Chamber and committees

In October 2023, communities were invited to explore and develop proposals for their local area to be considered for designation as Scotland’s next National Park. The nomination phase closed on 29 February and nominations were received from Galloway, Lochaber, Scottish Borders, Tay Forest and Loch Awe.

The appraisal process considered all nominations against six published criteria. Introduction - New National Parks: nominations guidance and appraisal framework - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . These were:

? outstanding national importance

? size, character and coherence

? meeting the special needs of the area

? strategic contribution

? visitor management and tourism

? local support

The appraisal process concluded in May and the appraisal panel’s report has been published on our website: National Parks - Landscape and outdoor access - gov.scot ( www.gov.scot )

Following the conclusion of the appraisal process, I am pleased to inform Parliament ahead of a public announcement that will take place later today that we are proposing to move to the next stage in the process to establish a new National Park in Galloway.

The nomination from the Galloway National Park Association and the Galloway and Southern Ayrshire UNESCO biosphere highlights the area’s outstanding natural and cultural heritage and it sets out the potential benefits that designation could make to the environment, the economy and to local communities. The proposal also provides evidence of support for a new National Park from local communities, stakeholders and businesses. The report of the new National Parks appraisal panel concluded that the nomination from Galloway meets all of the published criteria.

The proposal for a new National Park in Galloway has been laid in Parliament this morning and it will be published on the Scottish Government website.

On behalf of the Scottish Government, I would like to offer our thanks for the considerable time, effort and commitment that all the nominating groups and members of these local communities have invested in exploring and developing their nominations.

The next stage in the process will begin with a ‘Reporter Phase’ in which communities will be asked if they want a National Park in the Galloway area. A ‘Reporter’ – in this case NatureScot – will now lead further work on the Galloway proposal, including extensive consultation and engagement with local residents, communities, community councils, local authorities, businesses, relevant public bodies and interest groups. This will include engagement and consultation with the agriculture, forestry and other land-based sectors given their importance within the area. The Reporter’s work will investigate, develop and test the National Park proposal in light of local views and circumstances, taking into account all views expressed during the consultation.

The Reporter is required to provide its findings to the Scottish Government on the proposal by 28 April 2025 and the report will be laid in Parliament. If we decide to proceed with the National Park proposal – with or without modification - secondary legislation will need to be developed, consulted on and approved by Parliament in order to designate a new National Park in Galloway.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government as it is a matter for local Health Boards. Health boards carry out annual asbestos monitoring surveys and asbestos management plans are in place across the NHS estate.

I provided an update on our plans to introduce multi-year funding for the third sector in my letter to the Social Justice and Social Security Committee on 20th May. As noted in that letter, we remain committed to embedding a multi-year grant approach on third sector grants by 2026 including delivering increased numbers of multi-year funding awards, where possible and appropriate.

While it is very challenging to deliver in the current financial context, I have asked officials to do further work and have confirmed I will write to the committee again to update on progress.

There are no plans for the Scottish Government to publish open data on grant funding using the non-governmental 360 Giving Standard database. Existing reporting covering monthly spend over £25k is published on the Scottish Government website, providing details of payee and description. Government spend over £25,000: monthly reports - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The Scottish Government is committed to acting in the best interests of Scotland. This includes working constructively with the UK Government and Westminster in order to benefit the people of Scotland.

The Prime Minister has made clear his commitment to rebuild trust and foster respect with Devolved Governments, which the Scottish Government welcomes. The Scottish Government is keen to work together in areas of shared ambition and responsibility, and where the most effective change can be delivered through joint or coordinated action, in a way that is mutually respectful and co-operative.

Ensuring universities are on a sustainable trajectory is at the heart of our considerations to reform the post-school system, so that the significant investment we are making delivers the best outcomes for learners, the economy and society.

I met with officials from PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Universities Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council on 29 May 2024. At this meeting, PwC outlined the key findings from Scotland-specific modelling that Universities Scotland had commissioned them to undertake to assess the financial outlook for universities.

On the basis of this analysis, the potential risk of a sustained decline in numbers of international students leading to future financial challenges for some universities, was discussed.

As autonomous institutions, universities have the key role in mitigating financial pressures and external risks. On this basis, it was further discussed at the meeting that universities would consider a range of actions to mitigate the risks around declining international student recruitment, and that Scottish Government and the Scottish Funding Council would continue to engage with the university sector on financial sustainability risks and developing their own mitigation strategies.

A copy of the associated data table has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, Bib no. 65175 which provides information on the occupancy rates of acute specialty beds and all beds in hospitals between January 2023 and the end of December 2023. The data are broken down by quarter, NHS board and hospital. These data are from the Acute hospital activity and NHS beds information (quarterly) publication which is available on the Public Health Scotland website Methods used to produce this data release - Acute hospital activity and NHS beds information (quarterly) - Quarter ending 31 December 2023 - Acute hospital activity and NHS beds information (quarterly) - Publications - Public Health Scotland and provides further data on beds and hospital activity in Scotland along with definitions and data quality notes.

Education Maintenance Allowance already contributes to the raising attainment agenda. It seeks to remove financial inequality and give every young person the same opportunity to remain and progress in learning, no matter their financial circumstances.

EMA is one form of key support we have in place for children and young people in education. Additional support measures include Free School Meals, the school clothing grant and free bus travel for those under the age of 22. These measures also contribute to our wider ambition of raising attainment.

The UK Government abolished EMA in 2011 and therefore there have been no discussions with them regarding EMA in recent years.

In January 2024, EMA officials met with the Welsh Government to provide an overview of the current EMA programme in Scotland. The purpose of this meeting was to support the review of EMA being conducted by the Welsh Government which is due to publish later this year.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-27931 on 14 June 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 .