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According to the Employee-Owned Business Census Scotland 2024, undertaken by Co-operative Development Scotland, there were a total of 286 employee-owned businesses operating in Scotland as of 31 March 2024. This represents a 47% increase since 2022. A new Economic Democracy Group has formed to drive growth in social enterprises, co-operative business and employee owned firms. The Group held its first meeting in April and will take stock of the journey to the 2030 target, examining what action may be required.

Scottish Development International (SDI) is the international arm of Scottish Enterprise (SE). The SDI teams in overseas offices are made up of staff employed by FCDO on behalf of Scottish Enterprise. The breakdown by location of these FCDO employed staff is included in the following table. There are also Scotland and London based staff working in the international arm of SE. SE's international teams based in Scotland currently employ 150 staff; and 8 in London.

The Scottish Government does not collect data on the scale of organised child sexual exploitation. External agencies such as Police Scotland, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and local authorities collect and record concerns and/or offences related to child sexual abuse and exploitation tailored to their statutory and operational responsibilities.

Social Security Scotland does not currently publish statistics on the number of people who receive more than one benefit from Social Security Scotland. Social Security Scotland recently published Official Statistics on the number of individual clients paid and in 2024-25, Social Security Scotland paid 962,525 individual clients (excluding clients in receipt of Carer’s Allowance Supplement).

Telecommunications policy, which includes mobile connectivity, is currently reserved to the UK Government. Whilst the Scottish Government has not conducted any analysis on the economic impacts of poor mobile connectivity, we do recognise the social and economic importance of high-quality and reliable mobile services, particularly for our rural and island areas. Through our Scottish 4G Infill (S4GI) programme, we have invested £28.75 million to deliver and activate 55 mobile masts in areas that previously had no coverage.

Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL) is a significant employer in Scotland and its operations at Falkirk and Larbert support a highly valuable supply chain. That is why the Scottish Government is working with the company to explore every possible option to retain bus manufacturing and safeguard employment.

Economic analysis undertaken by the Scottish Government in June 2025 suggests that the economic impact of closure of ADL’s sites in Larbert and Falkirk, including direct and indirect jobs, would be in the region of £30 to £50 million annually to the Scottish economy. Other analysis produced by Scottish Enterprise in May 2025 estimates the total annual economic impact as being £63 million before considering any reemployment impacts. This includes an estimate of the impact of employee spending (£8 million) which is not included within the Scottish Government estimates.

The Scottish Government has not issued any direct grants to Alexander Dennis since 2010. Grants issued to Alexander Dennis Ltd by Scottish Enterprise are an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise, who will be able to provide further information upon request.

We have no plans to change tax policy in Scotland to finance a Minimum Income Guarantee. As part of Scotland's Tax Strategy, the Scottish Government has committed to exploring the reforms needed to continue to deliver sustainable and growing tax revenues in the future.

The Scottish Government, both Ministers and officials, are in regular contact with Alexander Dennis. The First Minister and Deputy First Minister spoke with Alexander Dennis Ltd (ADL) and NFI Group on 25 May and met with them on 5 June. The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government spoke with ADL on 3 July.

We thank the independent Expert Group for their dedication and expertise in drawing together a proposal for a Minimum Income Guarantee in Scotland. We will take time to consider their recommendations and the research that was published alongside, in light of current fiscal context, and respond in due course.