S6W-27474

Asked by: Regan, Ash (Alba Party - Edinburgh Eastern)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government, as part of its work to further the case for Scottish independence, what recent discussions the (a) former Minister for Independence, (b) Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture and (c) First Minister has had with the (i) Prime Minister, (ii) Minister for Intergovernmental Relations and (iii) UK Government regarding a potential route to Scottish independence.

Answered by Robertson, Angus - Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture

The First Minister emphasised his Government’s commitment to Scotland’s independence in his first call with the Prime Minister earlier this month. The Scottish Government stands ready to engage at any point with the UK Government to begin talks about the change to the Scottish Parliament’s powers to allow the Scottish people to choose their future.

Correspondence May. 31 2024

Found: Yours sincerely, Clare Adamson MSP, Convener of the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture

S6W-27527

Asked by: Lennon, Monica (Scottish Labour - Central Scotland)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the proposed Education Bill, as set out in its Programme for Government 2023-24. 

Answered by Gilruth, Jenny - Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills

The Scottish Government is committed to implementing the system and culture change required to improve outcomes and support professionals in classrooms and education settings all over Scotland. As part of this work, a Bill will be laid before parliament this year which will underpin the establishment of a new qualifications body and an independent officeholder for education inspection, to be in place in the Autumn of 2025.

S6W-27608

Asked by: Regan, Ash (Alba Party - Edinburgh Eastern)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its civil service transformation work.

Answered by McKee, Ivan

There is a wide range of transformation work underway within the Scottish Government, much of which has built upon the foundations of the Corporate Transformation programme I established in my previous government role.

Transformation activity is now being directed by the ‘In the Service of Scotland’ framework, which sets out the mission, vision, improvement priorities and values for the core Scottish Government, and has the broad aim of creating an organisation that can deliver effectively and efficiently for ministers and the people of Scotland in any future operating environment.

The improvement priorities are:

• creating an empowering and enabling culture.
• building a sustainable and outcomes-focused organisation.
• nurturing respectful and trusting partnerships.
• developing high quality business processes.
• providing a flexible workplace, enabling technology and usable data.

Examples of current work include a shared services programme that will implement Oracle Cloud, transforming the HR, finance and purchasing function for Scottish Government and public sector customers; a programme of work to implement a People Strategy; a range of initiatives to upskill civil servants, such as the Scottish Digital Academy which provides high quality professional learning to public and third sector staff to build digital capability; and the Single Scottish Estate, which is identifying opportunities to efficiently co-locate some public services and support our transition to Net Zero.

Mentions:
1: Dey, Graeme (SNP - Angus South) More than that, it is about the culture that surrounds the approach to the negotiations. - Speech Link
2: Dey, Graeme (SNP - Angus South) The negotiating mechanism itself could be improved, but the culture around it and the approach to be - Speech Link

Mentions:
1: Adam, Karen (SNP - Banffshire and Buchan Coast) Scottish Government what it is doing to support British Sign Language users across Scotland to access culture - Speech Link
2: Forbes, Kate (SNP - Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch) national plan, which was published just last year, we committed to supporting BSL users to take part in culture - Speech Link
3: Adam, Karen (SNP - Banffshire and Buchan Coast) support artists who celebrate the language and the heritage, but BSL has a lower profile in the arts and culture - Speech Link
4: Robertson, Angus (SNP - Edinburgh Central) We provide targeted support for culture through our funding of local authorities and public bodies, including - Speech Link

Mentions:
1: Chapman, Maggie (Green - North East Scotland) He said that what is described as “bad” corporate culture“simply means that everybody clearly understood - Speech Link
2: Marra, Michael (Lab - North East Scotland) The cover-ups, the lies and the corporate culture of self-serving greed that were laid out in emails - Speech Link