Chamber and committees

While the term National Challenge Competition is very broad, there are a range of policy initiatives which publicly seek new ideas and/or issue funding on a competitive basis. Funds and initiatives of this kind exist across the Scottish Government and it is therefore difficult to provide a comprehensive list without further clarification. However, examples of such initiatives include:

• The work of the Chief Scientist for Health, whose office periodically launches open innovation calls focussed on health challenges facing the Scottish population. Examples of such challenges include drugs deaths and mental health.
• The Civtech programme, which, on an ongoing basis, supports new, small and medium size companies to win public sector contracts by solving key innovation challenges.
• Other forms of pre-commercial procurement in which public bodies contract for services to develop new and innovative solutions.
• Entrepreneurship policy, where funding is regularly issued on a competitive basis. Examples include the recently launched Ecosystem Fund, focussed on backing organisations who support and mentor start-up founders and the Entrepreneurial Education Fund, which invests in projects focussed on embedding entrepreneurial thinking across the Scottish education system.

The purpose of the meeting on 26 February 2025 was to update myself and the Minister for Climate Action on the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements, the reform options being considered by UK Government, and the potential impact of those options for Scotland.

The briefing paper for this meeting, and list of attendees, including ministers, have already been released under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). It is standard procedure for names of officials to be redacted in all FOIs under Section 38(1)(b), due to protections around the sharing of Third Party Data, whereby personal data is exempt from disclosure if disclosure would contravene any of the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the UK GDPR and in section 34(1) of the DPA 2018.

Upon review of the FOI, section 29(1)(a) was not cited as a redaction used. Information has been redacted under 30(b)(i), however, was redacted due to it relating to the free and frank provision of advice. This exemption recognises the need for Ministers to have space within which to seek advice and views from officials before reaching a settled public position.

In line with usual practice, details of individual tasks carried out by civil servants, including the number of hours spent on them, are not routinely recorded.

The purpose of the meeting on 26 February 2025 was to update myself and the Minister for Climate Action on the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements, the reform options being considered by UK Government, and the potential impact of those options for Scotland.

The briefing paper for this meeting, and list of attendees, including ministers, have already been released under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). It is standard procedure for names of officials to be redacted in all FOIs under Section 38(1)(b), due to protections around the sharing of Third Party Data, whereby personal data is exempt from disclosure if disclosure would contravene any of the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the UK GDPR and in section 34(1) of the DPA 2018.

Upon review of the FOI, section 29(1)(a) was not cited as a redaction used. Information has been redacted under 30(b)(i), however, was redacted due to it relating to the free and frank provision of advice. This exemption recognises the need for Ministers to have space within which to seek advice and views from officials before reaching a settled public position.

In line with usual practice, details of individual tasks carried out by civil servants, including the number of hours spent on them, are not routinely recorded.

NHS 24 have robust practices in place to ensure patient safety is paramount and that the appropriate procedures are in place for assessing risk.

Scottish Government monitor the performance of NHS 24 and regularly engage with the service to discuss performance related issues. Should NHS 24 feel that their ability to meet demand was presenting any risk to patient safety we would expect them to contact Scottish Government immediately in line with agreed processes.

This is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. The information requested is not held centrally.

Attraction, recruitment and retention are a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS). The Scottish Government Fire and Rescue Framework 2022 asks SFRS to actively strive to be an organisation that is more representative of the people and communities of Scotland that it serves.

All regulators of aquaculture in Scotland have a duty to consider biodiversity. Additionally, National Planning Framework 4 introduces requirements for fish farm developers to consider biodiversity enhancement within development proposals as far as is possible.

The Scottish Government’s Vision for sustainable aquaculture - gov.scot sets out a number of outcomes to be realised, including collaboration between the aquaculture sector and other stakeholders to protect and restore biodiversity in the freshwater and marine environments.

The scottish-biodiversity-delivery-plan-20242030.pdf contains specific actions focused on the protection and recovery of salmon and other migratory fish populations, such as implementation of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency sea lice risk assessment framework, and work through our Wild Salmon Strategy and accompanying Implementation Plan to improve habitats in the marine and freshwater environments which are crucial to sustaining and recovering the wild salmon population.

The Health and Safety of firefighters is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS). In recognition of the potential risks which could be caused by contaminants, it is SFRS policy for firefighters who are breastfeeding to not undertake any operational activity.

Recruitment and retention of firefighters is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

Scottish Government have had no recent discussions with the British Medical Association (BMA) regarding clinical risks associated with NHS 24 services.