Chamber and committees

On the 1 September, as part of the Programme for Government, the First Minister announced the Scottish Government’s intention to simplify the NHS by replacing the current 14 territorial Health Boards with two Strategic Health Boards and build on planned reforms to further reduce the number of special Health Boards.

This work will be done with the workforce, not to the workforce. We remain fully committed to partnership working and will work closely with trade unions throughout this process.

For NHS staff the principal change will, in due course, be the transfer of their employment from their current Board to one of the new NHS Boards.

Staff in NHS Scotland continue to receive the best reward package in the UK, and pay, terms and conditions will remain the same, all underpinned by the Scottish Government’s Fair Work principles, and our ongoing commitment to no compulsory redundancies.

Any future workforce changes will be done in full partnership with NHS Trade Unions in a structured and managed way, in line with existing NHS Scotland policies which have been agreed in partnership with trade unions.

The Government is pursuing a suite of action to protect young people from online harm. By way of example, by late Autumn 2026, Education Scotland will commence a focused programme of work to support educators in learning about online harms and online safety, the identification of risks and how they can respond to concerns. The work will involve pre and post participation evaluation to assess participant understanding of the online harms that young people are facing, and of their confidence to recognise and escalate concerns appropriately through established child protection procedures.

Education Scotland currently supports educators through providing information and links to resources via their Safegaurding and Child Protection webpages, one of which is specifically focused on Online Abuse and Exploitation. They also link closely with partners across child protection agencies, law enforcement and the third sector to ensure that their networks are provided with timely information and advice in relation to emerging threats and current online harms.

The safety of firefighters, along with any safety-critical training, are matters for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service as the employer.

The responsibility for the delivery of education rests with individual local authorities. The Education (Scotland) Act 1980 (the Act) enables local authorities and schools to make such arrangements for the day-to-day delivery of education as they see fit.

The ongoing Curriculum Improvement Cycle, led by Education Scotland, is considering the skills, knowledge and understanding that children and young people will be required to develop, including in relation to Digital Skills and how this should be managed as a crucial element of the updated curriculum. This work has been co-created with a group of practitioners and non-education stakeholders and will help improve learning and teaching in digital literacy.

The Curriculum Improvement Cycle will update and strengthen Scotland’s 3-18 curriculum supporting more consistent teaching and learning experiences, and improved attainment and achievement of our children and young people. This is being undertaken in tandem with the dialogue with local government on public sector reform and our ambition, set out in the Programme for Government to empower school leaders, raise standards and reduce variation.

Integration arrangements will be reviewed as part of wider health, social care and public service reform. Over the next three months, we will undertake an intensive programme of engagement with local government and partners to consider how health, social care and wider public services can work more effectively together, make best use of public investment and improve outcomes for people and communities. Partnership working across local government, health, social care and community planning organisations will remain essential. Detailed arrangements will be developed as part of wider public service reform.

The Scottish Government considered a range of evidence in reaching its conclusion that an exemption from Air Departure Tax (ADT)is necessary to protect Highlands and Islands aviation connectivity.

Public libraries are at the heart of communities and make an important contribution to Scotland’s cultural life.

Whilst local authorities have a statutory duty to ensure that there is adequate provision of library services for their residents, in addition to core funding to local authorities, the Scottish Government also provide £1.035 million annually to the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC).

This funding includes £550,000 towards the Public Library Improvement Fund which supports the transformative power of libraries across Scotland to inspire and promote reading and literacy.

The SLIC “Public Libraries: Beyond Adequate” report, published earlier this year by a SLIC Working Group convened on behalf of the Scottish Government, makes ten recommendations across a number of partner organisations. All of the recommendations aim to improve service provision, leadership and strategy in public libraries across all local authorities.

The previous Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture welcomed the report. The recommendations are currently being considered as part of ongoing work. Further details will be set out in due course.

Firefighter training is an operational matter for SFRS. The information requested is not held centrally. The member may wish to contact the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service directly.

This is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. The information requested is not held centrally. The member may wish to contact the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service directly.

The Scotland Legacy Group was established in 2025 and tasked by the Royal Household and the Scottish Government to advise on an appropriate Scottish memorial to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II.

The Group's role is advisory. It will shortly be undertaking a programme of public and stakeholder engagement to inform its recommendations and has not yet reached conclusions on the form, location or design of any future memorial. Individuals and organisations who wish to express views or ideas on the Scottish memorial will be encouraged to feed those views into that engagement programme.

The detail of any next steps will be advised in due course.