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There is a package of national and local support available to assist schools in planning how to use their Pupil Equity Funding (PEF). Local authorities issue specific complementary guidance and headteachers can use their professional judgement to identify children in their school who may benefit from targeted interventions. Headteachers must develop a clear rationale for their use of PEF and plans must be grounded in evidence of what is known to be effective at raising attainment.

The eCommerce Shared Service provides a joined up suite of procurement tools to drive excellence, consistency and best practice within public procurement. The tools include the Public Contracts Scotland advertising portal (PCS mandated for all public bodies in advertising procurements £50k and over), PCS-Tender, PECOS P2P, PECOS Content management (PCM), eInvoicing. All or elements of the Service are used by all Scottish public bodies to enable and support their end to end procurement processes.

The eCommerce Shared Service is promoted via established stakeholder groups and at various events to represent and endorse the Service to public bodies. Appendix 1 shows the number of public bodies that currently use the Service.

Spending decisions on IT Systems and Consultancies is a matter for public bodies, however the eCommerce Shared Service works with public bodies to promote and drive uptake of these systems.

Appendix 1

A report on public bodies data, including spend on different corporate functions in 2022-23, will be published on 15 November 2024 on the Scottish Government website, but this does not include the total amount spent by public bodies on IT systems and consultancy services specifically relating to procurement and finance systems. This is a matter for individual public bodies and is not held centrally. Whilst we do not hold this data we do monitor use of the eCommerce systems across the Scottish public sector and identify opportunities to promote and implement the tools available as part of the eCommerce Shared Service.

Ofqual regulates qualifications, examinations and assessments in England. It’s findings relate to the SQA Level 1 Health and Safety in a Construction Environment qualification delivered in England which was withdrawn by SQA in April 2019.

SQA is an executive Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB), established under the Education (Scotland) Act 1996. As a NDPB, SQA is responsible for making its own operational decisions. The undertaking by the SQA to Ofqual is a matter for Ofqual. The Scottish Government will be monitoring progress closely.

The Scottish Government has given the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) the statutory powers under the Wildlife and Countryside (Registration and Ringing of Certain Captive Birds) (Scotland) Regulations 2009 to collect registration fees for schedule 4 birds in Scotland.

The statutory mechanism that enables this is the Scotland Act (Agency Agreements) (Specification) Order 2000 (S.I. 2000/745) which specifically allows the Scottish Ministers to enter into agency arrangements such as the function in section 7(2A) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 Act for determining a charge, and charging, for registration.

All agricultural businesses that have employees are required to comply with the Agricultural Wages (Scotland) Order (AWO). The monitoring of compliance with the AWO takes the form of Control Test Inspection (CTIs). Each year, a selection of 120 businesses, encompassing employers and workplaces, are randomly selected from the information taken from the June Scottish Agricultural Census. In 2024, circa 8200 businesses were deemed to have employees covered by the AWO. In addition to CTIs, the Agricultural Wages Enforcement Team will investigate all businesses where employees have raised complaints.

This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise. I have asked their Chief Executive, Adrian Gillespie, to contact you directly with a response.

This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise. I have asked their Chief Executive, Adrian Gillespie, to contact you directly with a response.

Scottish Government officials meet quarterly with the Net Zero Technology Centre to discuss a variety of financial matters, including the Centre's plans for future funding beyond the term of the Aberdeen City Region Deal and its journey towards financial self sustainability. Officials will continue to meet with the Centre to discuss these matters for the remainder of the Deal period.

The Scottish Government has fully committed to ensuring that treatment services are available for all forms of substance use. The MAT standards are an essential part of the National Mission on Drugs, to save and improve lives.

The National Mission focuses on actions and initiatives to address the harms associated with drugs, but these can and do support people affected by all substances including alcohol. For example, through an increase in residential rehabilitation places; initiatives to tackle the stigma directed by people affected by substance use; and an increased understanding of the co-occurring nature of problem substance use and mental health issues.

A National Specification for treatment and recovery services is also currently in development, which aims to provide clarity on the range of substance use support services that should be available in local areas. The Specification will help local services set out future strategic plans to deliver on their commitment to reduce alcohol and drug harms and deaths, improving the lives of those impacted by alcohol and drugs.

In addition, the Scottish Government is supporting the UK Government on reviewing and updating the UK clinical guidelines for alcohol treatment: consultation document - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) to introduce new approaches to treatment that will apply to a broad range of settings including primary care, hospital and justice settings.