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Dr Alasdair Allan, Minister for Learning, Science and Scotland’s Languages, wrote to the Royal Society of Edinburgh in May 2013, setting out the progress made to encourage women to study STEM subjects and to improve the retention of women in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEM) professions. This requires a strategic approach as the issues apply across many sectors other than STEM alone. This strategic approach is guided by the Strategic Group for Women and Work, chaired by Angela Constance. Apart from addressing equality issues across sectors specific progress has been made in the STEM sector.

£600,000 funding was announced for the Scottish Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology, securing delivery of their work to 2015. Their work has direct impact with individuals and organisations by addressing skills shortages, increasing the pool of qualified, skilled staff, raising awareness of the issues women face and increasing the profile of women in STEM careers.

The Scottish university sector has fully committed to increasing the diversity of the research workforce. Through outcome agreements with the Scottish Funding Council all the research intensive Scottish universities have agreed to seek awards under the Athena Swan charter, which recognises commitment to advancing women's careers in STEM in higher education.

Membership of Athena SWAN by Scottish Higher Education Institutes has increased from 4 in 2010 to 14. Eight of the universities have already been awarded Bronze Awards. A further three departments have achieved silver awards and the University of Edinburgh, School of Chemistry achieved a Gold Award, the second of only four schools in the UK to do this.

At the Women’s Employment Summit in September 2012 the First Minister announced the CareerWise fund, which is a £250,000 fund to encourage girls and young women to consider careers in science, engineering and technology.

CareerWise works in partnership with organisations to give female undergraduates and school pupils experience of working in the computer science, engineering and science sectors. CareerWise has secured over 40 paid student placements in a variety of organisations across Scotland this year alongside securing school placements for pupils across a number of schools and local authority areas.

Make Young People Your Business is the Scottish Government’s campaign to persuade employers across Scotland of the business case for recruiting and growing young talent. During the week 7 to 14 March 2014 Ministerial engagement was around the theme of Make Young People Your Business in the Digital/ICT sector, with a particular focus on attracting more young women into the sector.

National Records of Scotland (NRS) has today announced that it intends to focus on planning for a census in 2021 which will be primarily online, while offering alternative modes of completion where necessary. It also aims to make best use of technology and administrative data in its design, building on the online approach used successfully in the 2011 census.

This follows on from the Beyond 2011 programme of work in Scotland to review the options for providing population statistics. The review focused on two options:

an online census option carried out every 10 years supplemented by the use of administrative data to produce annual population estimates in intervening years.

an administrative data option using administrative data already held by government and annual surveys.

The decision to focus plans on a census in 2021 in Scotland was based on a variety of evidence, including results from research, stakeholder engagement, a user consultation and international experience. A final decision will be taken in 2016 on the basis of the business case.

A programme of consultation and engagement will continue by NRS to understand user requirements and shape the design of the 2021 census. The findings from Beyond 2011 to date will be incorporated into the programme of work.

Further research will be carried out to enable greater use of administrative data and surveys in the future.

For further information please go to the new Census 2021 section on the NRS website.

I am pleased to announce today that I am publishing Our Place in Time, the first ever strategy for Scotland’s historic environment. This also coincides with the publication of the Historic Environment Scotland Bill. The Bill is available on the Scottish Parliament website from today.

The strategy sets out the future direction and ambitions for Scotland’s historic environment - a vision which can be shared by everyone across Scotland. The development of the strategy follows a long period of intensive stakeholder discussion and engagement. I would like to thank all participants for their energy, expertise and enthusiasm which has allowed us to develop this ground-breaking approach. For the first time, Scotland will have an overarching strategy for the whole of our historic environment which will deliver real public benefits. It provides a high level framework for all parts of the sector and beyond to work together to deliver positive outcomes for Scotland’s historic environment.

The strategy also sets the context for the establishment of Historic Environment Scotland by bringing Historic Scotland and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland together. Historic Environment Scotland will take a lead role in delivering the new strategy, with a strong emphasis on its enabling role and its ability to lead effective partnerships with organisations across the sector. The Bill will bring together the existing functions of the two organisations and place them in statute, to sustain the skills and professional expertise of both bodies for the long term. If the Bill is successful in receiving the approval of Parliament and Royal Assent, the body will take up its responsibilities in 2015.

Today marks an important step towards meeting our ambition to ensure that our heritage is collectively celebrated, valued, nurtured and supported across the public, private and third sectors. It is an exciting and important time for the protection and promotion of the historic environment and I am pleased to again restate this government’s commitment to that end.

I visited Abu Dhabi (10-11 November) and Dubai (11-13 November) in the United Arab Emirates and Doha in Qatar (13-14 November) where I undertook an intensive programme of meetings and engagements to strengthen business, education, cultural and government ties with the region.

During the visit I led Scotland’s largest ever delegation to the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC), with over 40 Scottish companies and Higher Education Institutions represented at one of the largest oil and gas events in the world.

