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The number of full-time equivalent primary and secondary school teachers employed in publicly funded schools in Scotland in each of the last 10 years is available from Table 1.1d in the published Teacher census supplementary statistics, Teacher census supplementary statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

We committed to support the recruitment of at least 3,500 teachers, in addition to the 1,400 recruited during the pandemic, over the course of this Parliament. The 2022 teacher census total was 54,193 teachers, which indicates an increase of 1,946 from the baseline, as measured by the 2019 census.

We are also providing £145.5m to local authorities in the 2023/24 budget to protect increased teacher numbers.

My previous answer to S6W-18372 on 8 June 2023 provides the details on how the Scottish Government is engaging with various stakeholders, businesses, unions and employers on the matter of Zero Hours Contracts using our Fair Work policy to promote fairer work practices across the labour market in Scotland.

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 stark warning from the World Meteorological Organisation that global temperatures will temporarily breach 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming during the next five years means that we will experience increased intensity and frequency of heatwaves, flooding, wildfires, supply chain disruption and storm events here in Scotland. This underlines why it is more important than ever that we take lasting action to secure a net zero and climate resilient future in a way that is fair and just for everyone.

We are making progress on reducing our domestic emissions through delivery of our updated Climate Change Plan. The latest data show our emissions are down by over 50% since the 1990 baseline, over halfway to net zero. The hardest part of the journey is ahead of us, as we need to halve our emissions again by 2030, and we can only achieve this through collaboration. The Scottish Government is currently in the process of developing our next draft Climate Change Plan on emissions reduction, alongside three sectoral Just Transition Plans, on Transport, Buildings and Construction, and Land Use and Agriculture. We will also be taking account of consultation responses to revise the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan to deliver a just transition to net zero in the energy sector.

Alongside this, we are continuing to deliver over 170 policies and proposals in the current Scottish Climate Change Adaptation Programme, the Scottish Government is also now developing the next programme. Public consultation is anticipated for the start of 2024 with the aim of publishing a final statutory programme in Autumn 2024. While progress is being made, we acknowledge that more needs to be done.

Scotland cannot act with credibility here at home if we are blind to the fact that the impacts of climate change and a transition to net zero are not felt equally – that those who have done the least to contribute to the climate crisis are impacted first and worse by it. Developed countries like Scotland have a moral responsibility to support developing countries to help secure a global transition in a way that is fair and just. Through the Climate Justice Fund, Scottish Government will meet this responsibility through continuing to lead international advocacy for climate justice and action on loss and damage.

The Scottish Government provide annual funding to Energy Saving Trust (EST) who are an independent organisation working to address the climate emergency. EST then deliver the EV infrastructure fund on behalf of Scottish Ministers.

EST publish stats on their website which cover the number of chargepoints installed in Local Authority areas across Scotland and the total amount of funding paid per financial year, the link can be found here - Domestic chargepoint funding - Energy Saving Trust .

The specific information you have requested can be found in the following tables:

Domestic Chargepoints funded in Island locations based on postcode data:

Due to the impact of COVID-19, there is currently a delay of up to four months in allocating some complaints to a complaints reviewer at the Scottish Public Service Ombudsman (SPSO). The SPSO have put in place and are applying a number of measures to reduce the age and number of unallocated cases, and ensure urgent cases are identified and actioned. The SPSO has also received funding from the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body to recruit extra temporary staff in order to assist with the backlog. This delay has reduced from 11 months in 2022 and will continue to drop thanks to extra capacity and positive improvements in how the SPSO deliver their service which should mitigate any impact this may have on public services.

The current Leadership group of the Scottish AI Alliance is made up as follows –

Chair:

Catriona Campbell, Client Technology & Innovation Officer, EY UK&I (appointed as Chair - March 2023, appointed as Leadership Group member May 2021)

Senior Responsible Officers for Alliance partners:

Tom Wilkinson, Chief Data Officer, Scottish Government

Brian Hills, CEO, The Data Lab

Leadership Group Members:

Leadership Group Recruitment Process Details

The Leadership Group was recruited by a public application process, initially in April/May 2021. Four Leadership Group members stepped down at the end of their initial 2 year term in March 2023 whereas the remaining 7 members extended their tenure for another term. Four new Leadership Group members were appointed in March 2023. The application window for the most recent recruitment process was open from 7 November 2022 to 19 January 2023. We advised that we sought representation from a range of sectors and backgrounds, and would welcome perspectives from within Scotland and beyond. Four positions on the group were advertised and we received thirty two applications.

The assessment panel consisted of –

• Gillian Docherty OBE, CCO University of Strathclyde and inaugural Chair of the Scottish AI Alliance
• Tom Wilkinson, Chief Data Officer, Scottish Government
• Jeremy Darot, Head of AI, Scottish Government
• Steph Wright, Head of Scottish AI Alliance, The Data Lab

Nine of the thirty two applications were regarded as of a suitable high level to move to the next stage and these were considered by the panel in a review meeting on 26 th January, where the final recommendations were made. Given the level of consensus on the appointments it was agreed that no further assessment was required and the successful candidates were offered the posts.

Chair Recruitment

Due to the inaugural Chair, Gillian Docherty OBE, indicating that she will step down from the role at the end of her two year term in March 2023, the Alliance began discussions around about potential chair candidates in October 2022. They identified a shortlist of people to approach.

In January 2023 there were a number of informal interviews with the shortlisted candidates, and the unanimous decision of the panel was that Catriona Campbell was the most suitable candidate. She accepted the role and was announced in post on 28 th March 2023 by then Minister Ivan McKee at the Scottish AI Summit 2023.

The Community Bus fund will support local transport authorities to improve local public transport in their areas. The Scottish Government continues to work with ATCO and COSLA in developing the Community Bus Fund. The 2023-24 budget allocates £0.75 million in resource, and £5 million in capital for the fund.

The cost for the Scottish AI Playbook build to date has been £17,820 including VAT.

The action was carried out and completed as part of the first 100 Days of the AI Strategy.

As reported in the 2021-22 State of AI Report we shared the following –

Capability Directory

The Scottish AI Alliance connected with ScotlandIS regarding their existing Data Capabilities Directory back during the First 100 Days. The Directory was recently refreshed. Another update took place in Autumn and the Support Circle team worked with the ScotlandIS team to ensure that AI capabilities are incorporated sufficiently into the directory. The Directory was also actively promoted by the Scottish AI Alliance to the AI community across Scotland and has been added to the Scotland’s AI Strategy website as a resource. Investigations of future format of the directory have started and there is potential for it to be incorporated in a larger piece of work in collaboration with the Scottish Tech Ecosystem Review (STER) and Digital Strategy teams at Scottish Government.

We will continue to monitor and contribute to this work as required.

Scottish Enterprise are in the process of commissioning a landscape review of AI businesses in Scotland. The database gathered by the review will be incorporated into the Scottish AI Playbook in due course. The review is currently being finalised and will be released in the coming weeks.