Chamber and committees

The national public bodies directory contains a full list of non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) and shows their creation date. The national directory can be viewed at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-public-bodies-directory/pages/executive-non-departmental-public-bodies/.

Since 2007, the following public bodies have been established as NDPBs:

Care Inspectorate

Children’s Hearing Scotland

Community Justice Scotland

Creative Scotland

Ferguson Marine

First-tier Tribunal for Scotland

Historic Environment Scotland

Independent Living Fund Scotland

Judicial Appointments Board

National Smart Ticketing Advisory Board

Poverty and Inequality Commission

Redress Scotland

Scottish Canals

Scottish Commission on Social Security

Scottish Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel

Scottish Futures Trust

Scottish Land Commission

Scottish Legal Complaints Commission

Scottish National Investment Bank

Scottish Rail Holdings Ltd

Skills Development Scotland

South of Scotland Enterprise

Upper Tribunal for Scotland

Zero Waste Scotland

Since 2007, the following public bodies no longer operate as NDPBs, due to merger, abolishment, or reclassification:

Additional Support Needs Tribunals for Scotland

Advisory Committee on Sites of Special Scientific Interest

Building Standards Advisory Committee

Children’s Panel (x32)

Deer Commission for Scotland

Fisheries (Electricity) Committee

General Teaching Council for Scotland

Historic Environment Advisory Council for Scotland

Lands Tribunal for Scotland

Learning & Teaching Scotland

Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland

Police Complaints Commission for Scotland

Private Rented Housing Panel

Public Transport Users Committee for Scotland

Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland

Scottish Arts Council

Scottish Charity Appeals Panel

Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care

Scottish Industrial Development Advisory Board

Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee

Scottish Police Services Authority

Scottish Records Advisory Council

Scottish Screen

Scottish University for Industry

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who reply in writing within 20 days.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Information on the outcomes of the long COVID pilot project undertaken by Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland, Pogo Digital Healthcare and NHS Lothian is not held centrally. This is a matter for those organisations.

The Scottish Government’s £10 million long COVID Support Fund was announced in September 2021 and resource has been allocated from the fund from the financial year 2022-2023 onwards. The following table provides an overview of funding recipients from the start of the financial year 2022-23 to 28 February 2025. Allocations to NHS boards are made in tranches across the financial year to account for any slippage in programme delivery. It is anticipated that further allocations will be made to NHS boards from the fund before the end of this financial year, and in the financial year 2025-26.

The 2025-2026 budget outlines £7.586 million for the ‘Long Covid, ME, Chronic Fatigue and other similar conditions’ budget line. This represents a £4.5m uplift to the 2024-2025 long COVID budget line.

Although the regulation of AI as a technology is unfortunately reserved to Westminster, Scotland can and has indeed been taking action for years to influence the national and global development of AI in a responsible way that reflects Scottish values. The purpose of Scotland’s 2021 AI Strategy is to make Scotland a leader in the development and use of trustworthy, ethical and inclusive AI. The actions to deliver this vision include multiple, complementary interventions from education, with our foundational Living with AI course, supporting our business ecosystem, with the AI Playbook geared towards SMEs, and collaboration, through forums like the monthly public sector AI Taskforce and a strong public engagement programme led by the AI Alliance. Scotland’s position globally continues to be influential with Scotland being the first country to mandate a public sector AI Register and our unique Children and AI programme, which was featured in the brochure of last month’s AI Action Summit in Paris, the most important and selective global AI event since 2023 – and to which the Head of the Scottish AI Alliance was also invited. We engage closely with the UK Government to influence UK AI Policy, and internationally though membership of multilaterals such as the Disruptive and Emerging Technology Alliance (https://detalliance.com/).

Currently, a breakdown of spending returns on AI business support is not available as it is challenging to break down elements of work that are specific to AI and their impact as it is implicated in so many wider business impacts. However, recent research indicates that private equity investments were up by a third in 2024, with VC investment in Scotland rising by 14% in the last quarter of last year indicating a strong investment growth into AI in Scotland. We continue to work with enterprise agencies to identify where the Scottish economy is benefitting from AI and SE are soon to publish research on the economic opportunities for AI in Scotland.

The Scottish Government are supportive of SaxaVord Spaceport and their efforts toward reaching their first launch, which is currently understood to be later this year. This milestone will contribute significantly to Scotland’s launch ambitions and deliver end-to-end capability for the sector in Scotland.

The Scottish Government maintain regular contact with Saxavord Spaceport, however, as a private enterprise, the spaceport is responsible for managing its own communications and disclosures.

The Scottish Government continues to identify opportunities to remove unnecessary duplication across the public bodies landscape.

In July 2024, public bodies were asked to provide information to identify opportunities for delivering services in alternative ways and to increase efficiencies across corporate functions. A report of the findings from this commission was published on 15 November 2024, and can be found at Public Bodies Expenditure: Supplementary Report of Data Commission - gov.scot.

A key strand of the Public Service Reform (PSR) programme is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our public services for the people of Scotland. As part of this, we continue to engage with public bodies to progress the programme and deliver long term fiscal sustainability.

VisitScotland fees paid to influencers 2020 – 2024.

Please note:

• Lower spend in 2020 and 2021 was due to COVID-19 related travel restrictions.
• Lower spend in 2024 was due to in-year return of marketing budget and pause on marketing.
• Increased spend in 2022 was due to the growing impact of influencers on travel and booking habits and the opportunity to reach new audiences at a critical point in the recovery from COVID-19.

To evaluate influencer partnerships, VisitScotland review content performance such as view rates, comments and sentiment, shares, saves and other metrics.

VisitScotland’s Net Economic Impact (NEI) assessment looks at the incremental influence and impact of marketing activities on visitor spend. This is reviewed annually and reported in VisitScotland’s annual performance report. In 2023-24 VisitScotland’s holistic consumer marketing activities resulted in an NEI of £56.7m.