Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what steps he is taking to increase the number of apprenticeship starts in his Department.

Answered by Ian Murray - Secretary of State for Scotland

We remain committed to supporting the use of apprenticeships across the civil service to break down barriers to opportunity. This includes initiatives like supporting the Government’s commitment to 2,000 digital apprenticeships through its TechTrack scheme by 2030 to improve digital skills and drive improvements and efficiency in public services.

Additionally, there is a new cross-Government Level 3 apprenticeship programme in Business Administration, the ‘Civil Service Career Launch Apprenticeship’ (CLA), which will see new apprentices kickstart their careers, across various departments, starting from January 2026.

Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether a government representative will visit Scotland for St. Andrew’s Day on 30 November 2025.

Answered by Ian Murray - Secretary of State for Scotland

There are 37 Government MPs representing Scottish Constituencies. On Sunday 30 November, many will be in their homes and constituencies in Scotland engaged in a variety of activities to mark the day.

Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, with reference to StandWithUs' report entitled StandWithUs UK Report: Voice of Students 2024/25 Report, published in May 2025, if he will have discussions with vice chancellors of universities in Scotland on antisemitism on campuses.

Answered by Ian Murray - Secretary of State for Scotland

The Scotland Office and I meet regularly with Scottish universities on a wide range of issues and this Government utterly condemns antisemitism in the strongest possible terms. We are committed to ensuring a safe learning environment for all students while upholding freedom of speech and academic freedom on campus.

Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many civil servants in his Department are employed in (a) Queen Elizabeth House in Edinburgh, (b) Dover House on Whitehall and (c) other locations in London.

Answered by Ian Murray - Secretary of State for Scotland

As at 31 March 2025, the Scotland Office had 47 civil servants based at Queen Elizabeth House, Edinburgh and 38 civil servants based at Dover House, Whitehall, London. The Office does not have civil servants based at any other locations.

Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to improve broadband (a) connectivity and (b) speeds in Scotland.

Answered by Ian Murray - Secretary of State for Scotland

Our Plan for Change recognises the importance of ensuring people across Scotland have access to the fastest broadband networks on the market to level the playing field and realise our mission to boost economic growth and improve living standards.

Earlier in May, we announced the largest single UK Government Project Gigabit contract to date with Openreach: £157 million to bring gigabit-capable internet to 65,000 homes and businesses across the Highlands, Outer Hebrides and other hard-to-reach areas across Scotland.

In February, the Hon Member for Rhondda and Ogmore announced the first Project Gigabit contract signed in Scotland. 11,000 homes and businesses in the Scottish Borders and East Lothian will benefit from the Scotland-wide roll out with further contracts planned for other parts of Scotland this year.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 17 April 2025 to Question 42606 on Civil Servants: Remote Working, how figures are collated for overall workforce attendance in offices other than the departmental HQ; and whether such figures are reviewed centrally.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Central data on Civil Service Headquarters (HQ) occupancy is collected and published quarterly on GOV.UK for all HQ buildings of Whitehall Departments, Office for Scotland, Office for Wales and Northern Ireland Office. Until May 2024 Departments provided data to the Cabinet Office on the average number of employees working in their departmental HQ buildings only, for each week. This moved to quarterly publishing from June 2024 with no change to the methodology of reporting.

Departments manage their own arrangements for monitoring workforce attendance. No other information on occupancy data or workforce attendance is gathered centrally.

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Found: Ireland Office: Ministers’ Hospitality - February 2025 CSV, 280 Bytes View online Scotland Office

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Found: Scotland Fraud Advisory Panel Wales Office Northern Ireland Audit Office National Care Forum Scotland Office

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