Chamber and committees

As part of our Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), the Scottish Government encourages NHS employers to support the development of staff networks for all nine protected characteristics.
However, as individual employers, Boards are responsible for upholding their obligations under the PSED. Staff networks are just one way in which staff under the protected characteristic of sex are supported, including through the development of equality policy, training, and guidance.

Reducing health inequalities and supporting people to live longer, healthy and fulfilling lives remains a clear ambition for this Government.

Health inequalities in Scotland have widened in recent years in part due to the impact of austerity, Brexit, COVID and the subsequent cost-of-living crisis.

In order to tackle this mounting challenge, Scottish Government and COSLA, in collaboration with our wider partners, are developing a Population Health Framework to take a cross-government and cross-sector approach to improve the key building blocks of health.

These include: good early years and education; good work and income; healthy places; and equitable health care. Its purpose is to accelerate the recovery and improvement of population health in Scotland with a focus on whole system preventative action.

The Scottish Budget for 2025-26 sets out wide-ranging investment to continue supporting people with the cost of living and deliver progress on our national mission to eradicate child poverty, including:

• £768m to boost delivery of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme,
• up to £90m for the delivery of devolved employability services,
• continuing to invest around £1bn per year in delivering 1,140 hours of funded ELC to all eligible children, and
• committing more than £6.9bn for benefits expenditure including the Scottish Child Payment, almost £1.3bn more than the UK Government gives to the Scottish Government for Social Security.

In terms of planned care waiting times specifically, we are undertaking an Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) as part of the refreshed NHSScotland waiting times guidance: November 2023, which will be published later this year.

The development of the EQIA has been informed by the public sector equality duty which requires the Scottish Government to pay due regard to the need to meet its obligations under the Equality Act 2010 when developing new and revised policies.

The EQIA will evaluate how the updated NHSScotland waiting times guidance may affect different segments of the population both positively and negatively, considering the protected characteristics of age, disability, gender reassignment, sex, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, and sexual orientation.

Concurrently, our Women’s Health Plan, published in August 2021, aims to reduce health inequalities and improve health outcomes for girls and women across their life course. We recognise women are disproportionately affected by gynaecology waiting times, and timely access to gynaecology services will be a priority as we continue to develop our Women’s Health Plan.

The Scottish Government has published independent analysis on the Energy System and Just Transition and it is available online at https://www.gov.scot/publications/energy-system-transition-independent-analysis.

The analysis suggests potential growth sectors include wind, Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage and hydrogen and this is reflected in the Green Industrial Strategy which was published in September 2024. This Strategy’s mission is to ensure that Scotland realises the maximum possible economic benefit from the opportunities created by the global transition to net zero. In particular, with the right focus, support, investment and partnerships, Scottish businesses and workers can innovate, capture new markets, create new jobs and diversify the workforce during the energy transition.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-36119 on 10 April 2025, EY’s independent forecasts set out their estimates of future GVA growth across different parts of the UK and different sectors of the economy. 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.

EY’s independent forecasts set out their estimates of future GVA growth across different parts of the UK. They forecast that Aberdeen’s GVA will grow on average 0.9% per annum between 2025 and 2028. The pace of growth in the region is largely expected to be impacted by their assessment of the long term decline in North Sea oil production and its impact on growth in the UK mining and quarrying sector.

The Scottish Government continues to support a just transition for Aberdeen and North East Scotland through the Aberdeen City Region Deal and Just Transition Fund (JTF). Through the Deal we are providing up to £125 million over 10 years to strengthen and diversify the regional economy. JTF is another 10 year programme supporting projects and communities to create jobs, support innovation and secure a highly skilled workforce. From this, £75 million has been allocated to date.

This is in addition to our recently completed Energy Transition Fund, protecting jobs, skills and knowledge in the region while supporting the creation of new jobs. Meanwhile, Aberdeen City has also benefited from £12.9 million Scottish Government regeneration investment since 2014. It will additionally benefit from our £400,000 commitment to support Our Union Street over 2024-25 and 2025-26.

All while we continue working with regional partners and UK Government to support the North East Scotland Investment Zone. This will include funding of up to £160 million over 10 years and the ability of the region to benefit from 100% retention of non-domestic rates. It will give partners the opportunity to invest in regeneration and infrastructure to support further growth within the Investment Zone.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the Food and Drink Sector and that is why we fund the delivery of the Industry led Food and Drink strategy – Sustaining Scotland, Supplying the World, and before that the Food & Drink Sector Recovery Plan which sought to mitigate the challenges that Brexit and the Pandemic brought on the Sector. The strategy outlines the sector’s aims and ambitions over the next 10 years, setting out a range of activities in a number of areas to move the dial on food and drink sector growth in Scotland.

The following table outlines the funding provided to Scotland Food & Drink since 2020-21 and the purpose of that funding.

Following the FMAC review last year it is apparent that the structure and membership of the group was making co-management ineffective and the FMAC group has therefore been split. The new structure will still allow industry, environmental and other groups to contribute to policy development and delivery, and the different groups can engage together on an ad-hoc basis as needed to exchange views. This will still enable co-management to take place and will help different groups to engage productively, even though not all voices will be in the same room.

There are no staff in the Scottish Government that hold either the Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) or Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP) qualification.

Scotland’s Fisheries Management Strategy 2020-2030 Delivery Plan update was published on 20 March 2025 and can be accessed via this link: Scotland's Fisheries Management Strategy 2020-2030 Delivery Plan.

Assessing fisheries stock health and management is a complex issue and there are many metrics against which sustainability can be evaluated. The sustainability reports published by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture (CEFAS) cover stocks across the UK. However, the most relevant evaluation for fish stocks within Scottish waters is the Sustainable Fishing Indicator (SFI), which is published by the Scottish Government as part of the National Performance Framework.

Whilst the Cefas report covers all UK waters, the SFI is specific to the sustainability status of commercial fish and shellfish stocks present in Scottish waters. Additionally, while both reports take into account stock biomass, they consider fisheries management in different ways. The Cefas report defines a complex list of management criteria, and stocks must pass all of these in order to be considered sustainable. The SFI looks at actual fishing pressure, and instead of using a pass/fail approach, it provides a sliding scale for how sustainable fishing levels are in the real world. We consider this to be best way to assess how sustainable fishing is in reality in Scotland.

The SFI shows that the sustainability status of stocks in Scottish waters has increased through time, from 39% in 1995 to 73% in 2023. This positive trend is reflective of improved fisheries management and more responsible fishing practices, and is particularly notable during a period when warming in Scottish waters might be expected to be reducing stocks.

It is important to work within environmental limits, managing sustainably to support future generations and safeguarding the diversity of the marine ecosystem. The Scottish Government takes this responsibility seriously, and our approach to fisheries management is underpinned by the best available scientific information.

This is an important principle when it comes to setting annual catch limits for fish stocks. These are agreed with Coastal State partners through a series of annual negotiations, with the Scottish Government playing an active part in the UK delegation. Throughout the negotiations, Scotland fully supports following the scientific advice and setting fishing opportunities that are consistent with the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) approach wherever appropriate. However, setting an MSY-based catch limit is not always possible, and it is sometimes more appropriate, for the stock and for fishing industries, to set a TAC above or below the headline scientific advice.

For both 2024 and 2025, catch limits for 33 out of the 41 key Scottish stocks were set at or below the headline scientific advice and/or the MSY level. Scientists from Scotland and from our neighbouring Coastal States provided advice to managers throughout the negotiations, and the best available evidence was used as the basis for decisions.