Universities are autonomous institutions with responsibility for their own pay and remuneration decisions.

As I have set out in my statement to Parliament earlier today, we intend to introduce a Heat in Buildings Bill in Year 5 of this Parliamentary session. In this statement I set out government’s rationale for the format of the Bill. We will continue to engage with stakeholders from all sectors as we do so, building on the discussions that began with our consultation and have been continuing since then.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) publishes quarterly data on the length of time patients wait to be seen as a new outpatient or admitted for treatment as an inpatient or day case. The latest statistics represent all patients covered by the national standards for these stages of treatment to 31 December 2024. Individual patients are counted more than once if they are waiting to attend more than one scheduled hospital appointment or admission, so the official statistics shown here do not reflect the actual number of individuals involved but the number of waits.

Table 1. sets out the number of ongoing waits over 2 years for a Gynaecology inpatient or day-case admission as of 31 December 2024:

Table 1.

As part of the annual budget process the funding for the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), is announced. The 2025-26 Budget includes over £1.1bn of investment in teaching and research in Scotland’s universities.

The Framework Agreement that exists between the Scottish Government and Ferguson Marine sets out the relationship between the business and Scottish ministers, including matters requiring Scottish Government approval such as the appointment of the Chair, the Board of Directors and approval of the remuneration of the chief executive officer.

Since the nationalisation of Ferguson Marine ministers have not intervened directly in the management and operations of Ferguson Marine.

a) The Scottish Government publishes details of Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts - gov.scot containing information about Ministerial engagements, overseas travel, car journeys, domestic travel and gifts received.

b) The Scottish Government publishes details of Special advisers: gifts and hospitality - gov.scot, which includes information on travel expenses claimed.

ci & cii) The following table gives the relevant data for the last available 5 years:

1.Senior Civil Service;

2.Staff Below Senior Civil Service; and

3.Seafaring Staff.

The Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) supports the Scottish Government, local authorities and other public bodies to fulfil their legal obligations to promote and protect the human rights of children and young people. The SYP is the democratic voice of Scotland’s young people. Their vision for Scotland is of a nation that actively listens to and values the meaningful participation of its young people. Their goal is to make this vision a reality, in order to ensure young people in Scotland grow up loved, safe and respected, and able to realise their full potential.

Please see the answer to question S6W-35663 on 2 April 2025 for details of the election process. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

The Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) supports the Scottish Government, local authorities and other public bodies to fulfil their legal obligations to promote and protect the human rights of children and young people. The SYP is the democratic voice of Scotland’s young people. Their vision for Scotland is of a nation that actively listens to and values the meaningful participation of its young people. Their goal is to make this vision a reality, in order to ensure young people in Scotland grow up loved, safe and respected, and able to realise their full potential.

This PQ was submitted along with another 10 all regarding the SYP.

Ministerial time spent on individual matters such as the number of hours spent on matters relating to the Scottish Youth Parliament, is not recorded.

The Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) supports the Scottish Government, local authorities and other public bodies to fulfil their legal obligations to promote and protect the human rights of children and young people. The SYP is the democratic voice of Scotland’s young people. Their vision for Scotland is of a nation that actively listens to and values the meaningful participation of its young people. Their goal is to make this vision a reality, in order to ensure young people in Scotland grow up loved, safe and respected, and able to realise their full potential.

The purpose of the annual Cabinet Takeover meeting with children and young people, is for decision makers at the highest level of government to listen to the voices of children and young people and hear issues that matter most to them.

The meetings are an opportunity to demonstrate Scottish Government’s commitment to meaningfully engage with children and young people with the aim of improving the development and implementation of policy and legislation to help make Scotland the best place in the world to grow up for children and young people.

Since 2017, the Children’s Parliament (CP) and Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) have been involved in the co-design of an annual meeting of Cabinet Ministers with children and young people.

At each meeting the children and young people bring their Calls to Action which become tangible commitments to be taken forward by the Scottish Government.

This work supports the need for Scottish Ministers to consider the views of Children and Young People to inform plans and, from 2024 under the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024, to ensure that they comply with the section 6 compatibility duty and to secure better or further effect of the rights of children.

Progress reports from previous Cabinet Takeover Meetings can be accessed via the links below:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/children-young-peoples-voices-matter-progress-report-march-2023/.

Children and Young People’s Voices Matter: Progress Report - March 2022.

https://www.gov.scot/publications/annual-cabinet-meeting-with-children-and-young-people-fifth-meeting-16-march-2021/.

The Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) supports the Scottish Government, local authorities and other public bodies to fulfil their legal obligations to promote and protect the human rights of children and young people. The SYP is the democratic voice of Scotland’s young people. Their vision for Scotland is of a nation that actively listens to and values the meaningful participation of its young people. Their goal is to make this vision a reality, in order to ensure young people in Scotland grow up loved, safe and respected, and able to realise their full potential.

As with all Scottish Government grants, a rigorous process of grant management procedures is in place to ensure accountability of public funds. These procedures ensure the delivery of policy outcomes, continuous improvement, and achieving best value for money. Regular monitoring takes place throughout the lifecycle of the grant.

The Scottish Government finance procedures align with the guidance provided by the Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM). The SPFM is issued by the Scottish Ministers to provide guidance on the proper handling and reporting of public funds. It sets out the main principles for dealing with resources in public sector organisations in Scotland.

As part of Scottish Government’s grant conditions, we ask all funded organisations to monitor and report their progress towards delivery of their funding outcomes to ensure appropriate use of public funds and value for money. The Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) follows the same procedures as all other grant funded organisations.

SYP are a registered company (SC227548), so their audited accounts are publicly available on Companies House. As a registered charity, SC032662, SYP submits annual return to OSCR, which includes their accounts.