We are investing over £190 million annually in the implementation of primary care multidisciplinary teams through the Primary Care Improvement Fund (PCIF) as well as additional funding for annual pay uplifts. The utilisation of PCIF funding held in reserve from the previous year to support in-year PCIF objectives is an approach we have now taken for a number of years. It is prudent to reinvest these public funds given the challenging financial context.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information

The Design Advisory Group (DAG) was working with Scottish Government to help develop plans for the Anti-Racism Observatory for Scotland. As the group was working independently, it took responsibility for minuting its own meetings.

We understand that due to some resourcing and capacity issues within the group, there has been a delay in finalising and publishing the minutes. However, the DAG, like the Scottish Government, is committed to transparency and accountability and will aim to publish the minutes by the end of March 2025.

The operating costs for the crèche over the last five years has been as follows –

2023/24        £108k

2022/23        Service closed

2021/22        Service closed

2020/21        Service closed

2019/20        £145k

The SPCB owns and operates five number flagpoles, and they are approximately 8.2 metres in height. There has been no general maintenance works needed to the flag poles in the last 15 years with the only cost for each being the annual LOLER inspection. LOLER stands for Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations and the flag poles are included within other inspections of the same type carried out across the parliament. The cost for LOLER inspection is included within the planned building maintenance contract and we do not hold information in a format which allows us to identify the flagpole inspections as an individual item. 

The total cost for maintenance of the lift system for the past four years including financial year 24-25 is as follows. For financial year 20/21 we do not hold information in a format that allows us to identify the costs of maintaining the lifts as it was included within a project capacity and therefore wouldn’t be accurate to what was spent solely on maintenance. All costs provided exclude VAT.

• 2024/25 - £30,411.89
• 2023/24 - £28,384.80
• 2022/23 - £25,012.17
• 2021/22 - £13,375.91

Christmas tree decorations are stored and delivered onsite by our service provider, with PAT testing costs covered by the contractor.

We can’t easily calculate an occupancy rate for the creche, as the overall capacity of the creche varies depending on the ages of the children using it and the required staffing ratios (i.e. 0-2 years requires 1 staff member to every 3 children, 2-3 years requires 1 staff member to every 5 children, 3-5 years requires 1 staff member to every 8 children). 

In terms of overall usage, in 2019/20 the creche had a total of 2759 bookings with average length of stay of 1hr 41mins. In 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23, the creche service was closed due to the pandemic and the time required to set up a new service contract. In 2023/24, the creche returned with reduced opening hours (now only operating 3 days per week, rather than 5 day per week). There were 894 bookings in 2023/24 with an average length of stay of 2hr 13mins. The number of bookings in 2023/24 only reflect 10 months of opening, as the service was still being mobilised for the first 2 months of the year.