Chamber and committees

The topic of Scottish independence was not discussed.

The First Minister recently met with Kathleen Jamie at Bute House to mark her term and thank her for her stellar work over the last three years as Scotland’s fourth modern Makar, as an ambassador for poetry, in Scotland and overseas.

The next National Makar will again be appointed by the First Minister. The Scottish Government is considering the process and will share more detail in the coming months.

This information is not held centrally.

The non-executive Whistleblowing Champion role has no operational involvement in cases, rather it is an assurance role which helps NHS boards comply with their responsibilities in relation to whistleblowing.

The Scottish Government has allocated £20,000 per annum to support the Makar since 2021.

The topic of Scottish independence was not discussed.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-29084 on 26 August 2024. 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 confirmed with David McAllister the current position on holding another independence referendum following the supreme court ruling on the subject.

For the purposes of this response we are interpreting “publicly owned bodies” to mean devolved public bodies. The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

The topic of Scottish independence was not discussed.

Based on the information available, since the implementation of the more stringent Fair Work First grant conditionality, requiring public sector grant recipients to pay their workers the real Living Wage and provide appropriate channels for effective voice, Fair Work First has been applied to over 2400 grants across the public sector, at a total value of over £2.5bn (between July 2023 and March 2024.)

A list of each and every organisation awarded public sector grant funding is not held centrally. However, further detail on the number and value of grants awarded by individual public bodies will be published by end September on the Fair and Inclusive Workplaces webpage:  Fair and inclusive workplaces - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Fair Work First in public procurement is distinct from the application of Fair Work First in grants. Each public body is accountable for its own decisions in relation to procurement, including when it is appropriate to include Fair Work requirements in tendering exercises.

The latest annual report on procurement activity in Scotland covering 2021-22 showed that 101 public bodies awarded a combined total of 1,645 regulated contracts containing a scored Fair Work criterion during the period. Based on information from 95 public bodies a combined total of 2,016 unique suppliers committed to paying the real Living Wage in the delivery of regulated contracts awarded.