Chamber and committees

Audit Scotland published a report on the Scottish National Investment Bank’s performance on Thursday 15 May (Scottish National Investment Bank | Audit Scotland). Page 16 details the Capital and Resource allocations by year since the Bank was launched in November 2020:

Over the current parliamentary term, we estimate that the total spend through the capital budget will be £31.1 billion. This is based on the latest figures available. The following table sets this out in detail.

Table 1: Total capital spending between 2021-22 and 2025-26, £ millions

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

In 2025-26 the Ministerial element of all Ministers' pay remains frozen at 2008-09 levels. This is the seventeenth consecutive year in which Ministerial pay has been frozen. In 2025-26, it is estimated that, as a result of the Ministerial pay freeze, Ministers will contribute £166,000 to public spending from their own pay packets. This is on top of the estimated £2.23 million Scottish Ministers contributed to public spending from their own pay packets between the start of the pay freeze on 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2025.

The Scottish Government recognises the vital importance of tourism to Scotland’s economy. Whilst, several funds were created as part of our covid recovery plan in the previous parliamentary session, no specific funds have been created during this session.

The Scottish Government has continued to provide funding support to the sector through the enterprise agencies and VisitScotland, as well as support to Creative Scotland which also provides benefits to wider tourism through support for cultural events.

For example: In its first five years South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE) has invested around £28m in supporting projects connected to Tourism and the Visitor Economy in the South of Scotland, supporting over 200 projects with enterprises and community groups.

In addition we have allocated £4 million in the 2025-26 Scottish Budget to the Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund (RTIF) for projects which enhance transport links and infrastructure in areas that experience high visitor numbers. This will help communities to reap the rewards of their tourism offer, driving growth and sustaining vital jobs.

A further £2 million, will be provided to VisitScotland in 2025/26, to support activity to spread visitor numbers more equally across Scotland, including by promoting some of the country’s lesser-known beauty spots and attractions. It will also support activity to grow direct international connectivity.

Growth Deal Funding is also helping to support the tourism sector. For example the Destination Tweed project received £10 million from the Scottish Government to create a trail allowing options for both cycling and walking along the River Tweed. The 113 mile route will connect Berwick upon Tweed to Moffat and will showcase some of the South of Scotland’s most scenic areas.

Spend on digital connectivity infrastructure for the current parliamentary session and projected spend for the remainder of the session is set out in the table below by financial year. The Scottish Government has also secured UK Government funding for investment in digital infrastructure through the Project Gigabit programme which will further increase planned digital spend in 2025-26.

It is not the policy of the Scottish Government to create a Scottish food agency. Following the manifesto commitment to set up a Scottish Food Agency, exploratory work was undertaken and the decision was taken not to proceed. Scotland Food & Drink and the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership bring together the key actors in food and drink in Scotland for collaboration, with excellent results.

As part of the 2020-21 Programme for Government, the Scottish Government introduced the Green Jobs Fund, an investment of up to
£100 million aimed at supporting new and increased opportunities for green job creation across Scotland.

The Green Jobs Fund supported businesses and their supply chains to help them better transition to a low carbon economy. The support provided by the fund, all of which was capital, aimed to create green employment through investment in equipment, premises, and research and development.

Since its creation, between the Enterprise Agencies and Scottish Ministers, the Green Jobs Fund has provided £38.7 million in grant funding to support 122 projects. Figures provided by the recipients of these awards estimated that these projects will support up to 7354 jobs over the life of the individual projects.

The Green Jobs Fund has been discontinued. In addition to financial pressures associated with its continuation, the Fund formed a relatively small part of the Scottish Government’s broader investment in the transition to net zero. This includes many institutions, funding packages and investment vehicles which provide advice, support, and financial assistance for businesses at the forefront to building Scotland’s green economy.

The Green Industrial Strategy provides further strategic direction on how such investment supports the development, growth and scale-up of existing and new businesses seeking to take advantage of the global opportunities of the transition.

The Scottish Government has not had any engagement with the Bank of England, regarding support to train and recruit more economics teachers in Scottish schools.

We are aware of the Bank of England’s new jointly funded initiative with the University of Manchester, which will see existing teachers offered training to deliver A Level economics alongside their core subject. We will note feedback as the pilot programme progresses and consider if there is applicable learning for the Scottish education sector.

Data on full-time equivalent (FTE) secondary teachers by main subject taught and Local Authority is available in the Teacher Census Supplementary Statistics, here:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/teacher-census-supplementary-statistics/