Chamber and committees

A key condition of the agreement for the Scottish Government to move to a 35-hour week was that productivity levels are maintained, and that costs are not increased as a result. These conditions are consistent with the findings of research into shorter working weeks, which point towards the wellbeing benefits of such improvements to terms and conditions and, in some cases, even positive impacts on productivity.

The Scottish Government’s position is that the 3% (of which 2.25% was in-year) pay award for 2024-25, alongside the introduction of the 35-hour week, does represent good value for money. Both elements formed part of a two-year pay deal, which was reached during a period of high inflation, and is consistent with pay awards reached across the Scottish Public Sector. Achieving agreement on pay with the recognised trade unions for this extended period has also meant the Scottish Government has avoided the costly impacts of industrial action.

The introduction of drop off charges, their level and their terms and conditions are a matter for individual airports. We expect airport operators to comply with equalities legislation in all aspects of their operations, including in relation to drop off charges and providing support for disabled passengers arriving at an airport.

Ministers recognise the crucial role that our colleges play and notably, the Audit Scotland report recognises that the courses that college students undertake contribute not only to their own development but also to Scotland’s sustainable economic growth.

Against a challenging backdrop of financial pressures across the public sector, a priority has been to protect investment in the college sector as far as possible. It is the responsibility of each college to manage its operations in line with the funding allocated by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC). As part of this we expect each institution to continually reassess operational models and explore avenues for cost reduction and revenue maximisation in this demanding climate.

We are committed to work alongside colleges and the SFC through the Tripartite Alignment Group to provide greater flexibility for institutions in how they use the investment that is available. The SFC has proposed modifications to the college funding model to provide short-term relief to colleges and has expressed plans to revamp the funding model for future sustainability; while Scottish Government has progressed work on college disposals in order to help deliver flexibilities to colleges in their approach to managing their estate.

The Audit Scotland report recognises there are important opportunities coming from reform. As we progress with reform, we will work closely with colleges and other stakeholders to ensure that they have a sustainable future.

The Scottish Government is committed to fairer, more inclusive and fiscally sustainable forms of local taxation. We are exploring proposals for meaningful long-term changes to Council Tax in partnership with COSLA through the ‘Joint Working Group on Sources of Local Government Funding and Council Tax Reform’.

We continue to partner with COSLA and local authorities on local empowerment measures in the spirit of the Verity House Agreement. We have undertaken intensive collaborative work on a Fiscal Framework for local government. This includes facilitating opportunities for greater local fiscal empowerment in the future, with the aim to give councils more flexibility. Through the ‘Joint Working Group’ we can explore opportunities for local empowerment collaboratively with local government.

The citation of witnesses is a matter for Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Office. As outlined in the 2022 Vision for Justice, and Programme for Government 2024-25 Serving Scotland, the Scottish Government is supporting justice partners to drive key areas of reform to make our criminal justice system more efficient and work better for everyone who experiences it.

Our vision is our criminal justice system will work better for everyone who experiences it, cases will take less time, more cases will conclude early, and fewer witnesses will have to come to court. Summary Case Management (SCM), which provides a new approach to summary criminal cases and aims to improve the summary criminal process to benefit justice users; and DESC (Digital Evidence Sharing Capability), which is a critical enabler for criminal justice reform and allows digital evidence to be collected and shared at every stage of a criminal case at the earliest opportunity are two of the key programmes the Scottish Government is working together with justice partners to deliver this vision.

The Scottish Government is dedicated to Keeping The Promise, by ensuring that all care experienced children and young people grow up safe, loved and respected.

We welcome the Permanently Progressing report and are committed to ensuring permanent homes are secured for children and young people in timescales that are right for them.

We are funding the Association of Fostering, Kinship and Adoption to produce a series of Good Practice in Permanence Guides. These guides will support the workforce to deliver change in the way children, young people and families experience their care journey. This will include promoting consistent and effective practice within children’s services to ensure that permanence is achieved quickly for children, where this is in their best interest.

I recognise Transform Scotland’s valuable contributions to sustainable transport through research and briefing such as their "In Reverse" report, and I met with them on 16 July.

During 2024-25 we will spend over £3.87 billion on transport across Scotland, with almost £430 million in funding for concessionary travel and bus services. We will also invest over £1.6 billion to operate, maintain and improve Scotland’s railway and are continuing to support Scotland’s trunk road network, providing over £1 billion for our critical safety, adaptation, maintenance and improvement priorities. We are also investing £526 million to expand our vital support for rural and island connectivity.

We continue to take decisive climate action and work towards our commitment of reducing car use by 20% by 2030 by supporting making sustainable travel a more attractive option including providing up to 2.3 million people in Scotland with access to free bus travel. Over 150 million journeys have been made by under 22s across Scotland who are now benefitting from this. We will publish the updated route map to achieving car use reduction this autumn. On active travel, we have already distributed over £145 million of our 2024-25 budget to delivery partners for infrastructure and schemes which will work to transform communities and reduce barriers to everyday walking, wheeling and cycling.

The Scottish Government supports Screen Scotland, our dedicated public agency for screen, through Grant-in-Aid funding, with £10.25m in Financial Year 2024-25.

As set out in our Programme for Government, we will continue to support Screen Scotland to deliver their Strategy to 2030-31, ensuring the screen sector can reach our goal of £1 billion Gross Value Added to the Scottish economy by 2030, up from £627m in 2021.

Screen Scotland will also continue their excellent work in skills and education, making a career in film and television more accessible for more young people in Scotland, and helping our sector to stay globally competitive for future generations.

Since it was first established in 2018, Screen Scotland, has been instrumental to the success of our screen sector. By nurturing locally-originated content as well as attracting international inward investment, Screen Scotland ensures that the sector continues to grow strongly and sustainably.

As I made clear in the Chamber on 18 September during Portfolio Questions in reply to Katy Clark MSP, Police Scotland does not recognise those figures. Indeed Assistant Chief Constable Emma Bond said:

"It is misleading and inaccurate to suggest that non-emergency 101 calls are being left unanswered, missed, or are disconnected by our call handlers.”

This position was reinforced by DCC Bex Smith at the Scottish Police Authority Policing Performance Committee meeting of 18 September.

Many discontinued 101 calls will be cases where callers have been instructed to hang up and dial 999, they have decided to redial and select another option from a pre-recorded menu, or they have realised they should be calling another agency.

I am very grateful for the hard work of Police Scotland’s call handlers to ensure all calls to the service are answered as quickly and as safely as possible.

Creating Hope Together, our 10 year joint suicide prevention strategy with COSLA, adopts a whole of government and society approach to reducing suicide in Scotland. This allows us to focus on tackling the social determinants of suicide such as poverty, which also presents increased risk for alcohol addiction; and we are taking forward work to join up mental health and addiction support. For example, Healthcare Improvement Scotland has recently produced an exemplar joint working protocol for mental health and substance use services, which draws on best practice from across the country and internationally. We are also prioritising suicide prevention training for the workforce supporting people with addictions.

In developing the Creating Hope Together strategy, and the associated 3 year action plan, we reviewed all available evidence on suicide, including risk factors such as alcohol addiction. This was complemented by extensive engagement with communities and partners across Scotland. The delivery of our strategy continues to be evidence informed and guided by our suicide prevention Academic Advisory Group whose most recent research on the risk and protective factors associated with suicide includes analysis of alcohol related factors. Insights from such research, along with those from our suicide prevention lived experience panels, are informing the design and delivery of interventions which meet the needs of different groups and communities, including those with addiction issues.

The full suite of Academic Advisory Group reports on suicide prevention research can be accessed through the Suicide Behaviour Research Lab site.