Modern software subscriptions are usually multi-year deals to spread cost and maximise the return on investment. Most agreements include elements of support and integration costs. As the Scottish Government has over 400 validated instances of software, to extract annual costs for every software subscription or agreement could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Complying with this request would breach the upper cost limit of £600 due to the analysis of significant amounts of data split by supplier and type in a 5-year period between 2019 and 2024.

However, working within the upper cost limit, we are providing details of spend on major elements of software to provide illustrative costs of delivering shared services for the Scottish Government and 50+ public bodies. Please note that the annual figures provided may be averaged over the length of the contract and may also include bundled support and integration costs.

A wide range of public bodies and infrastructure providers have compulsory purchase powers, which can be used to support the delivery of projects in the public interest. Bodies with compulsory purchase powers are known as ‘acquiring authorities’. As set out in Circular 6/2011: Compulsory purchase orders,https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-planning-series-planning-circular-6-2011-compulsory-purchase-orders/, acquiring authorities are expected – where practicable – to seek to acquire land by agreement before making a compulsory purchase order (CPO). In this context, it is not possible to predict how many CPOs will be made over the next twenty years.

The Scottish Government has a centrally-managed contract with Office Papers to supply newspapers on an ad-hoc rather than subscription basis. The contract allows for newspapers to be bought according to requirement and cancelled when not required, for example during Parliamentary recess.

On software subscriptions, the SG's IT Division, iTECS make use of tools such as our IT Service Management Tool and our Information Asset Tracker for monitoring software assets and purchases, which provides visibility into licence usage to manage compliance efficiently.

iTECS has an appointed licensing office whose role is to manage licencing, including taking regular audits of software and software usage to ensure compliance and value for money.

Software that is inadequately licenced, or out of vendor support, is removed from our network as its presence jeopardises our Cyber Essentials and other security accreditations we maintain.

Our central finance team also undertakes an annual exercise to track the continued usage of software assets to ensure that spend is current.

As explained in the answers to questions S6W-33501 and S6W-33502 on 28 January 2025, decisions on professional memberships, including assessing whether they deliver value for money, are made by senior staff in Directorates, Divisions and Departments. 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.

From April 2019 to March 2024, the total number of hospital admissions in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary hospital for pedestrians injured in collisions involving pedal cycles, is 9.

During the same period, less than 5 hospital admissions were recorded for pedestrians injured in collisions involving two- or three-wheeled motor vehicles. The source is SMR01, Public Health Scotland, extract: January 2025.

The Scottish Government has a centrally-managed contract with Office Papers to supply newspapers on an ad-hoc rather than subscription basis. The guidance on spending on newspapers allows for current awareness; to help identify and monitor local and regional issues and to support policy and operational delivery.

For software subscriptions, the Scottish Government uses robust contract management procedures in relation to the procurement of licensing for software subscriptions, procuring through national public sector procurement frameworks to ensure transparency, quality and value for money. Criteria will vary depending on business needs, costs and value.

In relation to the Scottish Government's policies or guidance in relation to spend on professional membership subscriptions, we have published guidance. The key points are that any professional membership the Scottish Government supports must be a) directly relevant to the person's current job, b) of relevant value to the SG, and c) further the person's continuous professional development. The funds and decisions on professional memberships are held by local senior managers, not centrally.

Number of hospital admissions of pedestrians injured is shown in the following table. The source is SMR01, Public Health Scotland, extract: January 2025.

The total cost of gas and electric for Core Scottish Government buildings broken down by building type is:-

The Scottish Government's use of official cars aligns with its environmental and sustainability targets through a focus on reducing emissions and promoting low-carbon transportation solutions. This includes key initiatives including the transition to low-emission and zero emission vehicles.

We have commissioned external evaluations to understand how the Whole Family Wellbeing Funding (WFWF) Programme is delivering on its purpose to enable the local transformational system change necessary to ensure that families are able to access holistic whole family support wrapped around their needs. Recognising that system change takes time, the Programme has identified a range of early, intermediate and long term outcomes. The experience of children, young people and families are covered in a range of intermediate outcomes which the evaluation of Years 3 and 4 will focus on.

In the Year 1 evaluation (2022-23) (https://www.gov.scot/publications/whole-family-wellbeing-funding-wfwf-year-1-process-evaluation-final-report/pages/2/ ) IFF Research (our external evaluator), interviewed 12 children and young people, along with 18 parents and carers about their experiences with whole family support. As the WFWF programme had only just begun, the evaluation’s focus was largely on how CSPPs were setting up their WFWF activity. These interviews highlighted some valuable insights from children and families at a very early stage of the programme. Children and young people described being involved in activities to support the design of family support services and expressed appreciation towards trustworthy and friendly practitioners. Parents and carers explained how some initial activities they had done as an entire family they as part of the support they received had helped strengthen bonds between members.

During the Year 2 evaluation (2023-24), IFF continued to speak with children, young people and families about the relevance of, accessibility, timeliness, satisfaction with, process for providing feedback on, and outcomes of family support. Additionally, young people with experience of family support were invited to participate in a ‘Young People’s Panel’ to directly contribute to the design, delivery, and outputs of the Year 2 evaluation. This evaluation report will include the experiences of children and families who have benefited from the enhanced family support provided through the WFWF programme. We intend to publish the results of our evaluation in due course.

In addition the link to a case study on East Lothians’ Families Together programme gives some insight into experiences through WFWF : https://stories.celcis.org/families-together-programme/

The results and key findings report from the 2023 Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) were published at 9:30am on Tuesday 28 January 2025 and will be available on the SHCS homepage at: Scottish House Condition Survey - gov.scot.

A 12 month calendar of forthcoming official statistical publications is available in spreadsheet format at Official statistics: forthcoming publications - gov.scot.