Official Report 1017KB pdf
Scottish Information Commissioner (Appeal against Ruling)
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it launched a court appeal against a ruling by the Scottish Information Commissioner, in light of that costing tens of thousands of pounds and it reportedly receiving legal advice that it was likely to fail. (S6T-02150)
The Scottish Government considered that an important issue of principle in that case required to be tested. The court agreed that the case raised a sharp and important question of statutory interpretation.
The documents that were recently released by the Scottish Government in relation to the case show that ministers discussed the legal advice with the Lord Advocate—the most senior Government legal adviser—who was content that there were proper grounds for appealing and who agreed with ministers that the decision should be appealed.
It should be noted that the release of legal advice in this instance does not set a precedent for future cases.
As we have just agreed, the First Minister will shortly make a statement in the chamber about this matter.
Whatever the reason for proceeding despite the Scottish Government’s own director of legal services and counsel encouraging ministers not to do so, the Government appears in that decision once again to have displayed a staggering arrogance and a disregard for taxpayer money. Given that the minister now knows that the facts will always come out in the end, will he tell the chamber exactly how much taxpayer money in total was spent on or by all relevant agencies, from the original court decision to today?
The amount that has been disbursed on the cost of defending the judicial review is already in the public domain: it is around £118,000.
I find it interesting that the member describes as a matter of “arrogance” the decision to take forward an appeal based on the long-standing principle that, in such matters, legal privilege is normally reserved. I have already made the point that the decision was made on the basis of legal advice. We determined that as being important, which is why we took the case forward.
The publication of the documents reveals that the group that was set up to support the independent inquiry into Nicola Sturgeon’s conduct as First Minister was headed by a Scottish Government civil servant. It has been suggested that the civil servants who advised Mr Hamilton in 2021 may have had, let us say, a conflict of interest. In order to clear that up, and accepting that all will come out sooner or later, will the minister tell us the name of the seconded civil servant? If not, will he tell us whether they still work for the Scottish Government and from what role they were seconded?
It would not be appropriate to reveal that name. The support was provided by a career civil servant of a seniority below that of the senior civil service grade—that is, by a junior Scottish Government official. We need to bear that in mind in providing any information, because we have to adhere to data protection principles. That is why the individual’s name rightly will not be made public.
Young Enterprise Scotland
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that Young Enterprise Scotland faces closure due to it withdrawing its support. (S6T-02160)
I will be very clear: funding for Young Enterprise Scotland has not been withdrawn.
Since 2022, the Scottish Government has advised Young Enterprise Scotland, along with other stakeholders, that all future entrepreneurial education programmes will move to competitive funding. That approach is consistent with other entrepreneurial funds and is in the DNA of entrepreneurship.
Although Young Enterprise Scotland was not successful in bidding for entrepreneurial education funding because of the strength of other applications, many of which had not previously received Government support, I met the chair and chief executive of Young Enterprise Scotland this morning to update them on the conversations about additional support that had already taken place with officials, and I have approved the requested £285,000 to run into this year the two programmes that were previously funded by the Scottish Government. That will cover expenditure to date for the financial year from April 2024 to March 2025. Young Enterprise Scotland has confirmed that that will ensure the organisation’s on-going viability.
It is vital that we encourage young people to think about entrepreneurialism as a career option, because Scotland has only 653 businesses per 10,000 people compared with the United Kingdom average of more than 1,000.
Given the long-standing success of Young Enterprise Scotland—I cannot be the only one in the chamber to have benefited from Young Enterprise Scotland, given its long-standing success—is it wise to have programmes that put that success in jeopardy, such as the one that seems to have put Young Enterprise Scotland’s future in doubt?
We have moved to a competitive process so that all organisations have an equal opportunity to access public funding. We do not want to be in a position in which some organisations are essentially guaranteed funding and some are guaranteed to never receive funding.
All of the applications to the entrepreneurial education pathways fund were assessed by a panel. We will shortly announce the winners of the fund, but the applications should give us all confidence and inspiration about the quality of entrepreneurial education that is currently being delivered across Scotland. I am excited that many organisations that have never received funding before will receive it now.
If we are to believe that the decision is being made on the basis of effectiveness and outcomes, given that Young Enterprise Scotland reaches 18,000 young people a year and that more than 1,000 people gain qualifications through Young Enterprise Scotland every year, can the cabinet secretary say how many young people will be in contact with the future programmes and how many qualifications will be achieved by young people through the future programmes of work that she has so much confidence in?
I can go much further. I am not in a position to announce all the winners, because that is rightly for another date. However, for the first time ever, we will be in a position to deliver programmes from primary 1 through to secondary 6, providing an end-to-end pathway for developing an entrepreneurial mindset. The Government is extremely proud of the changes that we have made to entrepreneurship in Scotland to ensure that there is a pathway for entrepreneurial activity. We moved to a competitive bid to ensure that the provision is effective, efficient, impactful and fair to organisations that previously felt excluded because of the way in which the funding was set up.
Will the cabinet secretary outline how the entrepreneurial education pathways fund will help to encourage more young people from a wide range of backgrounds to choose business ownership as a career path and to establish a culture in Scotland that encourages, promotes and celebrates entrepreneurial learning from an early age?
Including the fund that Colin Beattie referenced, we are investing £1.7 million in entrepreneurial education this year to support highly innovative organisations, many of which have not received Government funding in the past. In my view, that approach is fair, it drives impact for public investment and it reflects our ambition to support the next generation of business leaders with the best possible tools and resources. I hope that, when we announce the winners of the fund, colleagues from across different parties will be equally enthused and inspired by what some of the organisations, many of which have been behind the scenes for a number of years, have done.
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