Chamber and committees

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The numbers of prison officers employed by SPS at the end of each financial year from 2016-17 to 2022-23 are set out in the following table.

The Scottish Government along with the Scottish Funding Council work with and engage, on an ongoing basis with a range of stakeholders including Universities Scotland and individual institutions, to monitor and secure the long term sustainability of the sector as a whole and ensure that Scottish Universities continue to deliver world class education.

These issues were discussed at a meeting between the previous Cabinet Secretary and Universities Scotland. As part of that discussion, it was recognised that as autonomous institutions Scottish universities are responsible for managing their long term institutional stability as operated through their own entry requirements, admissions policies and budgets. It was also agreed that it was vital to explore further the impact of the UK Government’s policy on immigration on Scottish Universities’ international student recruitment.

The Scottish Government welcomes the contribution that international students make to our society, culture and economy. International students add to the diversity of our communities, enrich the learning experience and support local businesses and jobs. Our priority is to become more active internationally fostering good global connections, and by promoting educational and research exchange to raise the profile of Scotland as a place to live, work and study.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The review of the Gender Identity and Gender Reassignment Policy 2014 is currently ongoing. The review is considering the suitability of the current policy’s position on self-identification, along with other potential options which would allow SPS to make safe and appropriate decisions about the placement and management of transgender people in custody.

The Scottish Government recognises the important role that reintroductions of native wildlife can play in meeting our nature restoration ambitions, but has no current plans to reintroduce lynx or any other large carnivorous species into Scotland. We have not recently engaged with stakeholders, including the Scottish Rewilding Alliance, on this issue.

Anyone seeking to reintroduce lynx or another species into Scotland would require a licence from NatureScot. Thus far, no licence applications for the reintroduction of lynx have been submitted.

Should a licence application be made in the future, the Scottish Code for Conservation Translocations sets out the process that NatureScot would be required to follow in considering whether any translocation or reintroduction project may be appropriate. This includes the need to give consideration to benefits and risks, whether of a biological or socio-economic nature.

Community Planning Partnerships (CPPs) do not hold resources of their own. CPPs’ partner organisations direct and align resources they hold towards collective action in pursuit of priorities agreed by the CPP. These resources can take the form of staff time and expertise, premises and other assets, as well as financial investment.

The statutory purpose of CPPs is to improve outcomes on locally identified priorities; and CPPs are not required to report to Scottish Government on their use of resources. As a result, Scottish Government does not hold information about the value of resources partners deploy in pursuit of CPPs’ priorities.

In the period since this commitment was made in 2021 we have invested £38 million directly into Scottish businesses and associated digital support for them to access. This does not include the value of the programmes that our enterprise agencies deliver on our behalf.

A breakdown of the £38 million is as follows.

DigitalBoost Development Grant - £30 million

Digital Development Loan - £5.1 million

DigitalBoost National Programme - £2.9 million

Digital Productivity Labs Pilot - £600,000

Data Readiness Tool - £170,000

Total - £38.77 million.

The Scottish Government consulted on proposals for a Circular Economy Bill - Delivering Scotland's circular economy: Proposed Circular Economy Bill - Consultation analysis - gov.scot ( www.gov.scot ). A Bill will be brought forward before summer recess.

The number of full-time employees and their pay scale for each Cabinet Secretary's office and Minister's private office are as follows.

As I set out in my recent answer to S6W-16591 on 26 April 2023, the Scottish Government has no plans to reintroduce lynx or any other large carnivorous species into Scotland. However, the Scottish Government is aware that appropriate species reintroductions can be beneficial to ecosystems and restoring biodiversity.

Neither the Scottish Government, nor NatureScot, have carried out any formal assessment of any potential impact that lynx would have on livestock in Scotland.

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 Scottish Government has repeatedly made the case, to all relevant departments of the UK Government (in correspondence and in a range of established forums) for a guaranteed role in all stages of the negotiation and implementation of UK Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) to protect and promote Scottish agricultural priorities. This is because, while the negotiation of FTAs is reserved to the UK Government, trade deals cover many devolved issues which have significant implications for Scottish agri-food producers and for our economy.

The Scottish Government had previously not been given full sight of relevant FTA chapter texts or supporting data from the Department of Business and Trade in the negotiation of the recent agreements such as UK-Australia and New Zealand deals. Through a recent information sharing agreement with the Devolved Administrations, the UK Government has now accepted the benefits of sharing greater information on trade negotiations, such as the agri-food elements of the agreement in principle on CPTPP accession.

We welcome this progress, and the Scottish Government will continue to work regularly and collaboratively with the UK Government in the interests of the Scottish agri-food sector, including by seeking further assurances from the UK Government about the agri-food elements of the UK-CPTPP agreement at the recent 17 April meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Group on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.