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The salary and pay range of a Chief Executive should be within the pay bands in the Scottish Chief Executive Framework (as detailed in the Chief Executive Pay Policy). This is to ensure consistency and fairness between the remuneration of Chief Executives in public bodies covered by the Pay Policy, and senior staff employed in Scottish Government Agencies and associated departments, who are civil servants (and members of the Senior Civil Service).

For local government employees, pay and other employment matters are delegated to local authorities. The Scottish Government and COSLA have committed to respect this arrangement as part of the Verity House Agreement.

For Senior Civil Servants, pay is reserved.

The Scottish Police Authority Budget has not decreased. We have increased police funding year-on-year since 2016-17, investing more than £14.6 billion since the creation of Police Scotland in 2013. This includes a record £1.64 billion investment in policing in 2025-26, an increase of £90 million compared to 2024-25.

In addition, £3 million has been made available to Police Scotland to enable it to work in partnership with the Retail Industry Leadership Group, to help tackle retail crime. We recognise that this issue costs businesses millions of pounds each year, and has a knock-on effect on the prices we pay in the shops.

Local authorities are responsible for the recruitment and deployment of teaching staff. We are providing £186.5 million to local authorities this year as part of an agreement with COSLA to restore teacher numbers to 2023 levels and will continue to support them to maximise the number of jobs available in certain subjects, including Computing Science / STEM.

Our Teaching Bursary Scheme provides a £20,000 bursary to career changers wishing to undertake a one year Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) in the hardest to fill teaching subjects, including Computing Science / STEM.

We are working with Scottish Teachers Advancing Computing Science (STACS) to consider wider initiatives to promote teaching as a valued career choice for computing students, and support a pilot programme with Aberdeen University to enable students with relevant HND qualifications, including in computing fields, to convert to teaching.

We have also asked Strategic Board for Teacher Education to develop advice on how to encourage more people into teaching, particularly in subjects that are challenging to fill.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-37115 on 6 May 2025. 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.

More than £1bn will be provided through the Attainment Scotland Fund (ASF) to tackle the poverty-related attainment gap during this parliamentary term. This funding can be used to provide additional tutoring support, if headteachers and education authorities want to deploy this support in a way that targets those who will most benefit from this kind of intervention.

The Scottish Government has provided multi-year funding for mentoring programmes, which has been shown to support confidence building and attainment in care-experienced children and young people and those affected by poverty. In March 2021, the Scottish Government announced a £19.4 million fund over five years for mentoring programmes to support young people as part of the Scottish Mentoring and Leadership Programme (SMLP), including funding for MCR Pathways to further rollout provision across Scotland to a much larger cohort of young people.

An interim evaluation report on the SMLP programme published in December 2024 found that mentoring had increased participant’s academic confidence, attainment/achievement, social confidence, and confidence in doing well at a job in the future. A Value for Money and Impact Evaluation report is due to be published in 2025. Previous independent evaluation of the MCR Pathways mentoring programme showed that there were statistically significant positive differences between the outcomes of care-experienced young people who were mentored and care-experienced young people who were not mentored, in staying on rates, attainment, and positive destinations.

More than £1bn will be provided through the Attainment Scotland Fund (ASF) to tackle the poverty-related attainment gap during this parliamentary term. Headteachers and education authorities are free to decide to use this funding to provide additional tutoring support.

Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all young people have the opportunity to develop core STEM skills and knowledge, which is why tackling inequity within STEM learning and careers is at the heart of our STEM Education and Training Strategy. Through the Curriculum Improvement Cycle, we have established a systematic approach to curriculum improvement which will help to ensure that STEM subjects are attractive and accessible to all learners.

Specialist STEM programmes for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds are currently being delivered across Scotland. These include SSERC’s Research Placements Programme, funded by a range of partners, which provides S5 pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds the opportunity to undertake online modules to develop their professional skills, followed by a two-week STEM research placement.

In addition, Strathclyde University run an Engineering Scholars Programme open to senior phase pupils from under-represented groups who are interested in studying Engineering at university. The opportunity includes a scholarship package featuring personal or small group tutoring.

The Scottish Government ensures accountability and transparency in the governance of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) through the SPS Framework Document which was updated and published last year (2024). This includes the Chief Executive’s direct accountability to Scottish Ministers, financial and performance monitoring, ministerial oversight, and the role of the Portfolio Accountable Officer in overseeing the operational and financial performance of SPS.

The HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland (HMIPS) plays a key role in holding SPS to account by reporting on prison conditions and the treatment of prisoners, with recommendations for improvement that must be considered and implemented by the SPS where required.

The mental health and wellbeing of children and young people is a top priority for the Scottish Government.

We continue to provide £16 million per year to enable local authorities to support access to school counselling services for pupils aged 10 and over. Local authorities provide annual reports to the Scottish Government which show the overall picture on improving children and young people’s outcomes is positive. Whilst the reports do not focus specifically on capturing data on school absences, local authorities may hold this information.

The Scottish Government publishes national data on attendance annually through the Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland.

It is the primary duty of Integration Joint Boards (IJB’s) to strategically plan the delivery of integrated adult health and social care provision in a local authority area. This duty will include the gathering of information regarding the impact of local decision making. Therefore, the Scottish Government does not collect or hold this information centrally.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

Any death of an individual whilst is the care of SPS is a tragedy, irrespective of the cause. All deaths in custody are reported to the Procurator Fiscal and Fatal Accident Inquiries (FAI) are held in due course. Information on deaths in custody can be found on the SPS Website.

The number of deaths in custody over the past five calendar years is shown in the following table: