Chamber and committees

Imprints are a way of stating who is responsible for publishing campaigning or promotional political material and who they are promoting it for.  This point is reflected in the Electoral Commission’s recent statutory guidance on digital imprints under the Elections Act 2022. 

The functions of the SPCB are laid out in the Scotland Act and require the SPCB to provide the property, staff and services required for the Parliament’s purposes.  In principle, the SPCB does not include imprints on its material as it is publishing material for the purpose of these statutory functions and not political campaigning or promoting.   

The SPCB provides support to Members through the Reimbursement of Members Expenses Scheme to produce and distribute parliamentary funded publications to inform constituents of the work of the Member in their electoral area or in Parliament or about the work of the Parliament itself.

As SPCB resources are applied for the Parliament’s purposes, in accordance with the SPCB’s statutory functions, Members must abide by the rules in the SPCB Policy on Members’ Publications where costs are met from the Members’ Expenses Scheme.

The Policy restricts members from including material promoting the political views of any person, political party, the government or other organisation involved in political campaigning in parliamentary funded publications.  The Policy also prohibits the issue of parliamentary funded publications in the immediate run up to elections and referendums. For its purposes, the Policy requires the inclusion of a statement in relation to how the costs were met for such a publication and a header which must include the Parliament’s Corporate Identity, alongside the Member’s name and their area of representation, whether the publication is online or in hard copy.

Information on the allocation of CashBack funding is only formally collected at a local authority level. The total funding allocation to Fife local authority area between 2008 and March 2023 was £4,124,198.

Estimated funding of £1,061,633 is attributed to the Cowdenbeath constituency during that same period. This includes funding of £745,761 that was allocated to organisations delivering project activity based in the area (Scottish Sports Futures, Basketball Scotland, Boxing Scotland and the Scottish Football Association). The remaining funding was shared between organisations that supported individuals or groups across Fife and were available to children and young people in the Cowdenbeath constituency (Access to Industry, The Prince’s Trust, YouthLink Scotland, Youth Scotland and The Venture Trust).

Phase 6 of the CashBack for Communities programme runs from April 2023 to March 2026. The current estimate of spend across the Fife area is £1,036,803. Of that funding, an estimated £543,266 is currently attributed to the Cowdenbeath constituency, based mainly on anticipated project delivery in that area by Scottish Sports Futures and Starcatchers.

Details of all the Phase 6 CashBack partners and information on project delivery by local authority area are available on the CashBack for Communities website: https://cashbackforcommunities.org/

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23070 on 4 December 2023. 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 refreshed Skills Investment Plan for Scotland’s historic environment sector is being led by Historic Environment Scotland in collaboration with key stakeholders within the sector and is expected to be published in Spring 2024.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of the Skills Investment Plan for Scotland’s historic environment sector to support our workforce in developing the skills required to manage, protect and conserve our built heritage.

We acknowledge that action delivery from the 2019 plan was impacted by both the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis.

The Scottish Government will continue to deliver support for Scotland’s historic environment through sponsorship of Historic Environment Scotland, which is leading on developing the current Skills Investment Plan, building on the lessons learned from previous plans and increasing resource to maximise delivery.

The CfWT was intended to be a “centre of expertise” to test new ideas around post-pandemic ways of working, providing research and advice to support innovative solutions to improve workplace productivity and wellbeing as well as being the support mechanism for the 4DWW pilot. There are a number of institutions and programmes dedicated to improving workplace productivity and wellbeing and engaging with businesses at scale.

The work of the enterprise and skills agencies is closely aligned to the aims of the CfWT. For example, Scottish Enterprise’s Workplace Innovation service helps businesses to implement fair and innovative people practices that have positive impacts on performance, productivity, engagement and wellbeing. Likewise, Highland and Islands Enterprise Innovation Programme helps organisations to improve productivity by increasing sales through the development of new products or services, or making process improvements through adopting technologies or new working practices. These initiatives play an important role in promoting ‘what works’ in improving workplace productivity and wellbeing, and proactively communicating these messages to businesses.

Just Transition Plans for sectors, sites and regions will be a key vehicle for managing our rapid transformation to a net zero, climate resilient economy. Plans are outcome-focused and our national just transition outcomes explicitly call for climate action that helps businesses thrive, supports fair work and good, green jobs and enhances wellbeing. We began with our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan (JTP) and will be followed by JTPs for Agriculture and Land Use, the Built Environment and Construction, and Transport, as well as a site-based plan for the Grangemouth industrial cluster.

There are also synergies with the CFWT concept’s focus on the future of work and our commitment to explore ways of promoting and encouraging flexible and inclusive workplaces that benefit all workers. We are currently providing £153,575 in funding to flexible working experts, Flexibility Works, to promote and support employers across Scotland to adopt flexible workplaces.

The SPCB is proud to work with colleagues across all UK and Ireland legislatures to share best practice, innovative ideas, opportunities for shared learning and shared events (e.g., Mental Health Month, Trans and Non-Binary Awareness Week, National Inclusion Week during which seminars and information events are available to all).

The SPCB seeks to ensure that the training opportunities offered to MSP staff in the Scottish Parliament meet both the needs of the individual, their employer and the Parliament as a whole.  It would not be possible to offer the same training as colleagues in the UK Parliament and other UK legislatures as our needs will be different as is the context (training provided to the Scottish Parliament must be considered in the Scottish context within which we operate).  The team that supports MSP staff training regularly conduct reviews of the providers and their content to ensure that quality, effectiveness and value is maintained and where required will seek alternative provision.  The team operates within our procurement guidelines and uses their knowledge and expertise to ensure a quality provider is selected to work with colleagues and maintain our standards in providing relevant, quality training to MSP staff.  

The SPCB can confirm that they are committed to ensuring that all training offered to MSP staff is of the highest quality and that it meets our procurement standards.  As such we will continue to engage with MSP staff to ensure that the training meets their needs and that of their employing MSP.  MSPs and their staff can contact People and Culture colleagues for further support.  Delegates that attend training courses are asked to complete an evaluation form, which is reviewed and acted upon should any issues be raised.

The SPCB will continue to oversee engagement with MSP staff colleagues to review and continually improve our training offering.  We are in the final stages of seeking representation from all groups in order to re-establish the MSP Staff Training Forum, which will provide a mechanism for two-way engagement on training needs and effectiveness.  We will also continue to utilise other feedback mechanisms, including the Caseworker Forum, to ensure that we continue to provide what colleagues need and what represents the greatest return on investment for the Parliament.

The requested information has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre under Bib. Number 64646.