My attendance at ADIPEC also provided a significant platform for me to raise the profile of Scotland's wide-ranging strengths across the oil and gas sector to the broader Middle East audience, notably via my participation in a conference panel discussion and Q&A on the importance of skills and training in the industry and my meetings with both the UAE Energy Minister, H.E Suhail Mohammed Al Mazrouei, and with the President of the Abu Dhabi Petroleum Institute. These discussions reiterated the significant opportunities which exist for partnership and collaboration between Scottish and Middle Eastern companies and resulted in an agreement to hold a joint Scotland Abu Dhabi workshop in Abu Dhabi in 2014. I also met with the CEOs of major energy companies including Bob Dudley of BP and Carl Sheldon of TAQA.

To date, five companies, Scotmas, Doosan Babcock, FoundOcean, Peak Consultancy and SafeHouse Habitats (Scotland) Ltd have confirmed new partnerships with local Emirate partner organisations, cementing the companies’ foothold in a key global oil and gas market and establishing the basis for continued growth of their Scottish operations. Further detail on these partnerships:

Kelso-based water and air specialists, Scotmas Ltd, finalised a £300,000 contract for the delivery of a water disinfection system for the Qatar Electricity and Water Company(QEWC) expected to treat up to a quarter of Qatar’s drinking water. The company also formed an Egyptian Joint Venture company focused on delivering the company’s unique chlorine dioxide water disinfection technology into the rapidly developing Oil and Gas Sector in North Africa.

Doosan Babcock and Abu Dhabi-based Emirates Link Technology Group formed a Joint Venture Company to provide maintenance and shut down solutions to the oil and gas industry in the region. This partnership will bring significant growth opportunities to the company’s Renfrew facility.

FoundOcean, whose expanded offshore service base in Livingston was officially opened by Minister Fergus Ewing last year, announced the opening of their newest office in the Middle East in partnership with Emdad LLC.

Aberdeen based Peak Consultancy Ltd signed an MoU with Abu Dhabi’s Almansoori Specialised Engineering to provide services to the regions oil and gas sector.

Dundee-based Safehouse Habitats (Scotland) Ltd signed a strategic agreement with Al Yaseah Group on 13th December at ADIPEC to provide Safehouse’s Positive Pressure Habitat Solutions to the Oil and Gas sector in Abu Dhabi.

In addition, Glasgow based MJB International also announced during ADIPEC that the company has secured a multi-million Euro, six year contract to provide support services for gas turbines in the Netherlands

I visited the fit up for the Abu Dhabi Science Festival, which is being managed by the Edinburgh Science Festival and met with His Excellency Ahmed Al Calily, Director General, Abu Dhabi Technology Development Committee who fund the Abu Dhabi Science Festival.

In Dubai, I took part in an Open Conversation organised by the Emirates Festival of Literature, attended by 16-18 year old students from local schools, discussing the role of young people in democracy.

I met with more young people when touring the new extension to the Dubai Heriot-Watt campus. I announced Heriot-Watt’s new PHD progammes in the following schools in Dubai: Management and Languages, Engineering and Physical Science and Built Environment.

In Qatar I met with Qatar Airlines in order to seek assurances on their commitment to establishing a new flight route to Edinburgh following a period of significant activity to support this from Team Scotland partners and following your own meeting with the company last year. During our discussion, the company confirmed their commitment to launch the route and announced six days later that flights would commence on 28 May 2014.

I also met the Minister for Culture, Arts and Heritage HE Dr Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Kuwari. I also met with the Qatar Foundation to discuss links around renewable energy, education and research, and met with Sumantro Ghose, the Head of Cultural Diplomacy projects at the Qatar Museums Authority where I discussed potential collaboration between our galleries and museums. I met with the general manager of Katara Village, Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim al-Sulaiti, to discuss how we can further embed cultural collaboration between our countries. My visit finished with Scotland Day celebrations at Katara, featuring Scottish landscapes, music, food and dancing.

I undertook four broadcast interviews throughout the visit with Sky News Arabia (TV), BBC World News, ME Business Report (TV), Dubai Eye Drive time radio show at Arabian Radio Network and CNBC Arabia (Radio). Engagement with print media resulted in widespread coverage across the Gulf.

National Records of Scotland has today published Scotland’s Census 2011: Release 2C. (Laying number: SG/2013/258). This report presents the third part of the second release of results from the 2011 Census in Scotland, which was held on 27 March 2011. Release 2C consists of the key and quick statistics tables for the living arrangements and travel to work/study topics at all levels of census geography.

The Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill contains provisions that will offer a range of benefits to children and families. For example the move to increase the early learning and childcare entitlement from 475 hours to 600 hours for 3 and 4 year olds and our most vulnerable two year olds will benefit around 121,000 children, saving families up to £707 per child per year.

The Bill will also ensure better permanence planning for looked after children and ensure there is a single planning approach for children who need additional support from services.

Independence would benefit children and families in a number of ways as set out in Scotland’s Future. For example 240,000 children and 212,000 families will benefit from the expansion to 1,140 hours of childcare a year for all children from age one to starting school. This will save families up to £4,600 per child per year, the equivalent of £770 million each year overall.

As well as increasing the number women who are able to work, it will create up to 35,000 jobs in the childcare sector - doubling the current workforce. An increase in female labour market participation would significantly boost tax revenues, for example if participation reached Swedish levels - an increase of 6% - tax revenues could increase by £700 million (1.5%).