Chamber and committees

The Delivery Framework for Miscarriage Care in Scotland has 34 actions/deliverables. Actions have been prioritised for implementation effective from 1 April 2025, with immediate action expected to be delivered in the first 6 months, short term in the first fifteen months and medium term within two years. NHS Boards will be asked to report on their progress towards implementation, aligned to the above timescales. The Scottish Government announced funding of £1.5 million in the financial year 2025-2026 to help Boards implement the Framework.

To further assist NHS Boards with implementation the Scottish Government published a national progesterone pathway, extensively updated the miscarriage information available on NHS inform and published information leaflets for women and their partners.

Children’s Parliament was established in 1996. Their organisational mission is to lead the development of a rights-based culture in Scotland and ensure that children’s voices are actively engaged in shaping our world. They support the Scottish Government, local authorities, and other public bodies to fulfil their legal obligations to promote and protect the human rights of everyone and fulfil their duty of care toward children. Through their rights-based, creative practice, they provide children up to age 14 years old from diverse backgrounds across Scotland, with opportunities to share their experiences, thoughts, and feelings so that they can influence positive change in their lives at home, in school and in the community.

The Scottish Government engages with a range of organisations when making policy decisions. It is therefore not possible to directly attribute and quantify the influence of any one organisation. However, it is important to acknowledge since 2007, the Children’s Parliament has worked closely with Scottish Government to impact various policy areas, including:

• Scotland’s Climate Assembly
• COP 26
• Learning for Sustainability Curriculum Development
• Anti Racist Education Principles
• Gender Equality in Education
• Education Reform
• Tobacco Action Plan
• National Performance Framework
• The development of the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024
• Scottish AI Strategy
• Mental Health Information and Support (Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Joint Delivery Board)

The decision to mitigate the effect of the two-child cap was taken following discussions in Government in advance of the draft budget publication on 5 December 2024. This decision was subsequently recorded and stored in the Electronic Records and Data Management System in accordance with records management requirements.

Children’s Parliament was established in 1996. Their organisational mission is to lead the development of a rights-based culture in Scotland and ensure that children’s voices are actively engaged in shaping our world. They support the Scottish Government, local authorities, and other public bodies to fulfil their legal obligations to promote and protect the human rights of everyone and fulfil their duty of care toward children. Through their rights-based, creative practice, they provide children up to age 14 years old from diverse backgrounds across Scotland, with opportunities to share their experiences, thoughts, and feelings so that they can influence positive change in their lives at home, in school and in the community.

The Children’s Parliament have their annual accounts published on the Companies House website. These provide a breakdown of money received from the Scottish Government from 2020-24.

THE CHILDREN'S PARLIAMENT filing history - Find and update company information - GOV.UK

The 2024-25 annual accounts will be available on the Companies House website in due course, following the end of the financial year. However, at his point we can confirm that the Scottish Government currently expects to provide the Children’s Parliament with funding totalling £320,878 in 2024-25 (subject to relevant financial controls).

Children’s Parliament receives core funding from the Scottish Government via the Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention and Adult Learning and Empowering Communities Fund (CYPFEIF & ALEC) which is administered by the Corra Foundation. From 2018-19 to 2021-22 they were awarded £235,000. From 2022-23 to 2024-25 they received £246,750 annually. The Children’s Parliament is on track to meet the agreed outcomes by the end of 2024-25. Corra has indicated, through their formal grant reviews and monitoring, that the Children’s Parliament is delivering value for money and continues to demonstrate good progress towards the agreed objectives.

The Children’s Parliament also evidenced delivery of the aims of the three year grant funding, of £147,000 per year, that they received between 2021-2024 as part of the UNCRC Implementation Programme.

Children automatically become a Member of the Children's Parliament (MCP) when they become involved in projects, run by the Children’s Parliament, that are designed to give them the opportunity to engage directly on issues that matter to them. Children are selected for this opportunity to represent the diversity of all children in Scotland. (Children are not elected to become MCPs).

