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The Scottish Government has not had any recent discussions with South Lanarkshire Council regarding funding for housing support services. As I understand, South Lanarkshire Council have engaged directly with both RSLs to help them prepare for this proposed transition, and their engagement with both RSLs will continue beyond any savings proposals being approved by South Lanarkshire Council. It is for South Lanarkshire Council, along with South Lanarkshire University Health and Social Care Partnership, to determine how much funding is allocated towards housing support services to meet the needs of their residents.

The Scottish Government has not allocated funding to stroke awareness campaigns in the last five years.

The Scottish Government is fully committed to keeping The Promise by 2030. Given the cross Governmental scope of the activity related to The Promise, the First Minister regularly discusses the commitment and has undertaken various engagements with the care community, meeting with children and young people with care experience, and the workforce who support them. To mark the recent 5th anniversary of the Promise the First Minister wrote to the care experienced community re-enforcing his commitment to The Promise and met with students with care experience at Glasgow University to discuss their experiences. The First Minister also chairs the Cabinet Sub-Committee on the Promise which was established to guide and support the cross-portfolio focus needed to deliver The Promise.

Since 2021, the Scottish Government has provided £1,672,922 of funding to Intercultural Youth Scotland (IYS) across various funding streams.

IYS receive funding from the Equality and Human Rights Fund (EHRF) to enable and support participation and representation of young Black and People of Colour (BPoC), ensuring they are represented in decision-making that affect their lives in a range of areas.

IYS also receive funding from the Employability and Advancement Project (formerly the Restless Natives Project). This funding is to ensure equitable support for young BPoC school leavers as they prepare for and take their first steps into the world of work.

The Curriculum and Qualifications Division has provided funding to IYS to support schools with embedding anti-racism and to ensure they are better equipped to respond to racist incidents, and that curriculums are decolonised.

During 2021-22, IYS received funding for a programme to expand the quality and quantity of support to marginalised BPoC children and young people, tackling social isolation and loneliness.

During 2023-24, IYS received funding to conduct a series of workshops over a nine-month period with children and young people. This was to scrutinise the Anti-Racism in Education Programme’s (AREP) four workstreams and provide recommendations for each of them.

Scottish Trans is funded by the Equality and Human Rights Fund through the Equality Network. The Equality Network’s funding covers their general LGBTI project and the Scottish Trans Alliance project. The Equality Network received £503,322 in 2021-22, £503,207 in 2022-23, £503,265 in 2023-24 and £503,265 for the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.

Mandatory annual Inclusive Culture training is the only formal training delivered by Scottish Government as an employer. This was introduced for Core Scottish Government following a recommendation made by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. It is self-directed e-learning which takes approximately 30 minutes to complete and there are no current associated delivery costs.

For the current appraisal year (1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025) a total of 6295 staff in Core Scottish Government have participated in this training course as at February 2025.

As at 30 September 2024, the date of the most recently published Scottish Government workforce statistics, the total number of job titles registered in our HR management information system including a) diversity (including neurodiversity) was 8 b) equality (including equalities) was 35 and c) inclusion was 9. Some job titles include a combination of these terms, the total number of individual positions is therefore 46.

The total staffing cost for these positions for the period April to September 2024 (our most current figures) was £1,985,502.

The Scottish Government is committed to maintaining public finances on a sustainable trajectory. Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of public services is a key strand of the Public Service Reform programme, which reports to Parliament on a regular basis.

Accountable Officers for all public bodies or portfolio within the Scottish Government have a personal responsibility for the propriety and regularity of the finances under their stewardship and for the economic, efficient and effective use of all related resources. This includes being personally answerable to Parliament for the exercise of their functions. This is set out in the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000 and the Scottish Public Finance Manual.

The Scottish Government has no plans to incur the costs associated with the establishment of a new executive agency to duplicate the work already being undertaken by Accountable Officers and Ministers.

Scottish Government have not conducted an analysis of the impact of GP Numbers on GP access: access is affected by a number of factors and we continue to work with the profession to ensure they offer suitable access arrangements for their patients.

The latest GP headcount publication from September 2024 shows an increase in the number of fully qualified GPs.

Currently there are a total of 58 non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs). This compares to a total of 130 NDPBs in 1999.