Seòmar agus comataidhean

As set out in the letter dated 2 nd May to the Education Children and Young People Committee, the additional £46 million (£26 million for colleges and £20 million for universities) was identified as a necessary saving in Financial Year 2023-24. This is part of our wider duty to balance the budget and ensure fiscal sustainability. As you will know, the previous Cabinet Secretary also wrote to the Committee on 22 February confirming we have had to make difficult choices in meeting new pressures on the Education and Skills portfolio since the 2023-24 Budget announcement, including the recent agreement regarding teachers’ pay.

All data is provided by the Scottish Funding Council. Details are as follows:

(a) Uptake

A summary of enrolments for all courses in each of the academic years (AY) since 2019-20 is as follows:-

19-20 – 4,041 enrolments

20-21 – 7,056 enrolments

21-22 – 7,144 enrolments

(b) Type of learner

Data on type of learner is not complete due to reductions in reporting requirements during Covid for 2019-20 and due to limitations in Higher Education Statistics Authority (HESA) reporting which covers students studying for a qualification or credit at HE level only.

The data included below has been recorded in the HESA returns for 2020-21 and 2021-22, with the caveat that this is not a complete dataset.

The following table has been taken from HESA returns

Circular Economy Business Support, provided by Zero Waste Scotland, continues to provide support for textile businesses wishing to develop circular models. Scottish Enterprise also recently published its Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Guide , https://unlockingambition.scot/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Scottish-Entrepreneurial-Ecosystem-Guide-April-2023.pdf

which provides an overview of the range of support available to new and growing companies in Scotland including incubators, accelerators, specialist industry programmes, co-working spaces and networking organisations. This support is available to any early-stage innovative business.

The evidence gathered through the call for evidence will help inform future policy on how to reduce the use of single-use food containers and other single-use items in order to align, where we are able to do so and in a manner that contributes towards maintaining and advancing standards, with the EU Directive on single-use plastics and to tackle Scotland’s throwaway culture.

Social Security Scotland does not currently produce information relating to Change of Circumstances but we do routinely publish information about Adult Disability Payment, including processing times of new applications.

These statistics were most recently published in March 2023, covering up to end January 2023, and are available at:

Social Security Scotland - Social Security Scotland statistics: publications

The next publication, covering up to end April 2023, will be published on 13 June.

Social Security Scotland is committed to giving clients timely decisions, while allowing sufficient time to ensure the necessary information is in place to get decisions right the first time. Clients can advise us of a change of circumstance for a number of reasons, and if the change is relevant to their entitlement, a review would be carried out. Every case is individual and processing times will vary.

Scottish Government Ministers and officials meet regularly with a wide range of health professional stakeholder organisations, including the Scottish Academy of which the Faculty of Occupational Medicine are members.

Scottish Government Ministers and officials meet regularly with a wide range of stakeholders, including the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, to discuss areas of mutual interest.

The Short-Life Food Security and Supply Taskforce set out a number of short and long-term recommendations in its report and all of the immediate actions are either complete or substantially complete, including the establishment of a Food Security Unit, with other actions becoming legacy activity for it.

As the Food Security Unit becomes more established, the number of staff involved directly will vary depending on business needs. The Food Security Unit will work collaboratively with the wide range of teams across the Scottish Government that work on aspects of food security.

The Scottish Government is aware of the importance of protecting the welfare of fish at the time of slaughter and takes this very seriously.

We will carefully consider any recommendations made by the Animal Welfare Committee concerning the welfare of fish at the time of slaughter. However, due to a lack of clear communication from the UK Government, we do not yet have a timescale for when the report will be published.

Scottish Government Ministers and officials meet regularly with a wide range of stakeholders, including the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, to discuss areas of mutual interest.