How Scotland is really performing in health, education and the economy

The new analysis, published by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe), pulls together the latest data available to provide a "big picture" snapshot on how well Scotland is performing using 81 national indicators.

However, the report notes that currently there is no data available for 21 of the measures – due to issues such as data collection during the pandemic or the indicator still being developed.

These gaps are particularly noticeable in the areas of education, human rights, communities and international affairs, it says. 

Overall, in more than half of the cases – 33 – performance is assessed as “maintaining”.

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For 17 indicators there has been an improvement, while in 10 cases the position is worsening.

Here we look at what’s improving and what’s worsening, according to the latest report, which will be updated monthly.

Children and Young People

There are two areas of improvement noted, including children’s voices, which measures the percentage of young people who feel adults take their views into account when making decisions.

In 2019, this was 58%, compared to 53.4% in 2017.

The quality of children’s services is also rated as improving, with 90.8% of funded early learning and childcare services achieving good or better ratings in 2020, up from 90.2% in 2019. However that figure is lower than the 92.1% recorded in 2015.

Communities

The number of assets in community ownership is noted as improving, with 711 last year - 7.2% higher than in 2020.

However the performance of the social capital indicator – which measures factors such as social networks, community cohesion, social participation and trust – has worsened, according to the report.

The Social Capital index is at 93 points – two points lower than the score for 2018, which was 95.

Culture

The amount of growth in the cultural economy, measured by the income generated by businesses, was just under £4.4 million in 2020, an improvement of 3.2% on 2019. However here has been a reduction of 11.3% since 2017.

The latest data available means the number of jobs in culture and arts is rated as "performance worsening", with 87,000 jobs in 2020, down by 3000 jobs - 3.3% - on the previous year.

Economy

International exports (excluding oil and gas) is rated as an improving picture, with the value standing at £35.1 billion in 2019 – an increase of 3.4% on the previous year.

In this category, greenhouse gas emissions are also rated as a positive improvement, measured as a percentage change achieved from the baseline figure in 1990. There was a reduction of 58.7% in 2020 compared to a target of a 56% reduction.

Access to superfast broadband is on the up, increasing from 87% in 2017 to 92% in 2018.

However economic growth is deemed to be worsening, with figures from before the pandemic showing annual GDP growth rate in Scotland in 2019 was 0.7%, lower than the average annual GDP growth rate over the previous three years was 1.2%.

The number of assets in community ownership is noted as improving (Image: Newsquest)

Education

The skill profile of the population is improving, with the proportion of people in Scotland aged 16-64 with low or no qualifications in 2020 at 9.7%, a decrease of 1.9 percentage points since 2019.

The proportion of employers in Scotland with at least one skills shortage vacancy was 3% in 2020, an improvement on the figure of 6% in 2017.

Another area of improvement is in skills underutilisation, with the proportion of establishments with at least one employee with skills and qualifications more advanced than required for their current job role at 33% in 2020, compared to 35% in 2017.

However performance is worsening in workplace learning, with the proportion of those in employment who had received job-related training in the previous three months decreasing from 23.7% in 2019 to 22.3% in 2020.

Environment

The report notes that in 2020, the amount of energy generated in Scotland by renewable sources was 25.4% of total energy consumption according to provisional figures, up from 24% in 2019.

Another area of improvement is sustainability of fish stocks – with an estimated 69% of commercial fish stocks fished as sustainable levels in Scottish waters in 2020 – the highest level since data collection began in 1991.

However the amount of household waste generated is rated as worsening, rising by 55 thousand tonnes – 2% - between 2020 and 2021 to 2.48m tonnes.

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Fair work and business

Last year, 1.1% of all businesses were categorised as high growth, an improvement on the 2020 rate of 1%.

The proportion of businesses deemed to be active in innovation also showed a positive trend, increasing from 32.2% in 2016-18 to 39% in 2018-20.

The gap between the male and female employment rates has also narrowed – it was 4.7% in 2020, down 1.5% since 2019.

But performance of the indicator of “employee voice” is worsening, with the proportion of employees who have reported that they are part of a collective agreement which affects their pay and conditions falling by 6.3 percentage points between 2007 and 2020.

Health

The proportion of cycling journeys under five miles has remained steady, but an increase in walking means active travel is categorised as an improving performance.

In 2019, 47.6% of journeys under two miles were made on foot, a 4.6% increase from 2018.

However healthy life expectancy is worsening - in 2018-20, healthy life expectancy was at 61.7 years for males and 61.9 years for females, compared with 60.9 for males and 61.8 for females in 2018-20.

The quality of care is also worsening, with the percentage of people who describe their overall care from their GP as good or excellent falling from 90% in 2009/19 to 67% in 2021/22.

Premature deaths have also increased – largely due to covid deaths - with mortality rates per 100,000 for people aged under 75 at 457.4 in 2020, compared 425.8 in 2019.

International affairs

There’s an improving picture when it comes to population, the report stated. Over the latest year to mid-2021, eight council areas experienced a falling population including the cities and some areas in the west of Scotland – but this is an improving position from 20 council areas in mid-2020.

Poverty

Wealth inequality in households in Scotland is worsening, according to a measurement known as the Gini coefficient, where 0% expresses perfect equality and a maximum of 100% inequality which means one household has all the wealth. The figure was 64% in 2018-2020, compared to 62% in 2016-2018 and 60% in 2014-2016.