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The Scottish AI Playbook is a “one stop shop” for anyone in Scotland embarking on a journey involving AI whether it’s learning, using, developing, deploying or just exploring. It is a shared and living asset, embodying Scotland’s AI Strategy ethos of openness, transparency and collaboration. With this in mind, the Scottish Government has focused on the development of meaningful partnerships within the Playbook to support and demonstrate wider impact.

To date, the Playbook has established partnerships with CyberScotland, Fintech Scotland, the Institution of Engineering and Technology, Jisc National Centre for AI in Tertiary Education and Scotland’s Futures Forum. A further five partnerships are currently in the development phase.

Further collaborative opportunities are in development, namely through the creation of Playbook hubs. The first of these hubs currently in development is focused on Data and AI in the Healthcare space. As part of the development of this hub, a quantitative approach to measuring impact will be initiated, through namely through Google Analytics integration into the Scottish AI Playbook MediaWiki platform.

The Scottish Government also understands that impact can be both felt and measured qualitatively, in the feedback and experiences of Playbook users. With this in mind, the next phase of Playbook development also includes a period of user consultation and feedback in order to measure experiential impact. This will be subject to resourcing and budgetary considerations, as it is recognised that measuring impact in this way, while highly valuable and beneficial, is resource intensive.

While the impact of the Scottish AI Playbook either is or will be measured in several different ways, it is noted that an overarching approach to impact and impact measurement is currently in development by the Scottish AI Alliance. Once this impact measurement approach and associated framework is in hand, it is likely to have an effect on the way in which the impact of the Scottish AI Playbook is measured.

Marine Scotland has referred a total of 148 cases of breaches of marine and fisheries offences between 2010 and June 2023. We do not have data for 2019 due to a system change.

The following table details the number of referrals by year.

The Scottish AI Alliance is a partnership between The Data Lab and the Scottish Government and is led by a Minister-appointed Chair and overseen by Senior Responsible Officers from The Data Lab (CEO) and the Scottish Government (CDO).

The team consists of 4 Scottish Government Civil Servants and five individuals who are based at the Data Lab, Scotland’s innovation centre for data and AI, which is administratively hosted by the University of Edinburgh.

An annual grant is paid to the University to cover the cost of staffing and activities carried out by the Data Lab team, including the delivery of the annual Scottish AI Summit, – the cost of this is as follows –

2021-22 - £265,000.00 – Grant awarded via Scottish Funding Council

2022-23 - £505,593.15 – Grant awarded directly by Scottish Government Digital Directorate

This is therefore all public funding and there is no private funding of the Alliance.

During the creation of the Scottish AI Strategy, the Scottish Government worked closely with colleagues across the SG and further afield, to ensure that we move forward in a joined up manner. We have continued to offer input to the development of related strategies both internally and nationally.

For example, as part of the development of the Digital strategy we specifically focused on the ethical considerations key to delivery of an ethical digital nation, and we worked more widely to consider how the emerging use of AI could help us deliver more focused and effective public services and economic benefit as part of the Scottish National Strategy for Economic Transformation. We have also both contributed to and taken direction from the Scottish Innovation Strategy. We have considered the types of support required by innovative and new businesses, whilst also supporting training and upskilling opportunities for those working in the technology sector.

In terms of UK wide developments we have engaged closely with UK Government colleagues around the creation of their draft white paper and we will continue to input to this discussion as the regulation of AI technologies continue.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-16495 on 14 April 2023. 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

The Scottish Government has recently engaged with Councils regarding Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete, including through the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland and Scottish Heads of Property Services networks. The Scottish Government has had no direct contact with COSLA on this issue. Safety in public buildings is a matter for the owner and we expect them to provide a safe environment for all users.

The Scottish Government (SG) has not identified any reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in the Core SG Estate. As such no funding has been requested or made available. The SG Core Estate is defined as those sites/buildings where SG Directorates operate from.

The Scottish Government (SG) has not identified any reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in its owned core SG Estate, as such no estimate for fixing have been made. The SG Core Estate is defined as those sites/buildings where SG Directorates operate from.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken an inspection for reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in the Core SG Estate since 2021. A specialist has been appointed to develop a scope for inspection surveys. The Core Estate is defined as those sites/buildings where SG Directorates operate from.

Scottish Government Ministers and officials meet regularly with a wide range of stakeholders, including the Scottish Academy Trainee Doctors' Group, to discuss areas of mutual interest.