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The Scottish Government continues to engage with the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) regularly on a range of issues. This has included SFC’s plans to implement changes to the Council’s approach to college funding allocations in response to requests from the sector, and their discussions with the sector on these changes. In my recent letter of guidance, I made it clear that we expect the SFC to consider the financial sustainability of individual institutions, and needs of learners, as part of any decisions around funding allocations.

Through the Colleges: Tripartite Alignment Group (comprising of Scottish Government, the SFC and Colleges Scotland) collaboration continues to work on identifying and implementing workable flexibilities to ease colleges’ financial pressures while ensuring accountability for public funds. For example, a revised process for the disposal of college assets has recently been implemented, where colleges can retain a higher amount of the sale proceeds.

A fresh set of priorities for the Group was agreed last year, and work is underway across those areas, namely diversification of funding into the sector, establishment of a new way to flexibly fund investment in Curriculum Transformation, and exploration of the breadth of delivery via colleges.

It is the Scottish Funding Council’s (SFC) responsibility to ensure the fair and equitable distribution of the funding across the college sector. SFC have confirmed no college will see a funding reduction in Academic Year 2025-26 when compared with 2024-25 and are engaging with affected colleges around mitigations that will help them adjust as changes in the funding allocation approach are implemented.

The Scottish Government is not currently looking into developing such a portal.

We make decisions about channels to best meet our communications objectives and to reach target audiences with important public messages. We regularly review the accessibility and availability of those channels to help inform our communications mix. Key announcements are published across a variety of communications channels, and there is no reliance on any one platform.

The Scottish Government does not collect specific information on temporary accommodation placements within hotels and guest houses. These are both captured under a broader ‘other’ category (via HL3 data collection).

Information is captured on Bed & Breakfast (B&B) temporary accommodation placements. The following table shows the number of children and young people that were placed in Bed & Breakfast (B&B) temporary accommodation at some point during each year from 2017-18 to 2023-24.

Data on temporary accommodation placements (HL3) is only available from 2017-18.

Children and young people are defined as when a household member is aged 24 and under.

The following table shows the number of children and young people placed in temporary accommodation in Edinburgh at some point during each year, and as a percentage of Scotland from 2017-18 to 2023-24.

Data on temporary accommodation placements (HL3) is only available from 2017-18.

Children and young people are defined as when a household member is aged 24 and under.

This grant was a single payment of £4,100. No further breakdown of costs was required.

Equality Law relating to equal opportunities is generally reserved under the Scotland Act 1999. It is for the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) - as the regulator of the Equality Act 2010 - to produce, review and update any technical guidance in relation to such matters.

We note that the EHRC are now reviewing their guidance following the Supreme Court's ruling on the definition of woman under the Equality Act 2010. The Scottish Government are taking time to consider any implications the Supreme Court’s ruling may have on our own guidance to ensure that it is compliant with the judgment and takes account of any updated guidance that will be provided by the EHRC in due course.

We remain committed to protecting everyone’s rights and will continue to work to ensure that our guidance is inclusive of all of Scotland’s communities. This includes using communication which is plain, clear and concise, both in language generally, and in published guidance, as far as the subject-matter allows.

To our knowledge, there are currently only two public bodies operating in Scotland which allow sex markers to be changed on official documents (HM Passport Office and the Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency). As both of these public bodies are reserved to the UK Parliament, it would not be within the devolved competence of the Scottish Government to mandate them to keep records of the number of documents changed annually.

The Scottish Government would not mandate any action for Scottish public sector organisations that is not legally required. It would be for respective public bodies to determine the best process for its staff and users. This includes matters relating to allowing sex markers to be changed and keeping records of the number of documents changed annually, with basic demographic information included.

However, we do expect all public sector organisations in Scotland to comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty, which is not a duty to achieve any particular results, but a duty to have “due regard” to the need to achieve the three goals of:

• eliminating eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation
• advancing equality of opportunity and;
• fostering good relations between different groups of people.

The Scottish Government Digital Identity Beta project contract was awarded to the successful supplier following a competitive tender via the Digital and Technology Services Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) where all suppliers listed on Lot 1 of the DPS were given the opportunity to respond to the tender. Prior to issuing the tender, a supplier day was held – invitations for this were issued via a PIN on the Public Contracts Scotland portal, therefore all suppliers registered on PCS could request to attend.

The UK’s international obligations, and domestic legislation which implements them, require that equal treatment is afforded to bidders from countries with which a relevant international agreement applies. This means that it would not be lawful to discriminate in favour of suppliers based in Scotland.

The Scottish Government renewed its annual membership of Stonewall’s Diversity Champions scheme for 2025 and therefore has no plans to withdraw.