Chamber and committees

Information is not held in the form requested. However, 53% of FSS staff are involved in compliance and enforcement activity.

Additives (including preservatives, colourings, sweeteners, emulsifiers, stabilisers, thickening and gelling agents and antioxidants) must be assessed for safety by Food Standards Scotland (FSS) and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) before they can be used in food production in the UK. A food additive is only approved if; it has been tested and proved to be safe for its intended use; there is a justifiable technological need to use it; and its use does not mislead the consumer. A list of currently authorised food additives can be found here:

Approved additives and E numbers | Food Standards Agency

Manufacturers have a legal obligation to ensure additives are used in accordance with regulations and to provide information about any used in the foods they produce additives (what they do and their name or E number) in the list of ingredients on the packaging.

FSS and FSA undertake regular reviews on the science relating to food additives to inform the need for updating our safety assessments, and work closely with enforcement authorities to ensure that the legal requirements are enforced effectively; with appropriate action taken where problems are identified.

Enforcement authorities (including LA food law officers) will verify compliance with regard to the use of food additives as part of their inspections of food manufacturers. Where appropriate this will involve testing samples of product to ensure the levels do not breach regulatory limits. Further to this, FSS will also target products in its national food sampling programmes where there is intelligence on the potential mis-use of certain additives to inform the targeting of enforcement action or guidance that may be required to strengthen compliance.

The Scottish Government has no powers over the Radio Teleswitch Service (RTS).

Ofgem and Energy UK are leading a cross-industry response to the RTS switch-off, which includes a public awareness campaign, which we welcome. However, with under five months till the switch-off on 30 June 2025, and no clear Plan B, the UK Government must use its powers to direct urgent and proportionate action.

In January, I wrote to the UK Minister for Energy Consumers to request that Ofgem include RTS related obligations in licence conditions for both suppliers and the Data Communications Company (DCC) who run the smart meter network. This change would compel both to use every tool available to ensure that households and businesses in Scotland and across Britain do not suffer detriment as a result of the RTS switch off.

However, the Scottish Government remains concerned at the rate of progress. We will continue to engage with the UK Government on a frequent and sustained basis to ensure that Scottish communities are not caused any detriment as a result of poor smart-meter accessibility and the RTS switch-off. This includes offering to convene a jointly-chaired roundtable on energy consumer issues and participation in the Ofgem-led RTS communications working group, which brings together consumer organisations, government and industry.

Any consumers experiencing difficulties with their supplier can contact Advice Direct Scotland (ADS). Funded by the Scottish Government, ADS runs the free national energy advice service and can be contacted on 0808 196 8660 or at energyadvice.scot.

The following table provides the number of people departing prison one or more times in each financial year from remand, with index sentences of one year or less, and with index sentences from greater than one year to four years or less.

The new national throughcare service will ensure equitable support provisions across all communities in Scotland.

The partnership delivering the new national throughcare service (consisting of Sacro, Access to Industry, Action for Children, Apex Scotland, Barnardo’s, Circle, Families Outside and Turning Point Scotland) has experience of delivering throughcare in rural and island communities and understands the additional considerations needed to achieve a robust and responsive delivery model.

A proportion of the budget has been set aside to ensure a tailored ‘spot purchase’ approach to support individuals returning to rural and island communities. This model will ensure that wrap-around support is available to individuals as required across island communities, whilst ensuring a level of parity with mainland provision.

The partnership will also work closely with existing services and agencies operating locally to ensure that the right support is in place for every individual returning to a rural or island community.

The launch of the new national throughcare service does not affect the duty on local authorities to provide voluntary throughcare support and will not replace any locally commissioned services or local processes.

The new service will be structured to work collectively with local partners, including justice social work services, to meet the needs of people who request voluntary throughcare support for prisoners released from both short-term sentences and those on remand.

The service will employ dedicated prison-based workers in each establishment who will have a role in supporting effective multi-agency pre-release planning to avoid duplication of service provision.

The announcement of the second tranche of 2024-25 Community Led Local Development (CLLD) funding totalling £4.25m was provided to all delivery stakeholders on the 27 November 2024 and grant letters with details of their funding awards were issued to all areas on 28th November.

This was later than the Government would have liked, owing to the extremely challenging financial position across the public sector through 2024-25 and the announcement of expenditure controls in August. This required further review of all expenditure. Fortunately the second tranche was able to go ahead.

We recognise that this has compressed the timescales for delivery and have provided an extension to the final deadline for submitting payment claims to Scottish Government.

Local authorities have statutory responsibility for education in their area. Officials have met with education leads within local authorities to understand the impact on the Scottish state sector to date. Scottish Government has received assurance from local authorities that they have the capacity to support increased school rolls.

Scottish Government continues to engage with local authorities and the independent school sector, including the Scottish Council of Independent Schools (SCIS), to understand the impacts of the UK Government policy since its implementation. The independent school sector has conducted its own assessment of financial impact, which is available here: Economic-Impact-of-SCIS-Member-Schools-in-Scotland-2022-23-8Feb24.pdf.

Eradicating child poverty in Scotland is a national mission and this Government’s top priority.

The third sector is a key partner in this work. The Scottish Government greatly values the important role of Scotland’s third sector in providing support for children and families across Scotland – empowering people and enabling communities to thrive – and as a critical friend to both local and national government, helping to guide the action needed.

The latest wave of the longitudinal survey we support through SCVO shows that many third sector organisations are feeling the pressure of rising costs and inflation. Overall, 94% of organisations reported facing challenges, up from 92% in summer 2024.

It is not right that these organisations should be disadvantaged by UK Government policy changes. The Scottish Government has called upon the UKG to take an ‘actual costs’ approach to compensation for increased costs as a result of the increase in employer’s national insurance costs.

In the absence of full funding we will be very restricted in the extent to which we can respond.

We recognise this may mean continued challenges for our third sector partners. We are aiming to assist the sector by improving notification of continued funding to third sector organisations and increasing the number of two year grants we can offer as part of our commitment to Fairer Funding.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information