Seòmar agus comataidhean

The total unitary charge payments associated with PFI and PPP contracts including NPD (Non-Profit Distributing) which were paid across the public sector in Scotland from 2006-07 to 2022-23 are contained within the following table.

As the latest associated published data remains unchanged, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-26239 on 2 April 2024 and to question S6W-26655 on 15 April 2024. 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

Through the Agriculture Reform Programme, and in collaboration with Scottish Forestry and NatureScot, we are considering opportunities to improve how we support farmers to integrate trees. The integration of trees on farms can take a variety of forms, with the criteria for the Agroforestry Grant Scheme having been amended in 2023 to include support for fruit and nut trees. We have engaged with stakeholders on the progress of that work through Scottish Forestry’s Customer Representatives Group sub-group on Trees on Farms and will continue to seek opportunities for stakeholder engagement as that work develops.

In addition, we are currently undertaking a review of the funding awarded by our Food and Drink Division to support community Grow Your Own initiatives. This funding for new and innovative food growing projects could include community orchards.

The Scottish Government also continues to provide horticulture support through the Fruit and Vegetables Aid Scheme. Orchard fruit and nuts are products covered by the scheme, which enables funding to groups of growers recognised as Producer Organisations.

With the goal of providing a full response to the member, Scottish Government officials have liaised with a range of organisations including those reserved to the UK Government. This includes the UK National Shipbuilding Office - responsible for the UK National Shipbuilding Strategy - who have confirmed that they and UK Export Finance also do not hold a list of financial institutions that offer shipbuilder’s refund guarantees. Officials from both the Scottish Government and National Shipbuilding Office will continue to explore if such information is held centrally by the UK Government.

In England, the standard multiplier in 2025-2026 is being uprated to 55.5p, from 54.6p in 2024-2025. In Scotland, the proposed Higher Property Rate for 2025-2026 is 56.8p, increasing from 55.9p in 2024-2025.

Table 1 shows the estimated cost of setting the Higher Property Rate at 55.5p, compared to 56.8p, broken down by property class. The Scottish Government does not hold property-level data on industry sectors. Property class is a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, and does not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a property. Figures are rounded to the nearest 100,000, and may not sum due to rounding.

From 1 August to 31 December 2024, 33 charges under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 have been reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) which make reference to ownership of XL Bully Dogs.

It should be noted that COPFS use a live, operational database to manage the process of reports submitted to Procurators Fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies throughout Scotland. Information provided is at date of extract and may therefore be subject to change as data and systems are updated for operational reasons.

Scottish Ministers are considering all the available information on bovine EID and technology use across the UK. This includes the DEFRA and Welsh Government pilot report, the ScotEID pilot findings into UHF, the results and analysis of the consultation held on Cattle ID and Traceability earlier this year, and ongoing close discussions with industry and the livestock sector. All potential impacts and challenges, over the long and short term, will be fully considered before a final decision is made.

While specialty training is required to qualify as a consultant on GP, not all doctors complete or immediately proceed to specialty training following Foundation training for a variety of reasons. General Medical Council data shows that on a UK-wide basis taking time away from formal training after completing Foundation has been increasing and is now the norm.

(a) The following table shows how many Foundation doctors moved straight from Scottish Foundation training programmes into a specialty training programme in Scotland (in the same calendar year).

An official ISO standard for the use of UHF in animal identification was published in December 2023. The Scottish Government is considering all evidence following the consultation on cattle identification and traceability held earlier this year, this includes delivery of any future ISO standards.

The core Scottish Government workforce has been following a strategy to reduce in size since March 2022, to adjust to the budgetary context and the change in the profile of its work following the Covid-19 pandemic. This direction accords with the wider work on medium term financial planning and in-year path to balance, as well as aligning with wider Public Service Reform ambitions. Enhanced recruitment controls were introduced at the start of the 2022-23 financial year to achieve this strategy.

In 2022-23 and 2023-24 the total Scottish Government workforce (i.e. directly employed and contingent workers) reduced by 0.4% and 3% respectively. This is the first time the workforce has reduced in consecutive years since SG began publishing workforce statistics in 2012. For the remainder of 2024-25, the presumption against external recruitment has been further strengthened in line with the spending controls announced in August 2024. Workforce planning for 25-26 will get underway across SG teams in early 2025. The size of the corporate functions within the Scottish Government, and the services they offer to wider public sector bodies, has been part of the consideration of the optimal size and deployment of the total Scottish Government workforce.

Ongoing assessment of the size of the corporate functions, both within the Scottish Government and across the wider public body landscape, is underway and opportunities will continue to be reviewed to ensure the those functions are as efficient and effective as possible to enable the delivery of public services.

The Scottish Government is taking action to support effective workforce planning in public bodies to, including providing guidance on redeployment.