Chamber and committees

Good cyber resilience is essential for delivering secure digital public services. Staying ahead of cyber criminals is an ongoing battle; as technologies evolve, so do their tactics. Public sector organisations are responsible for their own cyber resilience and security arrangements, and must continually adapt to these emerging threats. However, the Scottish Government does provide assistance to the public sector to strengthen their cyber resilience posture and address areas for improvement.

Through the implementation of The Strategic Framework for a Cyber Resilient Scotland and the Public Sector Cyber Resilience Framework, supported by the new central function of the Scottish Cyber Coordination Centre, the Scottish Government works with the public sector to help them to put in place robust security standards, controls and governance, maintain and regularly test incident response plans, train staff and learn lessons from past incidents.

Specifically, the Scottish Cyber Coordination Centre plays a key role in coordinating effective multi-agency response to incidents which impact on the public sector. In September 2024, the Scottish Government published the SC3 Strategic Plan which sets out the strategic objectives for the next three years. SC3 is working with the sector to progress towards these objectives:

1. Create a data-driven operation that can track and evaluate actionable security metrics for every public sector organisation in Scotland.

2. Ensure that public sector organisations remain informed regarding current and emerging risks and threats so that they are equipped and prepared to manage them.

3. Reduce the prevalence and remediation timescales of exposed and exploitable vulnerabilities across the public sector.

4. Increase the level of preparedness for cyber incidents across the public sector, such that all organisations have current and well tested response plans and that major national cyber incident response processes are robust and effective.

5. Ensure that appropriate standards and good practices for cyber and information security are defined, reviewed, adopted, and adhered to across the public sector.

The Scottish Hospice Leadership Group is comprised of the Chief Executives of most of the independent Scottish hospices and their key partners.

The group is not a Scottish Government body, however Scottish Government officials attend their meetings on a regular basis to discuss matters of mutual interest.

The Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health last met the Chair of the group on 18 September 2024 to discuss working towards establishing a longer term sustainable funding model.

The Scottish Government recognises the essential role that heritage has in shaping Scotland's identity, and the importance of protecting and caring for it in a sustainable way so current and future generations can enjoy and benefit from it.

Tartan is inextricably connected with Scotland, its history and its culture. With Tartan Day being a chance for people around the world to mark their connections to Scotland.

The Scottish Government is grateful for the work of Prickly Thistle in maintaining and innovating the craft of tartan weaving in the Highlands.

Local authorities are responsible for the development and delivery of flood protection schemes.

Five flood protection schemes were due to complete in 2024 and the relevant local authorities have advised that Millport Coastal, Upper Garnock and Stranraer are complete. Campbeltown and Hawick FPS are at an advanced stage and nearing completion.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all students with a disability, long term medical condition or additional support needs are able to access further and higher education and are fully supported throughout their studies.

Further Education

The Additional Support Needs for Learning Allowance is a non-income assessed allowance administered by individual colleges. It is intended to support students with disabilities or additional learning needs who are studying a course of Further Education and may have extra costs because of their disability.

Colleges, as part of their integral core funding via Scottish Funding Council, also receive the Access and Inclusion Fund. This supports the teaching and learning of students with additional support needs.

It is the responsibility of individual colleges to manage their student support budgets in a prudent and effective manner. The Scottish Funding Council has clear guidelines and processes in place to monitor colleges’ management of their student support funds, including the requirement for colleges to be audited, by external auditors, on their annual student support expenditure.

Higher Education

The Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) is a non-income assessed fund that is administered by Student Awards Agency Scotland. It is intended to support disabled students and those with additional learning needs who are studying a course of Higher Education and may have extra costs because of their disability.

As a bespoke fund, the amount a student is eligible to receive is based on their individual needs. Those awards are made based on comprehensive guidance prepared by Student Award Agency Scotland and shared with institutions on an annual basis, ensuring that there is a consistency of approach across the sector.

Scotland has hit the target of 6,000 public electric vehicle charge points two years early.

Since 2011 the Scottish Government has invested over £65 million in public electric vehicle charging. As a result of this early investment, and increasing private sector investment, Scotland has one of the most comprehensive public charging networks in the UK, and the latest UK Department for Transport statistics show that Scotland has the highest number of public charge points on a per head of population basis of any part of the UK, except London, and the most rapid charge points of any part of the UK.

I am pleased to announce that today we have published our draft Vision Implementation Plan. This draft plan identifies the actions required to deliver our ambitious Vision for public electric vehicle charging in Scotland, as well as a route map for delivering approximately 24,000 additional public electric vehicle charge points by 2030.

Meeting our ambitions will require concerted efforts from public and private bodies alike, and the draft Implementation Plan has been developed in consultation with the key stakeholders that share collective responsibility for delivering public electric vehicle charging in Scotland. The plan is being published alongside a consultation on its proposed actions, and I warmly welcome all responses to this consultation, which will strengthen the final Implementation Plan and route map to be published in 2025.

Today I am also pleased to announce a further £1.9 million has been awarded to Perth & Kinross and Angus Councils through our EV Infrastructure Fund. This additional funding will enable both local authorities to work in partnership with the private sector to deliver an additional 177 public electric vehicle charge points, with a particular focus on delivering infrastructure in rural communities, to ensure Scotland continues to lead the UK on public electric vehicle charging.

The funding announced in the draft Scottish Budget will develop an underused space at 252 Saracen Street, Possilpark, into a new Social Entrepreneurial Centre providing 379sqm of space for those from disadvantaged communities to meet, innovate and support new local and diverse social business.

The project will be delivered in partnership with Glasgow City Council and North Glasgow Homes supported with approximately £0.6m investment from Scottish Government, subject to the budget being approved by Parliament and final allocations being agreed by Ministers.

The Scottish Government recognises the huge value that the Belmont, and cultural cinema as a whole, bring to Scotland’s creative landscape. Cinemas like the Belmont are a vital source of cultural experience, community connection, learning, and wellbeing.

The Scottish Government has committed an additional £34m to culture budgets in 2025-26, and our aim is to provide a further £20m in 2026-2027, subject to usual parliamentary procedure. Amongst other activity, this will allow Creative Scotland to offer a comprehensive package of Multi-Year Funding to the largest ever number of cultural organisations across Scotland, ensuring that more people have access to cultural projects and venues, which will benefit their health and wellbeing as well as bringing enjoyment. Creative Scotland will now complete their due diligence, and will aim to notify the successful organisations in January.

While those funding decisions are for Creative Scotland, the Scottish Government is absolutely clear on the value of cultural cinema, and we will continue to engage with Screen Scotland and others to ensure that cultural cinema is protected for Scotland's audiences today and in the long term.

Since its closure in 2022, Screen Scotland has already provided £320,000 in funding to support the reopening of the Belmont cinema. This includes £60,000 to Aberdeen City Council to undertake feasibility and transition work, and £260,000 to Belmont Community Cinema Ltd. to support development of a business model, recruit key staff to support the reopening bid, and progress fundraising activity, amongst other key development work.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-31342 on 26 November 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.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.