Chamber and committees

Information on how much has been spent by schools on (a) professional learning and (b) professional learning on additional support for learning is not held centrally.

The tender competitions have always been open to bids from any company that has a licence to supply electricity in the UK; this includes companies that generate electricity from 100% renewable sources. The Scottish Government provides comprehensive support to companies interested in bidding for its contracts, including the Supplier Journey and through funding of the Supplier Development Programme.

All major electricity suppliers can access renewable power at scale, either directly via their own generation or via third parties. The new national electricity contract contains provision for the supply of electricity from 100% renewable sources. As there are additional costs involved compared to baseline contract costs, public bodies can choose whether they wish to avail themselves of this option.

The new national electricity contract makes provision to support public bodies generating their own power including exporting any excess to the National Grid, as well as supporting them to buy directly from renewable sources through Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs).

The outline business case for the public energy company is currently being developed. This will determine the future arrangements that would support the delivery of the Scottish Government’s ambition to work in partnership with local authorities to deliver a public energy company through a white label contract approach. Whilst we are not yet able to specify the precise terms of any white label energy supply contract, given the Scottish Government's strong commitment of renewable energy, as set out in Scotland's Energy Strategy, it is expected that the use of renewable sources will be a key component of any contract specification.

Laser guidance components have a broad range of uses which may include munitions.

This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise.

I have passed your query on to Steve Dunlop, the Chief Executive, and asked him to respond to you directly.

The guidance states that due diligence should be carried out on any activity which could lead to an investment relationship or agreement with a third party. This includes activity that happens in Scotland, regardless of where a company's headquarters is located.

The Scottish Government has not had discussions specifically with employers in the rail catering industry regarding respect at work and bullying and harassment and is not directly involved in employer/employee relations of rail companies or their contractors.

The Scottish Government however has a Fair Work agenda and expects any company operating in Scotland to adopt fair and ethical business practices. We strongly oppose the use of exploitative practices and the unfair treatment of workers. Any form of bullying and harassment in the workplace is wholly unacceptable and we would expect employers to tackle any such instances professionally and timeously.

Our own franchise agreement with ScotRail recognises the value and importance of employees and has a number of obligations for the benefit of staff. These include trade union representation on ScotRail's board, Investors in People, that at least £1m should be spent each year on training and development and that all ScotRail employees and contractors are paid at least the living wage.

The Scottish Government has not had specific discussions with the UK Government regarding improving protections from bullying and harassment for rail catering staff.

The Scottish Government however has a Fair Work agenda and expects any company operating in Scotland to adopt fair and ethical business practices. We strongly oppose the use of exploitative practices and the unfair treatment of workers. Any form of bullying and harassment in the workplace is wholly unacceptable and we would expect employers to tackle any such instances professionally and timeously.

Our own franchise agreement with ScotRail recognises the value and importance of employees and has a number of obligations for the benefit of staff. These include trade union representation on ScotRail's board, Investors in People, that at least £1m should be spent each year on training and development and that all ScotRail employees and contractors are paid at least the living wage.

The Scottish Government is not actively seeking to conduct an assessment concerning staff employed by Rail Gourmet.

The Scottish Government however has a Fair Work agenda and expects any company operating in Scotland to adopt fair and ethical business practices. We strongly oppose the use of exploitative practices and the unfair treatment of workers. Any form of bullying and harassment in the workplace is wholly unacceptable and we would expect employers to tackle any such instances professionally and timeously.

Our own franchise agreement with ScotRail recognises the value and importance of employees and has a number of obligations for the benefit of staff. These include trade union representation on ScotRail's board, Investors in People, that at least £1m should be spent each year on training and development and that all ScotRail employees and contractors are paid at least the living wage.