Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government provides core funding annually to Health Boards for sexual health and blood borne virus (BBV) services. From 2018-19 to 2023-24, Health Boards received funding through the annual Outcomes Framework allocation to cover a range of outcomes, including sexual health and BBVs. It was up to Health Boards to decide how much to allocate to each outcome within this envelope. In order to give Boards more control over local priorities this funding was baselined in 2023-24.

The total value for Outcomes Framework allocations since 2018-19 is set out in the following table.

It is not possible to determine how many people contracted HIV in any given year as people may not be tested or diagnosed for a number of years after they contract HIV.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) publishes an annual HIV in Scotland surveillance report which includes data on new diagnoses. The report includes indicators of recently acquired infections and late diagnoses since 2017, however this does not identify the year in which people acquired HIV. In addition to this there are a number of people who remain undiagnosed, which is why it is important that anyone who thinks they may have been at risk seeks a HIV test.

Data on the number of new HIV diagnoses in Scotland each year from 2014 to 2023 can be found in Table 3 of the latest HIV in Scotland report at: https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/29204/final-hiv-in-scotland-update-to-31-december-2023-1.pdf.

The Scottish Government is working intensively with business organisations and stakeholders to deliver on our shared ambitions, including through the New Deal for Business Group, which helped shape the First Minister’s recent Programme for Government and is informing our key priorities regarding economic growth.

There are good examples of business already feeding into policy development in areas like public health, circular economy and fair work. Deepening this relationship is an ongoing process, and I’m committed to building on the progress to date.

The Scottish Government will keep working with business to improve productivity, bring investment and create high quality jobs for Scotland.

In his latest letter to the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee (NZET) on 11 October, Ferguson Marine’s interim Chief Executive reported that recent acceptance sea trials were successfully completed and assured the Committee that a definitive handover date will be provided as soon as it is confirmed. I will then write to the NZET Committee to give the Scottish Government’s response to the latest progress update on the delivery of MV Glen Sannox. The vessel is now in the final stages of delivery, with all parties collaborating to complete the remaining technical details.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) will provide updates on HIV statistics as part of the HIV in Scotland annual surveillance report. The latest report was published in September 2024 and the next release will be in Autumn 2025.

The HIV Transmission Elimination Delivery Plan was launched in March 2024. PHS is developing a monitoring and evaluation plan to assess progress against this plan and the Scottish Government will update Parliament on this in due course.

The Scottish Government is committed to the plans for a National Care Service, and Scottish Ministers are continuing work on progressing this as quickly and effectively as possible.

Below is a list of the community radio stations that the Scottish Government has run public information advertisements on over the last five years, alongside the total annual spend for each year. Spend per individual community station is classed as commercially sensitive and as such we are unable to provide this level of detail.

April 2020 - March 2021 - Total spend: £214,731

• Argyll Radio
• Awaz FM
• Caithness FM
• Cuillin FM/Skye
• Heartland FM
• Isles FM
• K107FM
• Lochbroom/ Two Lochs
• Nevis Radio
• Oban FM
• Panjab Radio
• Pulse 98.4
• Radio Ramadan
• Shetland Islands Broadcasting Company
• Waves Radio 101.2FM

April 2021 - March 2022 – Total spend: £405,912

• Alive FM
• Argyll Radio
• Awaz FM
• Caithness FM
• Cuillin FM/Skye
• Heartland FM
• Isles FM
• K107FM
• Lochbroom/ Two Lochs
• Mearns FM
• Nevis Radio
• Oban FM
• Panjab Radio
• Pulse 98.4
• Radio Ramadan
• Shetland Islands Broadcasting Company
• Waves Radio 101.2FM

April 2022- March 2023 – Total spend: £74,008

• Argyll Radio
• Awaz FM
• Caithness FM
• Cuillin FM/Skye
• Heartland FM
• Isles FM
• Jambo Radio
• Lochbroom/ Two Lochs
• Nevis Radio
• Oban FM
• Panjab Radio
• Shetland Islands Broadcasting Company
• Waves Radio 101.2FM

April 2023 - March 2024 – Total spend: £69,029

• Argyll Radio
• Awaz FM
• Caithness FM
• Cuillin FM/Skye
• Heartland FM
• Isles FM
• Jambo Radio
• K107FM
• Lochbroom/ Two Lochs
• Nevis Radio
• Oban FM
• Panjab Radio
• Shetland Islands Broadcasting Company

April 2024 – October 2024 spend to date Total spend: £14,438

• Argyll Radio
• Awaz FM
• Caithness FM
• Cuillin FM/Skye
• Heartland FM
• Isles FM
• Jambo Radio
• Lochbroom/ Two Lochs
• Nevis Radio
• Oban FM
• Panjab Radio
• Shetland Islands Broadcasting Company

Information on university students is collected and published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). Using this data between academic years 2018-19 and 2022-23, the last year of available data, there has been an increase of over 30% in enrolments into Computer Science courses at Scottish Universities.

It should be noted that prior to 2018-19 academic year, data was collected using a different subject classification. As such, figures prior to 2018-19 are not directly comparable.

The number of enrolments (covering all years of study and at all levels) and the number of full-time first degree entrants (all domiciles) from either Computing or Computer Science courses at Scottish universities, over the last 10 Academic Years, can be found in the following tables. These are taken from published data.

ICT courses are not controlled subjects and unlike controlled subjects the Scottish Government does not direct individual universities on the number of funded places made available.

With regard to the number of unfilled places HESA does not collect this data.

Student enrolment on ‘Computer Science’ courses at Scottish Universities - Subject classification based on JACS code = computer science

Information on university student qualifiers is collected and published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).

It should be noted that prior to 2018-19 academic year, data was collected using a different subject classification. As such, figures prior to 2018-19 are not directly comparable.

The number of qualifiers (covering all levels of study) and the number of full-time first degree qualifiers (all domiciles) from either Computing or Computer Science courses at Scottish universities, over the last 10 Academic Years, can be found in the following tables. These are taken from published data.

Student qualifiers on ‘Computer Science’ courses at Scottish Universities

Subject classification based on JACS code = computer science

The most recent workforce publication shows that in June 2014 the workforce comprised of 5,101 FTE directly employed staff, and 1,249 contingent workers.

For June 2024 showed the core Scottish Government workforce comprised of 8,911 FTE directly employed staff and 1,214 contingent workers.

This represents an increase of 75% in the directly employed workforce and a reduction of -3% in the contingent workforce.

The growth in the directly employed workforce in the last ten years has supported the devolution of new powers to the Scottish Government, for example Social Security and Exchequer functions. The growth in the core Scottish Government has also supported the response to exiting the European Union and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Since March 2022 the Scottish Government has increased its permanent workforce while prioritising the reduction of the more expensive contingent workforce such as contractors and consultants. The number of contingent workers is now 40% lower than in March 2022.

The number of core Scottish Government staff is available at Scottish Government workforce information - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).