Chamber and committees

Statistics on the employment of primary school teachers who completed the Teacher Induction Scheme in the 2018-19 to 2023-24 cohorts are available from the teacher census supplementary statistics tables, here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/teacher-census-supplementary-statistics/

These statistics show the employment status of teachers as at the annual September teacher census.

The Scottish Government has continued to engage with UK Government regarding university collaborations with Chinese state-linked institutions. Whilst national security is reserved to the UK Government, we expect universities to comply with relevant legal requirements, including the National Security Act 2023, and National Security and Investment Act 2021.

The Scottish Government expects Scottish universities, as autonomous bodies, to consider and manage the reputational, ethical and security risks associated with international partnerships, and conduct appropriate due diligence.

MV Glen Sannox has consumed 683m3 of marine diesel and 369 metric tonnes of LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) since she entered service. This has involved sixteen separate LNG deliveries by road tankers.

All Scottish Government grants are managed in line with the terms of the relevant grant offer letter and the Scottish Public Finance Manual.

The Scottish Government expects Scottish universities, as autonomous bodies, to carefully consider and manage the reputational, ethical and security risks associated with pursuing joint research ventures within global academic networks. Alliances that universities form within these networks are a matter for them and their governing bodies, as long as they are within the law.

As part of this, we expect universities to carefully consider advice and existing guidance on international partnership risk management from bodies like Universities UK and the UK Government’s Research Collaboration Advice Team.

Additionally, the Universities should conduct due diligence in relation to national security, which is a matter reserved to the UK Government, and compliance comply with relevant legal requirements, such as the National Security Act 2023 and National Security and Investment Act 2021.

The Scottish Government is clear that abuse, violence, including gender based violence, and harassment of any kind, will not be tolerated in our schools. Misogynistic behaviour was identified as an emerging concern in the 2023 Behaviour in Schools Research, and we are taking forward a range of actions to tackle it.

In 2024, we published a national framework for schools to help tackle sexual harassment and gender-based violence. It was developed by a working group, jointly chaired by Scottish Government, Rape Crisis Scotland, and Zero Tolerance. The framework provides guidance on how schools can address the underlying causes of gender-based violence, particularly gender inequality, and ensure appropriate action is taken in response to specific incidents.

Our Equally Safe Delivery Plan builds a robust and joined up approach to the prevention of violence against women and girls across all education settings in Scotland. In addition, we provide funding to Education Scotland to deliver the Mentors in Violence Prevention programme which engages young people to consider different forms of violence, including negative attitudes and behaviours to help them understand and speak out against gender-based violence, bullying, abusive and violent behaviour, as well as being able to safely challenge the negative societal attitudes and assumptions which underpin this behaviour.

No One Left Behind is the approach to devolved employability support between Scottish and Local Government, which empowers Local Employability Partnerships to lead the design and delivery of services in each Local Authority area. These services are influenced by local need, and guided by co-produced national products in areas that require consistency, such as the Employability Service Standards, the Customer Charter, and the Shared Measurement Framework. Local Authorities may supplement funding provided through No One Left Behind with resources from other sources.

The Scottish Government collects and publishes experimental statistics on outcomes linked to the No One Left Behind strategic approach. These include the cumulative number of participants supported into employment, and the number of individuals who have sustained employment for defined time periods. The most recent statistics for Scottish Government funded employability support are available at: Scotland's Devolved Employment Services statistics - gov.scot.

The Scottish Government does not currently publish estimates of costs per sustained employment outcome for No One Left Behind at either Scotland or Local Authority level.

My officials met with the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), an agency of the UK Government, on 5 February 2025. Topics discussed included actions being taken to alleviate driving test waiting times and issues surrounding the use of bots to book and upsell driving tests to learners.

These issues are unacceptable and I welcome the actions announced on 23 April 2025 by the Department for Transport’s Secretary of State, Heidi Alexander MP to rectify the situation.

My officials met with officials from DVSA again on 6 May 2025 to discuss further the actions announced, and will be meeting with them quarterly going forward.

The Scottish Government is absolutely committed to expanding the beaver population across Scotland for the benefit of biodiversity, in line with Scotland’s Beaver Strategy.

Whilst we welcome the Glen Affric beaver translocation proposal, it is clear, that there remain concerns about the proposal among the local community.

NatureScot will therefore undertake some additional engagement to ensure the concerns around impact of beavers on land and fisheries managers has been fully explored ahead of any licensing decision. This process is in line with the Scottish Code for Conservation Translocations in seeking to ensure there are acceptable mitigations in place.

We understand that there may be frustration around the timeframe for this licencing decision, but with proposals such as this we have to ensure the best chance of success for wildlife living alongside the people and communities most affected.

Formal teacher vacancy data has not been collected or published since 2010 following the results of a user consultation on proposals to cease a number of education data collections in order to minimise the response burden on schools and local authorities.

Informal teacher vacancy data was collected from local authorities between 2016 and 2019 for the purpose of informing annual teacher workforce planning. This data collection was stopped in 2020 to reduce the burden on schools and local authorities during the pandemic, and due to concerns about the effectiveness of the data in informing the teacher workforce planning process.

Current teacher vacancy information is available from individual local authorities or at www.myjobscotland.gov.uk.