Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government condemns all forms of racially and religiously motivated violence. We recognise that incidents of this nature can cause fear well beyond those directly affected, and are committed to working alongside communities and partners to provide reassurance.

Following the reported incidents on 19 June, the First Minister met with faith leaders at Broomhouse and Annandale mosques on 22 June to hear directly from those affected and to understand how best to support communities.

Our work on ensuring inclusive, safe and cohesive societies is continually informed by faith communities and other stakeholders, including through established groups such as the Hate Crime Strategic Partnership and the Faith and Belief Representatives Group, and the wide range of partners we work with.

The Scottish Government has provided record funding to local authorities for 2026–27. 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 antisocial behaviour, on the basis of local needs and priorities.

The Scottish Government complements this with specific national community safety interventions, for example, record funding for Phase 7 of CashBack for Communities, which supports diversionary activities for young people across Scotland.

There is a known relationship between persistent non-attendance, exclusion and anti-social behaviour. That is why the Scottish Government is clear that good school attendance is vital for children and young people. Schools and local authorities must do all they can to ensure that children and young people are included, engaged and involved in their learning.

The national guidance on school attendance was updated in March and reaffirms the importance of engaging and supporting children, young people and their families to secure regular school attendance, and is clear that education authority attendance procedures must be underpinned by robust safeguarding and child protection procedures.

Our national guidance also recognises the importance of strong, trusting relationships between staff and children and young people, along with collaboration with local police and youth services, as appropriate, in reducing some forms of absence and helping to prevent children and young people from being at risk.

The Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 places duties on Health Boards to ensure that at all times suitably qualified and competent individuals are working in such numbers as are appropriate for the health, wellbeing and safety of patients, the provision of high-quality care and the wellbeing of staff.

Whilst the Government's role is to set the strategic policy direction, operational matters such as staffing, including recruitment of newly qualified nurses is a matter for the individual health boards as they are the employer. The Scottish Government expects Boards to make recruitment decisions in line with their duties under the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019.

We are fully engaging with health and care providers to understand their position in relation to posts for graduates. Whilst it is hoped that all nursing graduates secure a post in Scotland upon graduation, this is not always immediately possible as vacancies can, due to many factors, fluctuate significantly each year.

The Scottish Government continues to engage closely with the pig production sector, following my meeting on 10 June, in order to understand further the current challenges, with a view to considering how best the Scottish Government can provide support for pig producers and where it may be targeted. I also met with the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator, at the Royal Highland Show on 18 June, to discuss how the Fair Dealing Obligations (Pigs) Regulations 2025 may assist producers in their contracts, bringing balance and transparency to the pork supply chain.

The Scottish Government does not centrally hold records of grid connection applications made to National Energy System Operator (NESO), or of the status of any such applications, or of any decisions made by NESO in relation to such applications.

Applications for consent or planning permission are administered under the relevant Electricity or Town and Country Planning Acts and applicable regulations and are considered on a case-by-case basis. Where appropriate, Scottish Ministers will consider any relevant information held which relates to a proposed development’s grid connection, alongside all other application and environmental information, any public representations received, and all consultation responses, in accordance with legislative requirements.

A refresh to the Framework for Effective Cancer Management (FECM) and supporting toolkit has now been published and supports NHS Boards to effectively manage suspected cancer patients through diagnostic and treatment pathways.

NHS Boards have been asked to complete self-evaluation of their implementation of the FECM and devise associated action plans where necessary. NHS Board Executive Teams should be fully sighted on these plans and are supporting teams to implement. This will provide oversight of areas of improvement or concerns and enable the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) Cancer Improvement team to support board implementation.

NHS Boards are developing detailed planned care delivery plans for 2026-27 to support waiting list reductions and improve productivity. The Scottish Government and the CfSD are engaging with boards regularly and continue to scrutinise improvement plans and performance trajectories to ensure they are deliverable, whilst considering how available funding may support additional activity.

Aggressive cancer is not a term recognised or used in NHS Scotland. This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Scottish Government are presently scoping the approach to establishing the fund, taking into account existing and recent spending plans from across a number of related policy areas, including tourism.

We are aware of collaborative approaches being adopted by a number of local authorities alongside Police Scotland to tackle antisocial behaviour in town centres. The Scottish Government supports local authorities and Police Scotland through record funding.

We seek to complement local action through a range of national programmes aimed at prevention and early intervention. For example, through our CashBack for Communities programme, we support diversionary activities and positive opportunities for young people who may be at risk of becoming involved in antisocial behaviour or offending.