In 2023-24 the Children’s Parliament worked directly with 1,665 MCPs and indirectly with 5,565 other children. Those children directly engaged include those from minority ethnic groups, those who are neurodiverse, from low income families, young carers and children from migrant/refugee families.

The Children’s Parliament demonstrates a commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. Their work includes engaging with a cross-section of children including those whose rights are most at risk. Targeted projects work with children who will gain the greatest positive impact from participating, including those who are disengaging from learning, struggling with confidence or peer relationships, have life circumstances which mean they are under some stress at home or in the community and who have protected characteristics.

Children’s Parliament was established in 1996. Their organisational mission is to lead the development of a rights-based culture in Scotland and ensure that children’s voices are actively engaged in shaping our world. They support the Scottish Government, local authorities, and other public bodies to fulfil their legal obligations to promote and protect the human rights of everyone and fulfil their duty of care toward children. Through their rights-based, creative practice, they provide children up to age 14 years old from diverse backgrounds across Scotland, with opportunities to share their experiences, thoughts, and feelings so that they can influence positive change in their lives at home, in school and in the community.

The Scottish Government engage with a variety of organisations, including the Children’s Parliament, to ensure there are mechanisms and channels that help to ensure that the voices of children are considered in decision making processes.

In 2023, 13 organisations competed, through an open procurement exercise, to be part of the Children and Young People’s Participation Framework Agreement. The Framework Agreement allows policy teams, from across the Scottish Government to commission engagement with children and young people from a list of pre-approved providers. To be appointed onto the Framework Agreement organisations had to demonstrate their experience and expertise in meaningful engagement with children and young people and the scope, reach, and impact of their work. The Children’s Parliament is one of nine organisations appointed.

Eradicating child poverty in Scotland is a national mission and Mr Swinney’s top priority as First Minister.

We fully appreciate how difficult a cancer diagnosis is for young people and their families. We are committed to making sure the necessary support is available to all who need it, when they need it.

Our Child Disability Payment is designed to mitigate some of the additional costs of caring for a disabled or terminally ill child or young person. It is available to children and young people from the ages of 3 months to 18 years old, who have care and/or mobility needs as a result of a disability.

The Child Disability Payment has paid out over £1 billion to families with disabled children to date.

In responding, I must advise that licence applications to lethally control mountain hare before March 2021 were required for the previous closed season, however following passage of the Animals and Wildlife Penalties, Protections and Powers Scotland Act mountain hares are now a protected species and licence applications are required year round.

Licences to lethally control mountain hare have been issued for the following purposes since 2012; “Preventing serious damage to growing timber”, “Conserving any area of natural habitat” and “Science, research and education”.

Information determining if the land applied to the application is public or private is not held centrally.

We recognise the importance of international connectivity and want to see it grow at all Scotland’s main airports.

The Scottish Government’s Aviation Statement commits to working with Scotland’s airports and airlines to help grow connectivity to the international markets that are important for inbound tourism, business connectivity and the economy as a whole.

We take a national, Scotland wide, approach to route development and our work with airlines is carried out strictly on an “airport-neutral” basis, leaving airlines to decide which Scottish airport to use.

In relation to aviation resilience, the Scottish Government has no role in day-to-day operations at airports in Scotland. These are regulated, where appropriate, by the UK Government and its associated agencies.

Glasgow Airport is a commercial business owned and operated by AGS Airports. I welcome the announcement that, following AGS’ acquisition by AviAlliance, £350 million is to be invested in AGS Airports over the next five years. This investment shows confidence in Aberdeen and Glasgow airports, and in Scotland’s aviation sector and the wider Scottish economy.

The Scottish Government’s Aviation Statement sets out the strategic importance of aviation and how we will aim to support, rather than downgrade, airports in Scotland. The National Planning Framework 4, our national spatial strategy for Scotland, is also supportive of airports as a key part of Scotland’s national connectivity.