We anticipate publishing papers relating to the Teacher Workforce Planning Advisory Group's workforce planning process for 2025-26, in the coming weeks.

The Scottish Government recognise the crucial role councils and their employees play in communities across Scotland. That’s why the Scottish Government has made available over £14 billion to local authorities this year, a real terms increase of 4.3 per cent, with a record £15 billion for 2025-26 set out in the Scottish Budget, a further real terms increase of 4.7 per cent.

In the context of that record settlement, the Scottish Government are committed to working in partnership with local government to ensure that children across Scotland continue to receive the high-quality education services that they deserve but it is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including on non-teaching staff, on the basis of local needs and priorities.

The Campbeltown service operated on 146 days between June 2021 and September 2022. There were no services beyond this date due to the need to withdraw the route since that time.

HIV transmission elimination is funded as part of the wider Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus (SHBBV) budget. Many of the interventions which support this have wider impacts on sexual health improvement and blood borne virus elimination.

Prior to the Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Action Plan 2023-26, the SHBBV Framework was supported by approximately £2 million, to support delivery of the outcomes between 2018 and 2021. This funding came to an end in March 2021.

Due to the pandemic, during 2021-22 interim arrangements were made for third sector organisations to continue to receive funding under the Framework from an SHBBV budget of around £0.8 million, with an additional £0.5 million allocated as part of COVID-19 planning to support recovery actions.

The SHBBV budget is approximately £1.7m per year since 2023-24. This supports delivery of the Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Action Plan 2023-26, including a range of projects focused on HIV transmission elimination (details of which were published with the Plan).

Other specific projects the Scottish Government has funded include the national HIV anti-stigma campaign (£250,000 in 2022-23), the development of an ePrEP clinic (£400,000 in 2022-23), emergency department opt-out testing pilots (£145,000 in 2023-24), online postal self-sampling for sexually transmitted infections and HIV (£119,000 in 2023-24 and £300,000 in 2024-25), the Terrence Higgins Trust HIV self-test service (around £120,000 per year) and a workforce education project led by Waverley Care to reduce stigma in health and social care settings (£95,000 in 2024-25).

The Scottish Education Exchange Programme is a priority action within Scotland’s International Education Strategy and as such, progress is regularly discussed by IES Governance Group which is chaired by the Minister for HE/FE and includes representatives from colleges and universities. The minutes of these meetings are published online at International Education Strategy Governance Group. Updates to the programme are also published online at Scottish Education Exchange Programme: Test and Learn project - gov.scot and Scottish Education Exchange Programme: - Test and Learn: funded projects - gov.scot

As year 2 of the SEEP comes to a close at the end of March 2025, an external evaluation of the first 2 years of the programme has been commissioned and will be published this summer.

With regards to the STPR2 Delivery Plan, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-31324 on 27 November 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

My officials at Transport Scotland are developing how we align transport infrastructure investment planning with future expected budgets. Such investment plans are significantly dependant on the outcomes of the UK Government’s Spending Review, which is now expected in June.

Recommendation 36 of the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) notes that consultation with the freight industry, trade unions, representative bodies, local authorities and other stakeholders will take place to discover gaps in provision and support Transport Scotland in making future decisions on the need to address market failure. This recommendation also includes that a review will take place on freight parking and rest areas to better understand barriers.

STPR2 is a long term framework for investment and it is not possible to progress all its recommendations at once. Work on this recommendation is not planned to commence in the forthcoming year. However, please be assured I will continue to engage with my officials on how STPR2 recommendations can be taken forward.

Bursaries for independent schools are a matter for the proprietors of each institution. Scottish Government does not collect this information.

The Scottish Government encourages anyone to contact their GP or diabetes clinical team to discuss the use of Ozempic or any other medication as part of their treatment for type 2 diabetes. They will be best placed to recommend any medicines or treatments based on their own individual circumstances.

The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer is taking the issue of illegal online medicines seriously. She has met with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS), Police Scotland and the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) to discuss this.

The GPhC published updated guidance on 4 February 2025 regarding buying medicines safely online and Healthcare Improvement Scotland is considering how to improve the general awareness of these medicines, as well as establishing clear expectations for their safe and appropriate use within the independent healthcare sector.

The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer is also considering communications for healthcare professionals in Scotland on how to report known or suspected illicit prescribing of Ozempic.

Representatives from INEOS Grangemouth have confirmed that Small Modular Reactors do not form part of of the INEOS Grangemouth net zero roadmap for Grangemouth. The Scottish Government’s Consent Unit has not received any requests from either INEOS or Rolls Royce to consider the development of a Small Modular Reactor at Grangemouth.

There has been regular communication between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Prison Service on HMP Highland, including time-scales for completion, since 2011, in line with updates to the Infrastructure Investment Plan.

• In December 2011 the Scottish Government was updated that completion dates for HMP Highland were uncertain.
• In October 2015 the Scottish Government was updated that estimated operational date was 2019.
• In September 2016 the Scottish Government was updated that estimated operational date was 2020.
• In July 2018 the Scottish Government was updated that estimated operational date was 2021.
• In April 2019 the Scottish Government was updated that estimated operational date was 2023.
• In September 2020 the Scottish Government was updated that estimated operational date was 2024.
• In September 2022 the Scottish Government was updated that estimated operational date was 2025.
• In February 2024 the Scottish Government was updated that the most likely time-scale for construction completion was 2026.