Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government will play a key role in delivering Project Gigabit procurements in Scotland. The Scottish Government will lead delivery of local (Type A) and regional (Type B) activity, providing opportunities for alternative network suppliers in Scotland. We will also work alongside the UK Government to manage the UK-wide (Type C) framework in Scotland.

This is a recognition of our strong track record of delivering large scale digital infrastructure programmes and will allow us to align Project Gigabit with our own Reaching 100% (R100) programme.

The first local procurement in Scotland is expected to launch imminently, covering the Borders and East Lothian areas. A regional procurement, in the Dundee, Aberdeenshire, Angus, and Moray Coast areas is expected to follow in the coming months.

The Scottish Government and Building Digital UK (BDUK) have worked together to prepare further procurements, and these will be launched if and when we are confident that there is the market interest needed for them to succeed. We are also preparing the ground for the UK-wide (Type C) framework to deliver across Scotland.

Unlike our R100 programme, there is no predetermined level of funding assigned to deliver connections in Scotland via Project Gigabit. Instead, funding is allocated to each individual procurement based on a model developed by the UK Government.

As we work jointly to deliver these procurements in Scotland, we will continue to urge the UK Government to match our ambition for Scotland’s digital infrastructure with a sufficient level of financial commitment to deliver in this wholly reserved area.

The Scottish Government continues to deliver on its commitment to build the case for an independent Scotland within the EU, through the development of a prospectus to give people the information they need to make an informed choice about their future. I’m pleased to confirm that on 25 April we will publish the thirteenth paper in the Building a New Scotland series ‘Building a New Scotland: Justice in an independent Scotland’.

The paper sets out how independence would give Scotland the powers to take all the decisions in justice areas that are currently reserved, creating opportunities for more focused and creative action on some of the most challenging issues facing our society, such as drugs and gambling. The paper also describes how Scotland would be an open, engaged and positive international partner, able to play a key role in justice issues across borders, particularly around counter-terrorism, cybercrime and serious organised crime.

The Scottish Government is continuing to prepare further papers in the Building a New Scotland series and these will be published shortly. I can also confirm that the matters raised in this publication will be taken forward as part of a future debate on BaNS publications in the Scottish Parliament.

‘Building a New Scotland: Justice in an independent Scotland’ is available to view on the Scottish Government website from 25 April at www.gov.scot/newscotland

The safety and security of people’s data, and the running of NHS services is of the upmost importance. I have provided detail on the action being taken to protect NHS patient data in the answers to questions S6W-26702 on 23 April 2024, S6T-01869 on 19 March 2024, S6W-26442 on 17 May 2024 and S6W-26223 on 27 March 2024.

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 .

All answers to Topical 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/official-report/search-what-was-said-in-parliament .

Since 2019 the number of teachers in Scottish schools has increased from 52,247 to 54,033 and the pupil teacher ratio has improved from 13.6 to 13.2.

Local authorities are responsible for the recruitment and deployment of teaching staff, and the Scottish Government continues to provide local authorities with £145.5 million in this year’s budget to protect teacher numbers more widely.

Our Teaching Bursary Scheme is offering a £20,000 payment to career changers who are looking to undertake teacher training in hard to fill STEM subjects – physics, maths, technical education, computing science, chemistry and home economics.

The Strategic Board for Teacher Education is also considering issues around the recruitment and retention of teachers in Scotland in detail, together with work to improving the promotion of teaching as a valued career.

Since 2019 the number of teachers in Scottish schools has increased from 52,247 to 54,033 and the pupil teacher ratio has improved from 13.6 to 13.2.

Local authorities are responsible for the recruitment and deployment of teaching staff, and the Scottish Government continues to provide local authorities with £145.5 million in this year’s budget to protect teacher numbers more widely.

The Strategic Board for Teacher Education is also considering issues around the recruitment and retention of teachers in Scotland in detail, together with work to improving the promotion of teaching as a valued career.

The ‘Hate Monster’ is a Police Scotland campaign which ran for 6 weeks in Spring last year. The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

I will assume you are referring to the Scottish Government’s ‘Hate Hurts’ campaign which ran in March. The campaign showed the impact that hate crime has on those affected to help people recognise their experiences, highlighted the forms that hate crime can take and encouraged those who are witnesses to, or victims of hate crime to report it.

The campaign sends a message of reassurance to all communities in Scotland that hate crime will not be tolerated. c£390k was invested in the ‘Hate Hurts’ national campaign which included a broadcast and print.

The taskforce has established four subgroups to focus on attraction, education and development, leadership and culture, and wellbeing. All subgroups are considering retention as part of their remit. Each subgroup will formulate and provide recommended actions to the main taskforce. The Taskforce is making good progress with the development of its recommended actions and will continue to work until members have agreed a comprehensive action plan. We anticipate the publication of a report later in 2024.

Corporate governance and accountability arrangements for public bodies are in place and built around an established series of statutory and administrative mechanisms. These ensure consistent processes and parameters, based on the principles in the Scottish Public Finance Manual, within which public bodies are required to operate in terms of the stewardship of public money, propriety and ethics.

This is supplemented by framework agreements that Scottish Government has in place with most public bodies setting out respective roles and responsibilities, including requirement for bodies to set plans which contribute to achievement of the National Performance Framework outcomes, including tackling poverty. These activities and the sponsorship and relationship arrangements the Scottish Government has with public bodies helps ensure that Scottish Ministers priorities are delivered.

Scottish Government funding to local authorities is allocated using a relative needs-based formula, taking into account disadvantage and various other considerations, including levels of deprivation. While local authorities decide how to spend their available finances they are guided by a set of national and local outcomes, with the Equality Act and associated specific duties providing a framework to help local authorities pay due regard to equality issues.

Specifically, local authorises, and other certain public bodies, in Scotland are subject to the Fairer Scotland Duty, which places a legal responsibility on them to actively consider how they can reduce inequalities of outcome caused by socio-economic disadvantage, when making strategic decisions.

The Scottish Government carries out Equality Impact Assessments on all new policies as required under the Equality Act 2010 and the associated Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED). PSED requires public authorities to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations across all the protected characteristics, including age. These assessments draw upon existing research and data on equality issues, as well as the lived experience of those impacted. Specifically for older people, the assessments analyse and identify any potential impacts using evidence from relevant sources and direct feedback from older people's organisations.

Where relevant impacts on older people are identified through this evidence-based process, mitigating actions are carefully considered. The Scottish Government also directly engages with stakeholder groups representing older people, such as our trusted partners in the Older People’s Strategic Action Forum (OPSAF), to ensure their real-world views and experiences inform policymaking from the outset.

The most recent Scottish Health Service cost book data published by Public Health Scotland for 2022-23 show that NHS Board spend on Mental Health is over £1.3bn and we expect this will continue in future years.The source of this funding is mainly from NHS Health Boards’ baseline budgets which are provided on an annual basis. Boards are responsible for determining how they utilise that funding to meet the needs and priorities of their local population.