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Scottish Income Tax is forecast to raise a record £20.5 billion in 2025-26 with the latest SFC forecast showing a positive contribution to the 2025-26 Scottish Budget of £616 million. This is additional revenue raised to support our investment in public services.

Scotland’s tax base continues to grow strongly, with the SFC forecasting higher average earnings growth in Scotland over the next five years compared to the OBR’s outlook for the UK.

The Scottish Government is working across the economy to maximise opportunities that prioritise economic growth, using our limited devolved powers.

Scotland’s economy remains one of the best performing parts of the UK with GDP per person in Scotland growing by 10.3%, compared to 6.1% in the UK and productivity has grown at an average rate of 1.1% per year compared to the UK average of 0.4% since 2007.

The Scottish Government published its National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET) in 2022, setting out a ten year transformation plan with the objective of creating a fair, green and growing economy. This year’s Programme for Government places economic growth and working to create business opportunities, sustainable fair work, higher wages, more housing and better infrastructure, at the forefront.

However, our limited powers mean we also require decisive action from the UK Government to counter the damaging economic impacts of Brexit and the employers national insurance increases, and tackle the economic uncertainty currently being felt by business.

The Scottish Government has no formal role in Local Government pay negotiations, although we recognise workers’ desire for an agreement to be reached between COSLA – as the employer – and trade unions as soon as possible. I have engaged closely with Cllr Katie Hagmann, COSLA’s Resources Spokesperson, to agree additional support available from the Scottish Government. This allowed COSLA to make a fair and affordable multi-year offer on 12 June which will now be considered by members of all three SJC unions.

Local authorities have responsibility for the delivery of education, which includes ensuring all employees receive adequate training.

In August, we published our action plan on relationships and behaviour in schools, jointly with COSLA. This includes a specific action on empowering staff through provision of relevant professional learning to support relationships and behaviour approaches and practice and to respond to emerging trends in behaviour.

Our Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research (BISSR) 2023 highlighted a number of barriers faced by support staff in accessing training. Support staff themselves requested appropriate training in order to support them in their roles. To further support school staff, as part of our response to BISSR we provided £900,000 for local councils to aid training of support staff respond to the new challenges in our schools, post-Covid.

Education Scotland has a national professional learning framework to help pupil support staff access and engage in their own professional development. This includes a range of professional learning relating to relationships and behaviour in schools. The national framework can be accessed at Pupil support staff framework | Self-directed professional learning | Professional Learning | Education Scotland. A Pupil Support Staff induction resource will also be published for the next academic session, aligned with the PSS professional learning framework.

Education Scotland’s Inclusion, Wellbeing and Equalities professional learning framework offers a range of resources to support relational approaches at the Informed level of the Relationships theme. The learning can be accessed at Inclusion, wellbeing and equalities framework | Leading professional learning | Professional Learning | Education Scotland.

VAT is a reserved matter and outwith the responsibility of the Scottish Government. This includes decisions on the interaction between VAT and the visitor levy. The Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act allows for local authorities to make the levy not payable by accommodation which has an annual turnover below the VAT threshold. This in effect, exempts small businesses from the visitor levy.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Whilst the Scottish Government publish data on both Recorded Crime in Scotland and Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, these are based on distinct and unlinked data sets and it is not possible to directly compare them.

New information will be published later this year as part of delivering Section 15 of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021, which requires an annual report to parliament on the characteristics of hate crime in Scotland. This will include the total number of hate crimes recorded by Police Scotland in 2024-25, and the number that were cleared up (i.e. where there exists a sufficiency of evidence under Scots law to justify consideration of criminal proceedings).

In addition to the above, the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal service have also published Hate crime in Scotland, 2024-25.This provides details on hate crime-related charges reported to COPFS in Scotland, including decisions on how those charges will proceed (such as to Court proceedings, direct measures, no action etc.)

In line with its statutory responsibilities, the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has oversight of the Tertiary Quality Enhancement Framework, with responsibility for ensuring that all the component parts work effectively and coherently to provide assurance on academic standards and the quality of the student experience.

This information is not held centrally. Public Health Scotland publish information on participation (contact with an NHS dentist) and this can be found at:

NHS dental data monitoring report - Quarter ending March 2025 - NHS dental data monitoring report - Publications - Public Health Scotland

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has continued to monitor and assess the financial health (sustainability and viability) of universities, including Edinburgh, through regular engagement and analysis of financial returns, which universities are required to submit to SFC each academic year. SFC also considers universities’ individual circumstances and exposure to risk, capacity to respond to financial challenges and other relevant available information.

Financial sustainability of universities is a condition of grant set out in SFC’s Financial Memorandum with universities. As autonomous institutions, universities are responsible for their own strategic and operational decision making, and are required to notify SFC if they identify material risks to their financial viability or sustainability.

As the Care Inspectorate is an independent non-departmental public body, it operates at arm’s length from Government. Therefore, it is for the Care Inspectorate, not the Scottish Government, to decide which organisations they work with.