Chamber and committees

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.

Questions regarding day-to-day operational matters of Historic Environment Scotland, including queries relating to staff appointments, are best answered directly by Historic Environment Scotland.

I have asked Historic Environment Scotland to respond directly to the member with a full reply to his question in writing.

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.

The Scottish Government had previously intended to progress legislative consent in the Scottish Parliament for measures to restrict the importation and non-commercial movement of dogs, cats and ferrets into the United Kingdom, before the previous Bill fell due to the dissolution of the UK Parliament.

It is our intention to progress legislative consent in the Scottish Parliament for this Bill, subject to the final provisions of the Bill and agreement of the Scottish Government Cabinet Sub-Committee on Legislation.

By working to address this issue in the Bill, important safeguards for animal welfare can be extended to Scotland to ensure we continue to strive for the best possible welfare outcomes for all animals.

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.

The Scottish Government’s resolute commitment to free tuition means that in Scotland access to university remains based on the ability to learn and not the ability to pay. Through the Scottish Funding Council, we invest over £1.1bn for teaching and research in Scotland’s universities and this investment in university education ensures that Scottish domiciled and international students benefit from the learning provided by our world-class universities in near-record numbers.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.

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.

A significant aspect of our pulmonary rehabilitation improvement work was to support the specialist respiratory workforce. This work is now being taken forward by a small group within the Respiratory Speciality Delivery Group. We also continue to work with many types of clinical advisors on delivering improvements to respiratory care and much of this is related to workforce.

The Scottish Government remains committed to delivering the National Workforce Strategy (Health and social care: national workforce strategy - gov.scot) and achieving the overall vision for “A sustainable, skilled workforce with attractive career choices and fair work where all are respected and valued for the work they do”. Whilst no formal update has yet been published, significant progress has been made in a number of areas and we remain committed to providing a fuller update to the strategy at an appropriate time. Whilst the Strategy does not set out operational workforce planning requirements, it states how we are directing policy to support the achievement of our workforce.

The Respiratory Care Action Plan contains broad commitments from a wide range of areas including increasing uptake of vaccines, ensuring people live in warm homes and improvement of air quality. We have made progress across a number of areas under these commitments, such as the Four Nations approach to tobacco.

Along with obesity, smoking represents a chief threat to Scotland's public health and we remain committed to a tobacco-free Scotland by 2034 and welcome the re-introduction of the UK-wide Tobacco and Vapes Bill to UK Parliament, which will help us to achieve our ambitious target.

The Bill will gradually increase the age of sale for tobacco products and provide powers to legislate on vape flavours, displays, packaging, as well introduce an advertising ban for vapes and nicotine products.