Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-34651

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 6 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much VisitScotland has spent on marketing in each of the last five years, broken down by expenditure (a) within and (b) outside Scotland.

The following table summarises VisitScotland’s paid media advertising spend in the UK and Republic of Ireland and international markets over the previous five financial years.

Year	UK&RoI	Rest of the World	Total
2018-19	£470,000	£2,103,218	£2,573,218
2019-20	£434,100	£1,591,927	£2,026,027
2020-21	£3,897,944	£1,051,547	£4,949,491
2021-22	£5,137,157	£7,456,266	£12,593,423
2022-23	£1,370,273	£1,381,859	£2,752,132
2023-24	£1,215,703	£1,229,650	£2,445,353

Please note:

Due to the way VisitScotland plans its budgets, it is not straightforward to segregate Scotland-only spend, so domestic (UK and Republic of Ireland) spend has been supplied.

2021-2022 includes additional funds allocated that year as part of the COVID-19 tourism recovery programme. The programme supported the delivery of 10 priority recovery projects, dedicated to initiatives over and above the scope of existing public agency funding. This accelerated recovery in the short term, whilst providing the foundation for a sustainable recovery of Scottish tourism in the medium to long term.

VisitScotland’s grant in aid and spend on activities per year is outlined in its annual performance report, which is published at https://www.visitscotland.org/about-us/annual-corporate-reports/annual-report

Question reference: S6W-34785

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 6 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have stopped receiving the enhanced mobility award of adult disability payment in 2024-25, broken down by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) quintile; how many (a) are and (b) are not in employment, and how many had been in receipt of the payment for (i) one to two, (ii) more than two to three and (iii) more than three years.

Social Security Scotland routinely publishes statistics on Adult Disability Payment caseload, broken down by mobility award level. However, it does not currently publish statistics on clients leaving the Adult Disability Payment caseload. It also does not currently publish statistics on Adult Disability Payment by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD). It also does not hold information on the employment status of clients as it is not necessary to collect information on a client’s employment to assess their application.

Adult Disability Payment provides financial support for adults with a disability or long-term health conditions and is available to applicants regardless of their employment status which is the same as Department for Work and Pensions’ Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

Social Security Scotland does not hold this information for clients who have been in receipt of Adult Disability Payment for one to two, and two to three years. Adult Disability Payment was introduced in March 2022; hence no clients have been in receipt of Adult Disability Payment for more than three years.

The latest Adult Disability Payment official statistics publication can be found at:

https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/publications/statistics. The next release of Adult Disability Payment statistics which will cover the period to the end of January 2025, is due to be published on 18 March 2025.

Question reference: S6W-34589

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 6 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made on delivering each of the recommendations of the Independent Review of Audiology Services in Scotland, in particular, recommendations 52, 53 and 54.

Valuable work has been undertaken to deliver against the recommendations made by the Independent Review of Audiology Services in Scotland.

In December 2024 work concluded to address all 55 of the recommendations, and each has now been completed or transitioned into ongoing workplans to see the remaining tasks through to completion.

A detailed report will be shared with Parliament in March 2025 outlining the rationale for this, including recommendations 52, 53 and 54, and confirming the timelines for the remaining actions to conclude.

Question reference: S6W-35196

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 6 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many new non-departmental public bodies, also known as quangos, have been created since 2007, and how many have been abolished.

The national public bodies directory contains a full list of non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) and shows their creation date. The national directory can be viewed at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-public-bodies-directory/pages/executive-non-departmental-public-bodies/.

Since 2007, the following public bodies have been established as NDPBs:

Care Inspectorate

Children’s Hearing Scotland

Community Justice Scotland

Creative Scotland

Ferguson Marine

First-tier Tribunal for Scotland

Historic Environment Scotland

Independent Living Fund Scotland

Judicial Appointments Board

National Smart Ticketing Advisory Board

Poverty and Inequality Commission

Redress Scotland

Scottish Canals

Scottish Commission on Social Security

Scottish Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel

Scottish Futures Trust

Scottish Land Commission

Scottish Legal Complaints Commission

Scottish National Investment Bank

Scottish Rail Holdings Ltd

Skills Development Scotland

South of Scotland Enterprise

Upper Tribunal for Scotland

Zero Waste Scotland

Since 2007, the following public bodies no longer operate as NDPBs, due to merger, abolishment, or reclassification:

Additional Support Needs Tribunals for Scotland

Advisory Committee on Sites of Special Scientific Interest

Building Standards Advisory Committee

Children’s Panel (x32)

Deer Commission for Scotland

Fisheries (Electricity) Committee

General Teaching Council for Scotland

Historic Environment Advisory Council for Scotland

Lands Tribunal for Scotland

Learning & Teaching Scotland

Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland

Police Complaints Commission for Scotland

Private Rented Housing Panel

Public Transport Users Committee for Scotland

Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland

Scottish Arts Council

Scottish Charity Appeals Panel

Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care

Scottish Industrial Development Advisory Board

Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee

Scottish Police Services Authority

Scottish Records Advisory Council

Scottish Screen

Scottish University for Industry

Question reference: S6W-35179

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 6 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the attrition rate of staff employed by the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service has been in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-35139

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 6 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) physician associate and (b) other medical associate profession students graduated in the 2023-24 academic year.

Question reference: S6W-35118

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 6 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the outcomes of the long COVID support service pilot that took place across Edinburgh in 2022-23, including whether it considers it to have been successful.

Question reference: S6W-35116

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 6 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the outcomes of the £10 million that it designated in 2023-24 to support people with long COVID, including how this was spent.

