Chamber and committees

The Framework for Tax has since been superseded by our commitment in last year’s Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) to develop our strategic approach to tax as part of this year’s MTFS publication. This will be published for public consultation with the MTFS in spring 2024.

Management of the Post Office is a reserved matter for the UK Government, and the Scottish Government has no role in the investigation of miscarriages of justice, which is a matter for the independent Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission.

Issues regarding the Post Office’s Horizon IT system were in the public domain from 2009.

The first record the Scottish Government has of any official or minister being made directly aware of any concerns regarding the Post Office’s Horizon IT system, is in an email from a member of the public dated 23 January 2020 addressed to the then First Minister. This email related to calls for a Public Inquiry into the Horizon IT system, a matter which is reserved and falls into the responsibility of the UK Government.

The Scottish Government was first formally made aware of concerns regarding the Post Office’s Horizon IT system by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) on 2 July 2020, at quarterly sponsorship meeting with Scottish Government officials.

Following this, on 29 September 2020 the then Cabinet Secretary for Justice was made aware by officials in the Scottish Government that the SCCRC intended to write out to 73 people with criminal convictions potentially affected by issues arising from the Post Office’s Horizon computer system, and encouraging all those who may have suffered a miscarriage of justice to make contact with it.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

SPS does not operate minimum prison officer staffing requirements. SPS has agreed prison officer staffing complements which are tailored to the needs of each establishment and agreed in partnership with the Prison Officers Association (Scotland).

SPS workforce data is produced monthly after the conclusion of the previous month, the most up to date data available is as follows:

On 2 February 2023, SPS had 70.9 prison officer vacancies (a 2.2% vacancy rate) across the prison estate.

On 2 February 2024, SPS had 59 prison officer vacancies (a 1.8% vacancy rate) across the prison estate.

The Scottish Government home education guidance sets out the legal position on home education and provides advice on the roles and responsibilities of local authorities and parents in relation to children who are home educated.

This guidance is currently in the process of being updated following consultation with local authorities, other public, community and voluntary sector bodies and home educators and their relevant representative bodies. Scottish Government will engage further with stakeholders part of this process and we expect the publication of the refreshed home education guidance to be later this year. Officials will ensure that stakeholders and the public will be notified of the publication date.

Statistics from the ONS Low Carbon and Renewable Energy Economy (LCREE) survey provide estimates of renewable employment statistics in Scotland. No data is available to provide additional geographic breakdowns below the Scotland level at present.

As the following table shows, the estimated number of direct jobs in renewable electricity was 9,200 in 2021, up from 5,600 in 2017.

I wrote to the Ardrossan Task Force on the 27 November 2023 to advise that the business case and cost review exercise for the Ardrossan Harbour project is currently being progressed. Transport Scotland and our project partners continue to make progress in the development of the business case and the updated cost estimate reviews with additional information expected in February. Once the business case review has been compiled, a meeting of the taskforce can be arranged, allowing the outcomes of the business case and cost exercise to be shared.

According to OECD data, the UK’s tax revenue, as a share of GDP, was 35.3% in 2022, the latest year for which internationally comparable data is available. This is broadly in line with the OECD average of 34.0%.

No directly comparable estimate is available for Scotland. However, the latest Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) report suggests that Scotland’s tax to GDP ratio was similar to the UK’s in 2022-23, and so would also be broadly in line with the OECD average.

In the devolved context such measures need to be interpreted with caution as some taxes remain reserved.

Officials are moving at pace, with the rest of the UK to bring forward the correct mechanisms to ban Single Use Vapes. As this is an area of devolved competence, decisions on whether to act in this area rest with the respective Governments in each part of the UK.

I wrote to the NZET committee on the 26th of January informing them that the Scottish Government intend to bring forward Scottish regulations under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to enact a ban on the sale and supply of single-use vapes in Scotland. In doing so, we will conduct a full impact assessment which, depending on its outcome in relation to the impact on different groups or communities, may require consideration of limited exemptions to a ban.

We will continue to work with UK Government and other Devolved Governments as we develop this legislation and will engage with Parliament as appropriate and necessary during this process.

The provision of free high quality professional learning opportunities for educators in Scotland to improve support and identification for learners with dyslexia and literacy difficulties has, and continues to be an important focus area. Therefore, when the increased numbers of high quality of applications for the 2023-24 programme were received it was felt that the numbers should increase accordingly, to ensure all applications which met the entry criteria, were offered a place.

As planned, the programme capacity has increased each year. The contributing factors are the support and leadership of Dyslexia Scotland and Education Scotland and the programme’s alumni. The ongoing commitment of the programme’s alumni who choose to take part provides valuable support to the programme delivery.

All applications received for the current 2023-24 Dyslexia and Inclusive Practice GTCS Professional Recognition Programme that met the required entry criteria, were given a place. The number of places on the current programme were increased to meet demand.