Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-34365

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 28 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on employing contractors in each year from 2021-22 to 2024-25 to date.

The following data shows the expenditure on Contingent Workers, of which Contractor would be a subset, but in conjunction with other categories of contingent workers. It is not possible to isolate Contractor expenditure within this data set.

The Scottish Government moved to Oracle Cloud in October 2024 and further data reconciliation is required. YTD data is therefore provided until September 2024.

Financial Year	Expenditure (£k)
21-22	£49,753
22-23	£51,286
23-24	£49,633
24-25 (April -Sept only)	£19,919

It is relevant to note that this data showing expenditure on contingent workers cannot be directly compared with the number of contractors (requested in S6W-34366 and S6W-34364 answered on 28 February 2025). The two data sets have been extracted from different systems and therefore cannot be viewed as perfectly connected, due to different hierarchical structures and definitions of how workers and salary costs are categorised.

The Scottish Government implemented an Oracle Cloud enterprise resource planning system in Autumn 2024, replacing our legacy HR and Finance systems. Though the data capture of temporary workers remains an area requiring some further development, the implementation of a combined HR and Finance system will in time improve the data we hold on workforce costs.

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.

Question reference: S6W-34346

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 28 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how its draft Budget for 2025-26 will (a) address the reported crisis in the provision of services for people with neurodevelopmental conditions and (b) improve the (i) timeliness and (ii) quality of diagnosis, treatment and support for (A) children and (B) adults with neurodevelopmental conditions.

This year, we allocated £123 million to NHS Boards to improve the quality and delivery of mental health and psychological services, including neurodevelopmental services, for both adults and children and young people.

Baselining this funding within NHS Board’s core budgets from 2025-26 will allow NHS Boards and IJBs greater stability and improved longer term financial planning, increasing their ability to support longer-term sustainable improvements and reform.

The Scottish Government is also providing more than £16.2 billion in financial year 2025-26 for Health Boards to deliver front line and other key services.

We are continuing to work closely with NHS Boards and other partners, including local authorities and the third sector, to develop and redesign services to improve access to diagnosis and support.

For example, we know that 78% of autistic adults supported have reported improved wellbeing as a result of accessing community support services funded through our £1 million Autistic Adult Support Fund. The £15 million we have invested annually in local authority community-based mental health supports has also benefitted many neurodiverse children and young people.

Question reference: S6W-34349

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 28 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken to ensure that NHS boards meet the target to spend (a) 10% of their budget on mental health and (b) 1% of their budget on child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).

We remain committed to delivery of the 10% and 1% spending targets, for mental health services and CAMHS respectively.

Latest data published by Public Health Scotland on 25 February 2025 shows total spend on mental health in Scotland has increased by £179.6 million to £1.486 billion in 2023-24. That is 9.03% of total net NHS expenditure, up from 8.53% in 2022-23. Spend on child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) has increased by nearly £19.4 million to over £134 million. This is 0.82% of total spend, up from 0.75% in 2022-23.

The latest data shows good progress is being made towards delivering the targets, however, as we all know, there are continued and unprecedented challenge to the public finances. That means that achieving the targets in practice will depend on the outcome of future budgets.

NHS Boards will allocate funding for local mental health services from the overall funds provided to them by the Scottish Government. Boards have responsibility for working with their partners to ensure local budget decisions deliver local and national priorities, including for mental health.

We will continue to closely monitor our progress towards both the 10% and 1% over the remainder of the Parliamentary term.

Question reference: S6W-34982

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 26 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made regarding whether the Treasury has proportionately allocated VAT revenues raised on Scotland's independent schools to the block grant to allow for this revenue to be spent in the education sector.

VAT is a reserved power of the UK Government. Under the Barnett formula the Scottish Government is not entitled to a proportion of revenues raised by the UK Government under reserved powers. Changes to the Block Grant are calculated by reference to UK Government spend in devolved areas.

The UK Government had initially indicated that funding raised from the removal of the VAT exemption on independent schools would be ring-fenced and applied to the budget for the Department of Education in England to increase teacher numbers in England.

Under this arrangement the Scottish Government would effectively have received a population share of the total funding raised under the Barnett formula.

Following discussions with HM Treasury we have now been advised that there is no ring-fencing being applied to this funding stream by the UK Government. While additional funding was applied to the Department for Education as part of the UK Government’s Autumn Budget, on which Barnett consequentials were received, we cannot confirm the extent to which this has been funded by the removal of VAT on independent schools.

Question reference: S6W-34981

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 26 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Treasury regarding the allocation of VAT revenues raised on Scotland's independent schools.

Question reference: S6W-34983

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made on any financial impact of the displacement from pupils in Scotland moving from the independent schools sector to the state sector as a result of the imposition of VAT on fees and associated charges.

Local authorities have statutory responsibility for education in their area. Officials have met with education leads within local authorities to understand the impact on the Scottish state sector to date. Scottish Government has received assurance from local authorities that they have the capacity to support increased school rolls.

Scottish Government continues to engage with local authorities and the independent school sector, including the Scottish Council of Independent Schools (SCIS), to understand the impacts of the UK Government policy since its implementation. The independent school sector has conducted its own assessment of financial impact, which is available here: Economic-Impact-of-SCIS-Member-Schools-in-Scotland-2022-23-8Feb24.pdf.

Question reference: S6W-35096

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 February 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 6 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what research it has conducted or commissioned into the behavioural impacts of income tax policy, and when the reports of any such research were provided to its ministers.

Question reference: S6O-04319

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to support the Scottish dairy sector.

Question reference: S6W-34363

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 11 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many Business Improvement Districts currently operate in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-34362

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 11 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been raised in Business Improvement District levies in each of the last five years.

Information on the amount raised through Business Improvement District (BID) levies are not held by the Scottish Government.

Local authorities are responsible for administering and collecting the levy on behalf of the BID and would be responsible for providing this information.

Scotland’s Improvement District (SIDs) have estimated that the annual levy for the combined 36 BIDs in Scotland is £6.4m. This figure is based on data from operational Scottish BID surveys and information provided in the BIDs Business Plans. The amount collected may, however, be lower depending on collection rates.

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