The Scottish Government’s £10 million long COVID Support Fund was announced in September 2021 and resource has been allocated from the fund from the financial year 2022-2023 onwards. The following table provides an overview of funding recipients from the start of the financial year 2022-23 to 28 February 2025. Allocations to NHS boards are made in tranches across the financial year to account for any slippage in programme delivery. It is anticipated that further allocations will be made to NHS boards from the fund before the end of this financial year, and in the financial year 2025-26.

The 2025-2026 budget outlines £7.586 million for the ‘Long Covid, ME, Chronic Fatigue and other similar conditions’ budget line. This represents a £4.5m uplift to the 2024-2025 long COVID budget line.

Organisation	Purpose	Funding allocated 2022-2023	Funding allocated 2023-2024	Funding allocated 2024-2025 (as of 28 Feb 2025)
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	Assist provision of healthcare support to people with long-term effects of COVID-19.	£131,288	£143,152	£131,288
NHS Borders		£35,509	£50,727	£38,319
NHS Dumfries and Galloway		£55,598	£55,598	£55,598
NHS Fife		£124,636	£124,636	124,636
NHS Forth Valley		£99,414	£133,896	£99,414
NHS Grampian		£178,393	£254,847	£178,393
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde		£416,618	£583,446	£416,618
NHS Highland		£83,749	£167,586	£117,310
NHS Lanarkshire		£320,007	£320,007	£224,005
NHS Lothian		£260,551	£378,412	£268,168
NHS Orkney		£14,716	£14,716	£10,301
NHS Shetland		£9,573	£9,573	£9,573
NHS Tayside		£194,620	£194,620	£138,330
NHS Western Isles		£19,988	£19,988	£13,992
NHS National Services Scotland	Operation of National Strategic Network for long COVID.	£101,498	£180,916	£126,641
NHS National Services Scotland	Procurement of C-19 YRS digital tool.	0	0	£124,781
NHS National Services Scotland	Clinical safety assessment of C-19 YRS digital tool.	0	£49,728	0
NHS National Services Scotland	Evaluation of data gathered through C-19 YRS digital tool.	0	£62,500	0
Smarts	Production and editing of NHS inform case study videos.	£5,112	£5,676
Progressive Partnership	Recruitment of participants for NHS inform user experience research and case study videos.	£9,450
Leith Agency	Development of creative brief and options for potential marketing campaign	£9,174
Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland	Integration of long COVID support application within Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland’s case management system.	£28,904
Covid Aid	Delivery of long COVID advertising and signposting activity, development of mobile phone application for Covid Aid Support Community, delivery of Covid Aid/ Let’s Get on With it Together (LGOWIT) Self-Management Programme, development of online support community for people with long COVID	£144,095
Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland	Delivery of long COVID Support Groups within Glasgow City and West Dunbartonshire Health and Social Care Partnership areas.	£13,345
Long Covid Scotland	Investment in systems and equipment required to widen organisation’s impact. Administrative capacity to support development of educational resources.	£25,000
Scottish Ballet	Delivery of the ‘Emerge’ programme.	£3,035
Scottish Opera	Expanding course capacity on the ‘Breathe Cycle II’ project.	£86,892
Thistle Foundation	Delivery of a ‘Good Conversations’ training programme for healthcare staff and expansion of national Self-Management and Rehabilitation programme.	£106,343
Total		£2,477,508	£2,750,024	£2,077,367

An analysis of Patient Reported Outcome Measure (PROM) data provided by 701 patients accessing NHS long COVID support showed they reported that they got somewhat better in symptoms and abilities over the first six months. Despite improvements, many reported that they still had major health issues compared to before having COVID.

The report notes that long COVID can be a fluctuating condition, meaning there is not necessarily a linear trend of improvement or deterioration in the symptom burden, functional disability, and overall health of patients. Therefore, care needs to be taken in drawing any conclusions changes in PROM scores, particularly when over a short space of time. The full report is accessible at NHS Scotland Service Evaluation of Long-COVID Services – Long COVID.

Question reference: S6W-34597

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 6 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether Scotland can only be an influential responsible artificial intellegence (AI) regulator if it succeeds in attracting people to, and growing, the domestic AI sector.

Although the regulation of AI as a technology is unfortunately reserved to Westminster, Scotland can and has indeed been taking action for years to influence the national and global development of AI in a responsible way that reflects Scottish values. The purpose of Scotland’s 2021 AI Strategy is to make Scotland a leader in the development and use of trustworthy, ethical and inclusive AI. The actions to deliver this vision include multiple, complementary interventions from education, with our foundational Living with AI course, supporting our business ecosystem, with the AI Playbook geared towards SMEs, and collaboration, through forums like the monthly public sector AI Taskforce and a strong public engagement programme led by the AI Alliance. Scotland’s position globally continues to be influential with Scotland being the first country to mandate a public sector AI Register and our unique Children and AI programme, which was featured in the brochure of last month’s AI Action Summit in Paris, the most important and selective global AI event since 2023 – and to which the Head of the Scottish AI Alliance was also invited. We engage closely with the UK Government to influence UK AI Policy, and internationally though membership of multilaterals such as the Disruptive and Emerging Technology Alliance (https://detalliance.com/).

Question reference: S6W-34598

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 6 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has taken any steps to make a cost-benefit analyses of potential measures available to it to promote the artificiak intellegence (AI)-related industry in Scotland.

Currently, a breakdown of spending returns on AI business support is not available as it is challenging to break down elements of work that are specific to AI and their impact as it is implicated in so many wider business impacts. However, recent research indicates that private equity investments were up by a third in 2024, with VC investment in Scotland rising by 14% in the last quarter of last year indicating a strong investment growth into AI in Scotland. We continue to work with enterprise agencies to identify where the Scottish economy is benefitting from AI and SE are soon to publish research on the economic opportunities for AI in Scotland.

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