The majority of funding to Scotland is not ring-fenced by the UK Government, with decisions on how money is spent in Scotland made through the Scottish Budget process including in-year Autumn and Spring budget revisions.

In line with the principles of the Verity House Agreement, the Scottish Government does not ring fence funding it provides to local government.

The 2025-26 budget delivered record funding of over £15.1bn for Local Government, who are responsible for the enforcement of existing legislation on underage sales, illicit tobacco and vapes. This a real terms increase of 5.5 per cent.

The 2019 Fuel Poverty Act requires Ministers to undertake a review of the current Fuel Poverty Strategy by December 2026. I welcome the Panel's report and met with the Panel on 11 September to discuss it and recommendations, which we will consider as we work together to ensure any future strategy meets the ambitions and challenges of tackling fuel poverty and achieving our fuel poverty targets – which remain the most ambitious in the UK.

Our commitment to tackling fuel poverty is unwavering, and we are doing all we can within our powers to support households. We continue to support vulnerable households through our winter heating benefits, provision of free income maximisation support, welfare and debt advice and energy efficiency schemes.

High energy prices are currently the greatest driver of fuel poverty. It is clear that high energy prices must be addressed, and the fundamental fiscal and policy levers lie with the UK Government. This is why we continue to press the UK Government to urgently deliver an automatic and targeted discount on energy bills to address unaffordable bills at source.

The 2025-26 budget delivered record funding of over £15.1 billion for Local Government, a real terms increase of 5.5 per cent compared to 2024-2025. In line with the Verity House Agreement the Scottish Government does not ring-fence or direct local government funding.

Local Government have responsibility for ensuring local budget decisions deliver local and national priorities, including the enforcement of existing legislation, such as tackling underage sales

The Scottish Government works closely with the Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland (SCOTSS), including funding a National Coordinator, to support enforcement of Tobacco and Vaping legislation including checks on sales of tobacco and vapes to under 18s.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The Scottish Prison Service has a diverse workforce and is committed to providing a supportive and inclusive environment for all.

Stonewall’s Diversity Champions Scheme provides a range of support for individuals and employers in respect of the entire LGBTQI+ community.

SPS continues to champion the diverse nature of its workforce by recognising and celebrating their diversity and achievements through wider initiatives such as the Butler Trust and PRIDE.

For 2025, SPS held the view that continued membership of the Scheme represented value for money. As normal, this will be kept under annual review.

At the UK Spending Review the Scottish Government received a Barnett share of the net changes to UK departmental budget allocations, which ultimately fed into the total settlement. This is not broken down by programme, with any new of additional spending allocations in 2025-26 forming part of the overall allocation to the Scottish Government.

The 2025-26 budget delivered record funding of over £15.1 billion for Local Government, a real terms increase of 5.5 per cent compared to 2024-2025. Local Government have responsibility for ensuring local budget decisions deliver local and national priorities, including the enforcement of existing legislation, such as tackling underage sales and illicit tobacco and vapes.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The Scottish Prison Service has a diverse workforce and is committed to providing a supportive and inclusive environment for all.

Stonewall’s Diversity Champions Scheme provides a range of support for individuals and employers in respect of the entire LGBTQI+ community.

SPS continues to champion the diverse nature of its workforce by recognising and celebrating their diversity and achievements through wider initiatives such as the Butler Trust and PRIDE.

Measuring and monitoring food waste across Scotland is a complex and challenging task. Zero Waste Scotland undertakes a range of work to monitor food waste and trends across households and businesses. Details of monitoring methods and latest available data is provided in the 2021 Scottish Food Waste Estimate, published in January 2024 and available at: mf-cdtg7vnr-1696942041d. Other recent monitoring reports include Zero Waste Scotland’s Household Waste Composition Analysis in October 2023 (available on Zero Waste Scotland’s website at: mf-ejmegftx-1696500166d. and an updated estimate by Zero Waste Scotland on Household Food Waste in Scotland 2021-22 (published in September 2025 and available on Zero Waste Scotland’s website at: mf-thcf7oxw-1758714008d

We know that improving how we measure food waste and identifying where and why it occurs across businesses and households is a critical step: better understanding of the volume and make-up of waste will allow for more effective action and allow for resources to be targeted to make a real impact. Actions are in train to improve food waste data, including the development of digital waste tracking. We have also committed to engage with stakeholders to develop effective options to implement mandatory reporting of food waste and surplus by businesses to further improve our understanding to aid targeted action.

The Scottish Government places great importance on community sports and leisure facilities and we recognise the crucial role facilities play in supporting the wellbeing of our population.

We acknowledge the importance of Glasgow Club Scotstoun as a leading indoor tennis venue in Scotland and the importance of this facility for the community and players, as well as for international and domestic tennis events. The proposal to convert two indoor tennis courts into three indoor padel courts at Glasgow Club Scotstoun is a decision for Glasgow Life and Glasgow City Council, and is not a matter for the Scottish Government. We understand that Glasgow Life have explored options to ensure the venue can continue to deliver quality sports facilities, while also maximising efficiency and income.

Our national agency for sport, sportscotland, continues to be updated on progress and will continue to provide support where appropriate.

Schools must arrange specialist anaphylaxis training for staff where a pupil within the school has been diagnosed as being at risk of anaphylaxis. Where this happens, schools should ensure there are a reasonable number of designated members of staff available to provide sufficient coverage, including times when staff are on leave.

Any member of a school’s staff can volunteer to take on responsibilities for administering adrenaline to children or young people, although they cannot be compelled to do so. Where school staff do volunteer to administer epilepsy rescue medication to children and young people, they must be appropriately trained and they should have their epilepsy training refreshed at least every two years.

Information about treating anaphylaxis, and the use of adrenaline auto-injectors, in schools set out in our guidance on supporting children and young people with healthcare needs in schools. This information is available through the following web link: Supporting children and young people with healthcare needs in schools: guidance - gov.scot.

Public Health Scotland collects data and monitors progress on the Alcohol Brief Intervention (ABI) programme. NHS Boards have the responsibility for collecting information and data on ABIs delivered and for providing PHS with this information. PHS publishes its data, which can be found at the link here.

Alcohol Brief Interventions - Search the datasets - National Datasets - National Data Catalogue - Health intelligence and data management - Resources and tools - Public Health Scotland

PHS published an evaluation of the ABI programme in October 2024 which included recommendations for a refreshed approach and paused its data collection in early 2025. The refreshed programme is being developed for inclusion in our forthcoming Alcohol and Drugs Strategic Plan.