The Highlands and Islands Veterinary Services Scheme (HIVSS) is crucial support to ensure that crofters and small farmers in remote areas of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland have access to veterinary care to protect the health and welfare of their animals, and to ensure veterinary surveillance for notifiable diseases in these areas. HIVSS subsidises the travel costs of veterinary practices serving eligible clients to remove the significant financial disadvantage such clients would otherwise have relative to similar clients closer to urban areas.

Scheme funding is demand-led rather than inflation led. It is based on the number of visits made by veterinary practices to eligible clients over the last 3 years and the mileage covered doing so, along with the payment of receipted travel expenses and time spent waiting during journeys.

A number of factors affect the calculation of both grant and expenses payments. These are currently under review. However, the mileage and supplementary travel rates are based rates dictated by HMRC; the waiting time rate is based on the payment rate for Official Veterinarians; the standard visit fees payable by clients is based on the average rate of fee charges as per the salary survey by the Society for Practicing Veterinary Surgeons; and overnight accommodation payment is based on average B&B prices in the Highlands and Islands. These are all kept under review to ensure that the payments made reflect the actual travel costs faced by veterinary practices as closely as possible.

The Scottish Government is committed to breaking down the barriers to higher education. To help towards achieving the widening access targets we are working with partners in the North-East of Scotland on a pilot to evaluate the impact of Free School Meal data sharing on university admissions. Partner organisations leading on the work are Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council, Robert Gordon University and the University of Aberdeen.

Partners are responsible for their own data sharing arrangements, drawing on existing data sharing protocols they have in place. The Scottish Government continues to provide support where necessary in liaison with partner organisations.

We will provide evaluation of the pilot, due to take place later this year.

Following our annual teacher workforce planning process, which included detailed statistical modelling, and advice from the Teacher Workforce Planning Advisory Group, we wrote to the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) in February 2025, with recommendations for Initial Teacher Education (ITE) intakes for the 2025-26 academic year.

Recommendations included a reduction in intakes to primary programmes, with further consideration to be given to the level of any further reductions for the 2026-27 academic year.

This advice to the SFC will assist in the setting of intakes to ITE programmes for individual higher education institutions. These will be shown in SFC’s final funding allocations for 2025-26, due to be published at the end of May 2025.

All teachers undertake additional support needs (ASN) training during Initial Teacher Education (ITE), which is a requirement to meet the Professional Standards for registration with the General Teaching Council of Scotland.

We have asked the Scottish Council of Deans for Education (SCDE), through their Scottish Universities Inclusion Group, to undertake an analysis of the way ASN are addressed in ITE. We expect to receive an update from SCDE on the progress of this work shortly.

Replacement of the Marine Evacuation System is scheduled to begin in May 2025.

The most recent Instrumental Music Survey published in January 2025 shows the number of pupils accessing free instrumental music tuition was the highest on record since the survey began in 2012.

Since 2021-22 we have provided dedicated funding to local authorities to support the removal of fees for instrumental music and in 2025-26 we will provide £12m to support this policy.

Local authorities are responsible for delivering education and so it is for individual councils to make choices about levels and means of provision that meet their local circumstances and the needs of pupils. No Council has charged for IMT since 2020-21.

The Scottish Government has been engaging closely with EIS and a range of partners to implement our commitments on instrumental music tuition and will continue to do so.

Since 2016, the Farming Opportunities for New Entrants (FONE) Group has been coordinating new entrant opportunities on publicly owned land in Scotland. FONE Group membership includes, but is not limited to, Forestry and Land Scotland, the Crown Estate Scotland, the Scottish Ministers’ Estate and Scottish Water.

Through the FONE group, over 80 new entrant opportunities have been provided across more than 8,000 hectares of publicly owned land.

Additionally, in December 2024, I wrote out to all Local Authority Leaders and Chief Executives asking that they engage with the Programme for Government commitment to maximise the opportunities on their land for agricultural new entrants.

I have called on all Scottish public bodies, with land, to a Landowner’s Conference in March to showcase and emphasise the importance of leasing public land to new entrant farmers and crofters.

The Nature Investment Partnership continues to engage with a range of investors, land managers and local communities to identify the most suitable approach for each potential investment site. No private finance has yet been directed through the Partnership into on-the-ground projects. More information about the Partnership is available on its webpage: Nature Investment Partnership | NatureScot.

Since 2016, the Farming Opportunities for New Entrants (FONE) Group has helped facilitate entry to over 80 new entrants across more than 8,000 hectares of publicly owned land in Scotland.

Instigated by the FONE Group and funded by the Scottish Government, the Scottish Land Matching Service (SLMS) provides a platform for opportunities for the next generation of farmers and crofters, by engaging with those seeking or offering joint venture arrangements in relation to land and facilities. To date the SLMS has facilitated over 300 individuals and formally matched over 50 joint-ventures, some of which includes publicly owned land.

In 2022 the Scottish Government conducted a full analysis of the different options for relocating the SQA’s accreditation function. As of 11 March 2025 and in response to this question the analysis has now been published at Education reform: location of the Scottish Qualification Authority’s accreditation function - gov.scot.