding work that tackles discrimination and upholds the human rights of this group, including through the Equality and Human Rights Fund, and progressing actions within the Non-Binary Equality Action Plan.

In line with the Labour Party Motion, it is for Scottish Enterprise to decide the scope, timescale, and terms of reference of the review. The Scottish Government has remained in close contact with Scottish Enterprise on this work, exchanging relevant advice and views.

The Scottish Government has engaged closely with Local Authorities throughout the response to the issues raised by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC). In August 2023 the Scottish Government held the first meeting of the RAAC Cross Sector Working Group to help raise awareness of RAAC across the public sector. Local Authorities are represented on this group as are representative organisations such as the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA) and the Scottish Heads of Property Services (SHoPS).

As the national Parliament, there is the need to balance the needs and legal rights of all those who work at and visit the Parliament, and manage the tensions this sometimes creates.

The right to private life is a key consideration for all employers and we will continue to ensure that such rights are protected. The Corporate Body has a general public sector duty and must have due regard to the need to–

• Eliminate discrimination

• Advance equality of opportunity

• Foster good relations between different people when carrying out their activities.

We will continue to ensure all our services, policies, practices, events and decision-making processes are fair and systematically assessed (in respect of protected characteristics). The next phase of our work will look at changes in the medium to longer term to enhance our inclusive provision and includes engaging with staff, Members, Members’ staff and other stakeholders including external groups and organisations who work regularly and closely with people across all of the different protected characteristics.

The SPCB is committed to creating and maintaining a safe, welcoming and inclusive working environment that nurtures a culture in which we treat one another with courtesy and professionalism. There is no place for bullying, harassment, discrimination, sexual misconduct or victimisation in our parliamentary community and each of us is responsible for the way we interact with and treat others.

As an employer, the SPCB aims to create a working environment in which staff are treated with respect, in a manner that allows them to maintain their dignity and where there is zero tolerance of harassment and bullying, including on the basis of gender identity or expression. This includes protecting staff against harassment or bullying behaviour from third parties.

Inclusiveness and respect are core values for the Scottish Parliamentary Service (SPS), and we value the diversity of our staff and respect individual differences within an inclusive working environment. We want to continue to attract and retain a workforce that reflects diverse communities and we are committed to eliminating discrimination and complying with our equality statutory duties. And our staffing policies and practices are in place to continue to achieve this.

The SPCB’s Dignity at Work Policy plays an important part in preventing staff from experiencing bullying and harassment and ensures all staff are clear about what is acceptable behaviour in the workplace. We continue to develop our employment practices to ensure legal compliance and workplace integrity.  A formal review of the Dignity at Work Policy will take place this year.

Since the launch of the Energy Skills Passport in January 2025, Scottish Government officials have met regularly with the industry leads for the project, Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) and RenewableUK (RUK), with approximately seven such meetings happening over the period to May 2025. UK Government officials have also attended these meetings.

Trade unions have been involved in the development of the Passport since its inception. Scottish Government officials attended a roundtable meeting about the Passport with trade unions in April 2025 – this was led by OEUK and RUK. The Minister for Climate Action met with trade unions, alongside the Just Transition Partnership, in February 2025 to discuss the Passport.

The Scottish Government is looking forward to seeing the Passport develop further in ‘Phase 2’ of its development; providing more options and pathways for workers to transition between sectors. Success in Phase 2 will require the Passport to be fully supported from a range of bodies, including the UK Government.

The Energy Skills Passport is an industry-led project, with Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) and RenewableUK (RUK) as the lead bodies.

The latest information available to Scottish Government regarding uptake, which covers the period from launch in January to April 2025, is that around 390 user profiles have been set up on the Passport’s digital system. The website received around 2,300 views during its first month and now averages around 900 views per month. More than 50% of the of the activity on the system has come from users based in Scotland.

For the most up to date figures, we recommend contacting OEUK and RUK directly.

Projects such as Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm have the potential to boost local and national supply chain growth and support high-quality, sustainable jobs.

The UK Government is responsible for monitoring Supply Chain Plans as part of the CfD scheme.

The expansion of offshore wind represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create thousands of jobs that drive growth, foster innovation, and generate wealth. The Scottish Government is doing everything within its power to ensure that the offshore wind opportunity for Scotland is realised so that projects and the associated economic benefits we all want to see are delivered.

As stated in the answer to S6W-35303, employment legislation is reserved to the UK Parliament and there have been no discussions to date specifically on enforcement of the national minimum wage for Inch Cape or other offshore wind farms. As long as employment legislation remains reserved, the Scottish Government will continue to use our Fair Work policy to drive up labour market standards for workers across the Scottish labour market, including in the offshore wind sector. We welcome the UK Government’s Employment Rights Bill and continue to work closely with them to ensure its positive application, whilst being clear that the best way to protect Scotland’s workers is to devolve employment law.

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 UK Government is responsible for monitoring Inch Cape’s Supply Chain Plan as part of the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme.

The Scottish Government is investing up to £500 million over five years to anchor our offshore wind supply chain, support market certainty, and help create a highly productive, competitive offshore wind economy which supports thousands of jobs.