Chamber and committees

All agricultural businesses that have employees are required to comply with the Agricultural Wages (Scotland) Order (AWO). The monitoring of compliance with the AWO takes the form of Control Test Inspection (CTIs). Each year, a selection of 120 businesses, encompassing employers and workplaces, are randomly selected from the information taken from the June Scottish Agricultural Census. In 2024, circa 8200 businesses were deemed to have employees covered by the AWO. In addition to CTIs, the Agricultural Wages Enforcement Team will investigate all businesses where employees have raised complaints.

There are currently 21 Scottish Government employees working as Agricultural Wage Inspectors. This role is conducted by Agricultural Officers who work for Rural Payments & Inspections Division and are responsible for other statutory functions in addition to agricultural wages inspections.

No independent contractors conduct the role of Agricultural Wages Inspector on behalf of the Scottish Government.

This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise. I have asked their Chief Executive, Adrian Gillespie, to contact you directly with a response.

The Creative Industries Leadership Group (CILG) has not been convened by The Scottish Government since its meeting on 8 June 2022. However, the Scottish Government carries out regular engagement with key stakeholders across the Creative Industries sector, including those involved with CILG, as part of the normal business of Government.

The Creative Industries Leadership Group (CILG) was paused pending the outcome of a strategic stakeholder review. This work will now be considered as part of the Scottish Government’s review of how the culture and creative industries sector can be best supported going forward as set out in PfG 2024-25.

This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise. I have asked their Chief Executive, Adrian Gillespie, to contact you directly with a response.

The Scottish Government has contracted provision for interpretation services (face-to-face, remote video and telephone). This provision can be used by the Agricultural Wages Enforcement Team under the interpreting, translation and transcription services framework should it be required.

The Teacher Induction Scheme guarantees every eligible student a one-year probationary placement, however it does not provide a guarantee of future employment with a particular local authority.

While local authorities are the direct employers of teachers, the Scottish Government continues to make available £145.5m to local authorities to protect teaching jobs.

In addition, I have also asked the Strategic Board for Teacher Education, which is made up of a range of key education stakeholders, to consider issues around the recruitment and retention of teachers in Scotland. This includes geographical issues as well as how we can increase diversity within the profession, and improve support for early career teachers.

Despite substantial investment, and the progress we have made in recruiting thousands of additional teachers since 2018, we recognise that more work is needed to ensure that our teachers have access to long term, sustainable, employment opportunities, regardless of which stage of their career they are at, and we will continue to work with COSLA to ensure this can happen.

Total number of Enforcement Notices issued by the Agricultural Wages Enforcement Team in each of the last 5 years:

2020: 16

2021: 0

2022: 3

2023: 8

2024: 13

Enforcement Notices (ENs) are issued as a result of non-compliance with AWET correspondence. If an underpayment has been identified as a result of a wages inspection or complaint, ENs are used if an Employer fails to fulfil a request for payment. These act as the end of deliberation between the Employer and AWET, and now form a legal requirement for the Employer to provide reimbursement to an Employee.

Any further objection to the contents of an EN may now only be challenged via Employment Tribunal or an agreed settlement.

The number of employers and the amount they deduct is not a statistic (figure) that the Scottish Government collects or has access to. The amount deducted is a contractual agreement between employer and employee and would only be investigated during a wages complaint or routine inspection if the amount deducted was more than the maximum allowed under the Agricultural Wages (Scotland) Order (AWO). The AWO does not differentiate between agricultural workers on the Seasonal Worker Visa scheme and other seasonal workers or permanent employees.