Chamber and committees

Universities and Colleges are autonomous institutions, and the Scottish Government does not intervene in subject provision, or hold information on the number of courses related to video game development. The upcoming budget is providing over £2bn for colleges, universities and the wider skills system.

Latest data published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), shows that for 2022-23, 6 (out of 19) universities in Scotland have enrolments on courses under the subject classification 'Computer games and animation'. (source: Table 49 - HE student enrolments by HE provider and subject of study 2014/15 to 2022/23 | HESA)

While information provided by the Scottish Funding Council, based on course title analysis, indicated that for the 2022-23 academic year 14 (out of 24) colleges in Scotland ran courses relating to video game development.

The Scottish Government does not offer financial support (a-d) specifically for the video games industry. However, there is a large range of resources available through Scotland’s public sector and available to businesses in a variety of sectors which can be found at Find Business Support and Business Gateway websites.

The Scottish Government and Education Scotland have provided funding in 2022 and 2023 to support Scottish Games Week, which included an Education Symposium. This event brings together video game industry and education providers with an aim to share learning and establish partnerships.

Education Scotland has also supported (through attendance and delivery) the Scottish Games Education Symposium in 2024 and inaugural Scottish Esports Education Conference in 2024.

Education Scotland supports all 32 local authorities to develop and deliver digital literacy, computing science and creativity learning - all of which are in-demand from the games industry.

The Scottish Government is engaging with an industry led action plan and which will look to address future support requirements of the sector.

The Scottish Government and Education Scotland have provided funding in 2022 and 2023 to support Scottish Games Week, which included an Education Symposium.

The Scottish Government provided £49,425 in 2022 and £40,000 in 2023.

Education Scotland provided £7500 funding for the Scottish Games Week Education Symposium in 2023.

The Scottish Government has not provided funding directly to video game development companies in the past five years through targeted schemes.

The Scottish Government provided £400,000 to establish an adult ADHD and autism assessment service in Aberdeenshire between 2019-21.

NHS Boards and other local partners are responsible for prioritising funding to ensure that their local population receives the highest quality of care and treatment at the right time and in the right place. Accordingly, funding for adult ADHD and autism assessments in the Aberdeenshire Council area between 2021 and 2025 will have been derived from the overall budget allocated to NHS Grampian.

In 2021-22, NHS Grampian received £1,027.9 million from the Scottish Government. In 2022-23, NHS Grampian received £1,072.2 million from the Scottish Government, an uplift of 4 per cent on the previous year. In 2023-24, NHS Grampian received £1,129.9 million from the Scottish Government, an uplift of 5 per cent on the previous year. Finally, in 2024-25, NHS Grampian received £1,176.4 million from the Scottish Government, an uplift of 4% on the previous year.

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

SPS have proactively published a range of data relating to Emergency Release (ER) on SPS Website, this includes a recently published a summary report of ER returns to custody data.

We continue to be as open and transparent as possible, whilst continuing to meet our statutory obligation to ensure that those in our care have their personal information protected; as such we have taken the decision not to publish a breakdown of establishments of those released under the ER scheme as some of the data could relate to a small group of individuals, which may lead to their inadvertent identification.

Non-departmental public bodies devolved to Scotland are operationally independent from Scottish Ministers but are ultimately accountable to Scottish Ministers for their performance. The national public bodies directory contains a full list of non-departmental public bodies and shows the amount of Scottish Government funding they receive. The national directory can be viewed at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-public-bodies-directory/pages/executive-non-departmental-public-bodies/

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

SPS are pleased that His Majesties Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland, recognised that HMP Dumfries is a well-run prison and performs well against their standards.

Prior to the inspection a CCTV replacement and upgrade programme was already agreed as part of the establishment maintenance programme.

A contractor has now been appointed and will replace and/or upgrade existing systems, introducing CCTV coverage into areas that do not currently have it such as D and E Halls and the respective exercise yards. This work is expected to begin in Autumn 2025 and is expected to take approximately 8 months to complete.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) will be reviewed as soon as this process is complete and will supersede existing SOPs that are in place to monitor exercise yards.