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Parliament dissolved ahead of election

The Scottish Parliament is now dissolved ahead of the election on Thursday 7 May 2026.

During dissolution, there are no MSPs and no parliamentary business can take place.

For more information, please visit Election 2026

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Parliament research and fact sheets

Jude Payne Traineeship in Health and Social Care Policy

The Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) has created a unique traineeship in health and social care policy and research.

The traineeship is in memory of SPICe health and social care researcher Jude Payne.

The successful trainee will work with SPICe for 6 months and can expect:

  • a broad and rich experience of policy, research and scrutiny work
  • an opportunity to look deeper into an agreed topic
  • the chance to produce or contribute to at least one published output, such as a SPICe briefing or series of blog posts

We are not currently recruiting for this programme. Details will be posted here when the next recruitment phase launches. 


“The prestigious Jude Payne Traineeship is a fantastic opportunity for university graduates, and aspiring researchers, to gain unique experience in policy and research, and to fully understand the role of scrutiny work within Parliament. The friendly SPICe team have a wealth of experience in these areas and have been keen to pass their knowledge on to me.

"I have been provided many opportunities to contribute to a broad range of tasks and topics related to health, social care, and sport. I’m looking forward to diving deeper into topics of interest to me, including vaping, and food and nutrition, and will be collaborating with senior researchers to produce a briefing and a series of informative blogs on these current issues.

"I believe this traineeship will stand me in good stead for a career in policy and research, and the experiences will help me to stand out when seeking future employment.”

David Collins, Jude Payne trainee, 2023


For details on how we will process your personal data please refer to our Recruitment privacy notice.