Reading Time: 4 minutesThe Scottish Government’s independent Review of legal aid reported at the end of February. It advocates for an improved and simplified system, with the user
Drop-out and returns: UK students at Scottish universities
Reading Time: 4 minutesThis is the second blog about students dropping out of university. The first blog considered statistics published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) on
Drop-out rates: UK students at Scottish universities
Reading Time: 4 minutesThe Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) publishes annual statistics on the non-continuation (“drop-out”) rate among first degree students at higher education institutions (HEIs) across the
The new General Medical Services (GMS) (GP) Contract: so what will be different?
Reading Time: 4 minutesThis post comes as the Health and Sport Committee are presented with the Regulations that bring in the new GMS (General Medical Services) contract. The
Guest blog – Data is everywhere
Reading Time: 4 minutesAs with all guest blogs on SPICe Spotlight, what follows are the views of the author, Brian Hills, Head of Data at The Data Lab
Apples and oranges? Why it’s difficult to compare Scottish and English local government funding
Reading Time: 3 minutesThe Financial Scrutiny Unit is often asked to make Scotland vs England comparisons on various financial measures. When it comes to local government, comparing the
Electoral Reform
Reading Time: < 1 minuteAs the 2016 joint interim report on electoral law produced by the Law Commissions in the UK showed, the legislation governing elections is extremely complicated and
Financial Transactions: ‘real’ money?
Reading Time: 3 minutesIn recent years, the Scottish Government has received substantial sums from the UK Government known as ‘Financial Transactions’ (FTs). To date, the Scottish Government has
Budget 2018-19 – final allocations to local authorities
Reading Time: 4 minutesAt the beginning of February I shared an update to the local government finance settlement at Stage 1 of the Budget Bill 2018-19. The figures
Scottish Lobbying Register goes live on Monday 12 March
Reading Time: 3 minutesLobbying has a long and controversial history. For some, lobbying is synonymous with corruption, impropriety and an imbalance of power between big business interests and