At the end of December 2023, the Scottish Government directly employed 8,824 (full time equivalent) civil servants and engaged 1,436 contingent workers.

The latest available workforce statistics are at this link: Scottish Government workforce statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot). This will be updated with end March 2024 data on Tuesday 11 June 2024.

The Scottish Government is proactively addressing the need to reduce in size to remain fiscally sustainable and has been on a reducing trajectory since March 2022. We continue to progress public sector reform, and workforce numbers are regularly and carefully reviewed to ensure that we are delivering for the people of Scotland as efficiently and effectively as possible.

VAT is a reserved area and the powers to set the VAT Registration Threshold sit with the UK Government.

The Scottish Government has not modelled the impact on public revenue in Scotland of a reduction of the VAT Registration Threshold to £30,000.

We encourage the UK Government to engage with devolved administrations and stakeholders to ensure that changes which affect all parts of the UK are fully considered as part of the assessment of impacts.

As the Care Inspectorate is an independent non-departmental body, it operates at arm’s length from Government. Therefore, while Scottish Minsters can agree the strategic direction of public bodies, it is crucial that their independent role is respected.

I can confirm that the Care Inspectorate has no plans to add a question on the extent of fair working conditions and pay to the Quality Framework for care services. The Care Inspectorate does not have an overt role in considering the pay and conditions of staff working in the sector.

However, where the Care Inspectorate identifies that staffing negatively impacts on the standard of care and experience of people, it would report on this and require improvements to be made.

As reflected in the answer to S6W-27466, a range of matters related to volunteer retention were discussed. Those included the development of the Tribunal Support Model (TSM) within Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS), introduced to better support volunteers in local areas across Scotland. The National Convener also discussed the future additional demand for children’s panel members associated with the commencement of the Care and Justice (Scotland) Bill.

The National Convener had identified a general downward trend in broader volunteering and retention since the covid pandemic, and outlined his plans for future panel recruitment campaigns and retention efforts.

There is a long unbroken record dating back 6 decades of sufficient local volunteers coming forward to serve on the children’s panel, and the Scottish Government , through officials and portfolio Ministers, are in regular dialogue with CHS about recruitment and retention.

The issue of recruitment and retention of volunteers are independent statutory functions for the National Convener. His independence in discharging those functions is enshrined in the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011. The member may wish to write to the National Convener for further information about the recruitment and retention of volunteers.

The group Children’s Hearings Scotland Scandal were not discussed in the meeting. The Scottish Government is not aware of any concerns from that group which have not already been addressed, or that would have any material bearing on volunteer retention issues at the national level.

ScotRail operates 18 trains per day - an hourly service between Elgin and Inverness, which includes 7 return services between Inverness and Elgin and 11 services between Aberdeen and Inverness. Providing additional services between Elgin and Inverness was possible due to a £330 million investment from the Scottish Government, which was completed in December 2019.

All three and four year olds, as well as eligible two year olds, have a statutory entitlement of up to 1140 hours per year of funded ELC. Local authorities have a duty to make this available to all eligible children within their area, which is delivered across over 2500 centres in Scotland (excluding childminders). Ministers and senior Scottish Government officials regularly engage with CoSLA around issues relating to the implementation of 1140 policy. I would encourage parents to raise any concerns they have about the closure of Haystax Nursery directly with the relevant local authority, in this case City of Edinburgh Council.

There is a robust framework for the stewardship of public funds by the Scottish Government, its public bodies and recipients of public sector grants. The Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM) sets out statutory, parliamentary, and administrative requirements in relation to managing public resources, emphasising the need for economy, efficiency, and effectiveness, and promoting good practice.

There are ‘framework documents’ between the SG and public bodies covering accountability arrangements, financial controls and processes, and associated annual assurance processes. Accountable Officers are personally answerable for the regularity and propriety of the finances under their stewardship and report in annual accounts which are scrutinised by Audit Scotland and potentially by the Public Audit Committee. SG Sponsor teams work with public bodies, ensuring appropriate framework documents and governance arrangements are in place and action is taken on any audit recommendations.

The SPFM sets out the expectations of grant funding and the financial control framework required if public bodies disperse grants. Bodies in receipt of public funds are subject to binding agreements that are monitored as part of established grant management processes.

We are taking forward a range of actions to ensure that the planning system supports economic growth and house building.

We remain committed to working collaboratively with all those with an interest in planning and housing to deliver good quality homes in the right location. We are working with industry and others to take forward a number of short-term actions, including working with SME housebuilders to understand how we can support them better, and sharing good practice on implementing Statements of Community Benefit. At a recent evidence session with the Local Government, Planning and Housing Committee, Scottish Government officials indicated that we will shortly communicate a message, following the recent legal proceedings relating to policy 16 of National Planning Framework.

The Planning Infrastructure and Place Advisory Group, was set up with the aim of driving forward joined up, place based delivery of infrastructure. The group is investigating the issues of funding and finance affecting the delivery of infrastructure in order to identify actions and solutions which could have wider applicability. The group are expected to report on findings in the near future.

We are also now working on the implementation of Masterplan Consent Areas regulations following a public consultation which closed on 22 May. MCAs are a new consenting mechanism to support place-leadership, providing certainty by bringing forward consented development-ready land, supporting economic growth.

Our consultation “Investing in Planning – A consultation on resourcing Scotland’s planning system” closed on 31 May. The consultation sought views on a range of proposals which could deliver a more proportionate and streamlined planning system in Scotland. The consultation included a proposal to establish a Planning Hub, which could provide much needed resilience for authorities and support improvements in decision making timescales.

Early findings from the consultation will be presented to the High Level Group on Planning Performance, which brings together key stakeholders who play an important role in delivering the planning system in Scotland, later this month.

The National Planning Improvement Champion (NPIC) is working with individual planning authorities to pilot a new National Planning Improvement Framework. Planning authorities will carry out a self-assessment and then work with the NPIC and others to identify areas for improvement and develop an action plan.

The Scottish Government is currently considering the outcome of the consultation and will publish an analysis in due course.

All farms that discharge emamectin benzoate are being regulated against the previous environmental standard of 763 ng/kg of wet weight sediment or against the revised environmental standard recommended by UKTAG of 272 ng/kg of dry weight sediment.