Chamber and committees

The Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Rural Affairs met with the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator at the Royal Highland Show on 18 June. The Fair Dealings Obligations Regulations seek to ensure greater fairness and transparency in the supply chain by requiring there to be written purchase contracts between pig producers and their buyers and sets out a number of the provisions that should be in these contracts. Retailers are therefore unlikely to fall under the scope of the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator unless they are buying pigs directly from farms and instead fall under the scope of the Groceries Code Adjudicator.

The Scottish Government worked closely with the UK and other devolved governments to develop the Fair Dealings Obligations Regulations in the milk and pig sectors. The pig regulations are in force for new contracts signed after 13 August 2025, and for existing contracts from 13 August 2026. The Scottish Government will continue to stay engaged with the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator, Defra and industry on the practical effects of the regulations.

The Scottish Government is clear that we must not allow recent attacks to stoke fear or division. We recognise the distress these events have caused, and that everyone in Scotland should be able to go about their daily lives without fear.

Ministers and senior officials have met with Police Scotland following the reported attacks in Edinburgh on 19 June 2026. The Scottish Government engages regularly with Police Scotland on issues of community safety and the policing of public events, and recognises the importance of communication that supports safety and provides reassurance across communities.

The European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) articles apply to marches, parades and static demonstrations and organisers of static demonstrations or protests do not need to notify a local authority or Police Scotland of their intentions to hold an event. Police Scotland regularly communicates information about events and potential disruption through public communications, local engagement, and partnership working, including outreach to affected communities where appropriate but they will often not have advanced information to communicate ahead of a static demonstration taking place.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on school exclusions due to weapon possession.

Statistics on the number of exclusions by the reason for exclusion are published in School exclusion statistics - gov.scot.

The purpose of the £2 bus fare cap pilot in the Highlands and Islands is to test the impact on bus patronage and subsequent modal shift of such an intervention. The focus of the analysis of the pilot will include evaluation of the impact on bus patronage, car use, and rail passengers, and will be published following the conclusion of the pilot.

Work is underway to progress a £2 bus fare cap to Glasgow, Ayrshire, Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire, Lanarkshire and Inverclyde within the first 100 days of this government. We are also committed to bringing forward legislation for a £2 bus fare cap across Scotland by the end of this parliament, building on the evidence from the current pilot.

The Highlands and Islands pilot is providing us with valuable real-world evidence on customer behaviour, pricing impacts and operator engagement, which will directly inform how we design future schemes.

The current challenges affecting the pig sector include complex trade issues which appear to be affecting prices, as opposed to there being evidence of an increase in imports. Trade data indicates that UK pigmeat imports fell by nearly 5% in volume in 2025, and were down nearly 7% between January and March 2026, compared to the same three months in 2025. However, downwards pressure on the EU pig price appears to have distorted the domestic market.

Whilst international trade is reserved, the Scottish Government will continue to engage with the UK Government on trade matters such as these, with a view to preventing market shocks.

Work is continuing at pace to establish the inquiry. Detailed Terms of Reference are currently being developed, informed by ongoing discussions with Professor Jay, and these will be published in due course.

Professor Jay has made clear her intention to deliver the inquiry at pace, while retaining the necessary flexibility to examine all areas within its remit. The institutions within the scope of the inquiry will be established in discussion with Professor Jay, these will be detailed in the Terms of Reference once finalised.

Personal imports of pork from ASF affected countries represent a high risk of bringing the disease to the UK. The Scottish Government recognises the urgent need for more stringent controls on personal imports of animal products from Europe, particularly in light of the spread of ASF in many European countries.

Scottish Ministers have written to previous Defra Secretaries of State on at least six occasions in the last five years, seeking urgent action, in particular calling for increased resources and investment to improve biosecurity standards at border posts.

In November 2019, Scottish Ministers agreed to the establishment of a dedicated detector dog service delivered by Border Force for the detection of products of animal origin (PoAO) in Scotland’s airports and ports. The dogs have been a great addition to the Border Force team and are highly efficient in the detection of PoAO, stopping these products from entering Scotland.

Following the publication of the Life Sciences Scotland Industry Leadership Group’s (LSSILG) strategy in November 2025, the LSSILG published its delivery plan for sprint 1 in March 2026. Activity is underway across a range of priority actions to support delivery of the Strategy’s ambitions. At the end of the 2026/27 financial year, the LSSILG, with input from the Scottish Government, will publish a report setting out the activities delivered and the progress made against the Delivery Plan.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The Member may wish to contact ScotRail directly.

Supporting transparency of who owns and controls land in Scotland is at the heart of our land reform objectives.

We are working with relevant partners, including Registers of Scotland, to explore options for further supporting transparency of land information.