Chamber and committees

The measures to mitigate the impact of potential international corruption in the management of public resources in Scotland are found in the Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM), and within the relevant Scottish Government policies and Civil Service Code. Requirements within the SPFM cover the appropriate standards for the handling of all elements of public finances in terms of payments made, received, and in how they are documented and authorised.

The SG engages with external partners and colleagues from the UK Government Public Sector Fraud Authority, the International Public Sector Fraud Forum, Audit Scotland and the Scottish Public Sector Counter Fraud Network. This facilitates the sharing of expertise and current practice in the prevention of fraud and corruption, as well as horizon scanning on future risks, providing assurance on the management of fraud and corruption risk and the protection of public resources.

The Scottish Government has in place a Fraud Risk Management Framework and Counter Fraud Strategy, which both align to the UK government functional standard 013 - Counter Fraud, and the principles of this standard. The SG framework focuses on four areas that determine the Scottish Government’s high-level approach to fraud and corruption. These centre on the areas of:

• Governance
• Risk assessment
• Prevention and detection
• Fraud response

This framework and approach can be used to inform assessment and response to any fraud or corruption risks.

a) The Scottish Government’s Counter Fraud Toolkit within the Counter Fraud Framework contains a range of processes for assessing risks associated with fraud and corruption in all areas of public sector spending. These are aligned with the UK Government's Counter Fraud Standards and international best practice on the effective prevention of public sector fraud and corruption.

b) The Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM) contains the requirements for assessing and responding to the risk of corruption in all areas of public finance and infrastructure spending. Where the risk of fraud or corruption of any kind is identified, the SPFM requires that appropriate measures are put in place to prevent these risks.

At the time of writing, the Scottish Government last met with Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) on 4 February 2025. Scottish Government officials met with SSEN’s Head of Corporate Affairs, Head of Public Affairs and Policy colleagues to discuss recent regulatory and policy developments.

The Just Transition Fund has within the last three years provided £988k in capital funding support to the following projects:

• £361,767 over 2022-23 to the Cabrach Trust for development of the Cabrach Distillery. The project aimed to create permanent skilled employment opportunities in the area, attract tourism, and support local economic growth and regeneration.
• £626,734 over 2022-24 to Ripcell for its pilot Sustainable Solvent Recovery for EV Battery Recycling project utilising pot ale a whisky waste product.

The Scottish Government will submit its response to the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee report, follow- up inquiry into ‘salmon farming in Scotland’ by 14 March 2025, in line with the usual protocol of responding to a Committee report within two months of publication. We expect the response would be published on the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee webpages soon thereafter.

a) Under the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010, the Scottish Government published information relating to consultancy spend. The return specifies how consultancy spend is defined and returns dating back to 2015-16 can be found on the Scottish Government’s website at.

https://www.gov.scot/publications/government-expenditure-2016-to-2023/

https://www.gov.scot/publications/government-expenditure/pages/2023-to-2024

Previous PQ’s (S4W-26410 on 11 August 2015 and S4W-02171 on 14 September 2011) requesting this information contain the Consultancy figures for years 2009-10, 2010-11, 2012-13, and 2014-15

Unfortunately, data is not held for the year 2011-12, nor years prior to 2009-10 on a comparable basis.

b) Please see the following figures relating to consultancy costs from Education Scotland, Disclosure Scotland and SAAS from 2011.

Money spent on consultancy fees is included in the annual accounting reports for each organisation. This information is publicly available on organisational websites but is reproduced below for information.

Please find below a table with a list of who attended each meeting. Any formal minutes will be published on the Scottish Government’s website and at the time of writing, there are no meetings with SSEN scheduled in ministerial calendars.

No ongoing assessment of lorry parking near schools in Scotland has been undertaken by the Scottish Government.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to promote road safety and take steps to both reduce and prevent accidents. In this respect it is for the local authority to consider appropriate measures which will safeguard road users and residents, and to determine the priority that should be given to any road safety measures.

With regard to the parking of lorries near secondary schools, responsibility for all traffic management on local roads including the provision of parking and any subsequent charges, lies with local authorities. Under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, local authorities have a general duty to secure the expeditious, convenient and safe movement of traffic.

Police Scotland has the ability to enforce traffic violations on Scotland’s roads and would respond to any safeguarding concerns regarding a child’s journey. They also support school liaison officers and community policing efforts where required.

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-34375 on 13 February 2025. 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

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-34375 on 13 February 2025. 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