Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-35803 on 2 April 2025. 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 does not hold this information centrally. A survey on Stoma Care Services was undertaken in early 2024 that gathered information from individual Health Boards, however, due to the passage of time, this will no longer reflect current data.

The IT staff in the Agriculture and Rural Economy Directorate (including those in Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA)) are involved in a range of digital activities from maintaining and supporting current services to developing the future services.

In addition to rural payments systems, we maintain and rely on other IT systems such as the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS), Estate Management Database (EMA), Drawing Office, Plant Health, Livestock Inspection System (LIS). These systems collectively assure eligibility for payments, support of inspections, responding to legislative requirements and supporting corporate systems.

ARE IT/Digital services and the data within them support a range of other government departments, functions and agencies including NatureScot, Forestry, Estates Management, Plant Health and Livestock Inspections meaning our IT / Digital services support a wider range of stakeholders.

IT staff in the Scottish Government’s Agriculture and Rural Economy Directorate (ARE) are members of the Government Digital and Data Profession covering an array of professional IT roles.

Many of these IT systems also rely on aspects of the shared Scottish Government IT infrastructure supported by other SG IT staff. The staff supporting these corporate systems are not included in the following table.

Due to the flexible deployment of IT staff based on skills and knowledge to where they provide the greatest benefit at a point in time aligned with priorities it is not possible to separately identify the staff costs solely associated with rural payments IT systems.

The salary cost (including overtime) of all directly employed IT staff in ARE for the four years 2021-2025 is as follows:

The Scottish Government’s Agriculture and Rural Economy (ARE) Directorate relies on several IT systems, integrations and infrastructure to conduct its business with appropriate cyber security and supporting applications to protect and operate these systems and infrastructure effectively.

In addition to rural payment systems, we maintain and rely on a number of other IT systems such as the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS), Estate Management Database (EMA), Drawing Office, Plant Health, Livestock Inspection System (LIS). These systems collectively assure eligibility for payments, support of inspections, responding to legislative requirements and supporting corporate systems.

ARE IT/Digital services and the data within them support a range of other government departments, functions and agencies including NatureScot, Forestry, Estates Management, Plant Health and Livestock Inspections meaning our IT/Digital services support a wider range of stakeholders.

The IT costs are those costs (not including the Scottish Government’s employees) required to operate and maintain the reliability and resilience of rural payments and are made up of many aspects such as recurring maintenance charges for software and hardware, licence charges, major upgrades in infrastructure that are needed from time to time, and charges under the Maintenance and Modernisation service contracts which includes the cost of service providers. It is also essential that we continue to make proportionate investment in our cyber capabilities to protect these systems and customers’ data. There is an on-going programme of modernising or decommissioning of older IT systems to reduce costs and obtain the efficiencies possible from more modern technology. The costs do not include those associated with the design and development of completely new services.

Many of these IT systems also rely on the Scottish Government’s Shared IT infrastructure and services that are maintained as a common service to deliver economies of scale. These costs are not included in the following table.

Due to sharing of common services and the integration of IT systems, it is not possible to separately identify the cost elements that relate specifically to rural payments systems from the overall cost for all systems.

Legislation does not currently allow for variations to section 37 consents. Therefore, it has not been possible for the Scottish Government to receive such requests.

The proposed reforms mirror section 36C of the Electricity Act 1989 which makes provision for the Scottish Ministers to vary section 36 consents for construction, operation and extension of generating stations.

It is not possible to determine the internal Scottish Government costs attributed to staff time spent on the Heat in Buildings Bill proposals or the Heat in Buildings Strategy. Scottish Government officials operate flexibly across a range of policies and programmes according to the specific requirements of their work at any given time. They do not, as a matter of course, record the proportion of their time spent working on different matters.

The Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) supports the Scottish Government, local authorities and other public bodies to fulfil their legal obligations to promote and protect the human rights of children and young people. The SYP is the democratic voice of Scotland’s young people. Their vision for Scotland is of a nation that actively listens to and values the meaningful participation of its young people. Their goal is to make this vision a reality, in order to ensure young people in Scotland grow up loved, safe and respected, and able to realise their full potential.

The Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) do not publish or hold an electoral register. However, SYP work with all 32 local authorities and 9 National Voluntary Organisations as Election Partners to run the SYP Elections. All young people who are aged between 14 and 25 who also live, work or study in Scotland, are eligible to stand for election, and all young people 12-25 are eligible to vote via election partners online with the SYP Election Rules and Procedures.

The total number of counted votes cast in the last elections was 33,608.

The Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) supports the Scottish Government, local authorities and other public bodies to fulfil their legal obligations to promote and protect the human rights of children and young people. The SYP is the democratic voice of Scotland’s young people. Their vision for Scotland is of a nation that actively listens to and values the meaningful participation of its young people. Their goal is to make this vision a reality, in order to ensure young people in Scotland grow up loved, safe and respected, and able to realise their full potential.

The Scottish Government engages with a range of organisations when making policy decisions. This ensures policies are representative, and rooted in collaboration, delivery and outcomes.

It is therefore not possible to directly attribute and quantify influence on decisions to any one organisation.

However, it is important to acknowledge that over the years, the Scottish Youth Parliament’s (SYP) campaigning work has contributed to a number of changes to public policy, including:

Votes at 16 in Scottish elections

Equal Marriage

Protection of children from assault

Provision of counselling services in secondary schools

Incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into domestic law

Free bus travel for under 21s

Alongside the Children’s Parliament, the SYP plays a key role in the annual Cabinet and Executive Takeover meetings. First launched in 2014, these meetings with the Scottish Cabinet, and more latterly with the Scottish Government Executive Team, bring together decision makers at the highest level of government and children and young people. At each meeting the children and young people highlight and discuss their Calls to Action: tangible commitments to be taken forward by the Scottish Government.

A report from 2023 providing information on how the SYP’s contribution at earlier meetings has influenced policy can be found here: Children and young people's voices matter: progress report - March 2023 - gov.scot.

The Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) supports the Scottish Government, local authorities and other public bodies to fulfil their legal obligations to promote and protect the human rights of children and young people. The SYP is the democratic voice of Scotland’s young people. Their vision for Scotland is of a nation that actively listens to and values the meaningful participation of its young people. Their goal is to make this vision a reality, in order to ensure young people in Scotland grow up loved, safe and respected, and able to realise their full potential.

This PQ was submitted along with another 10 all regarding the SYP.

The Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) have their annual accounts published on the Companies House website. These provide a breakdown of money received from the Scottish Government from 2020 – 24.

SCOTTISH YOUTH PARLIAMENT filing history - Find and update company information - GOV.UK

The 2024-25 annual accounts will be available on the Companies House website in due course, following the end of the financial year. However, as these are currently not available, the Scottish Government currently expects to provide SYP with funding totalling £430,339.68 in 2024-25 (subject to relevant financial controls).

As part of Scottish Government’s grant conditions, all funded organisations are required to monitor and report their progress towards delivery of their funding outcomes to ensure appropriate use of public funds and value for money.

Since the Children, Young People, Families Early Intervention and Adult Learning and Empowering Communities (CYPFEI & ALEC) third sector fund was launched in 2016, the Scottish Government has provided SYP with £1.7 million in core funding. The breakdown of this funding over the last five years is as follows: 2020-21 - £324,188; 2021-22 - £324,188; 2022-23 - £341,250; 2023-24 - £341,250; 2024-25 - £341,250 (included in the total above).

Most recent information suggests SYP is on track to meet the agreed outcomes by the end of 2024-25. The CYPFEI & ALEC fund is administered by the Corra Foundation. Corra has indicated, through their annual formal grant review processes and monitoring, that SYP has demonstrated good progress towards their agreed objectives on an annual basis. I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-35662 on 2 April 2025 for further information on Corra’s feedback. 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.

High quality, accessible and affordable early learning and school age childcare is critical to keeping children in Scotland out of poverty. That is why we continue prioritise investment of around £1 billion per year in delivering funded ELC to all eligible children, despite the significant financial challenges facing the Scottish Government as a result of budget choices made at Westminster.