Universities are autonomous bodies and operate within a legal framework which places duties on them to uphold freedom of speech and academic freedom, most notably under the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Higher Education Governance (Scotland) Act 2016. These duties apply alongside legal obligations under the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Equality (Scotland) Act 2010. This includes the Public Sector Equality Duty reporting and the statutory requirement that Universities undertake Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessments of their policies.

Universities must also comply with the Scottish Code of Good Higher Education Governance. Institutions are required to report on their compliance with the Code in their annual accounts.

Compliance with the Code of Good Governance is a condition of grant from the Scottish Funding Council. Regulatory bodies including the Scottish Charity Regulator, the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman also have an interest in how institutions exercise their legal responsibilities.

At this time there is no agreed pay award for Scottish Government.

Following a period of negotiation the Scottish Government made a formal pay offer to the recognised trade unions (PCS, Prospect, and FDA) on 14 July 2025. The offer was rejected by PCS and Prospect. FDA indicated they could not recommend acceptance to their members. We will continue to explore next steps with the trade unions to find a solution.

The recruitment and retention of staff is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service as the employer. There are currently two on call stations in the Orkney Islands Council area with a full staffing complement. When an appliance is not available, a response will be provided from the next nearest available location.

The recruitment and retention of staff is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service as the employer. The 29% vacancy rate refers to on-call establishment figures. SFRS is taking action to recruit more on-call firefighters though the use of 50 full time on-call support officers and in providing targeted assistance to potential candidates. In addition more flexible contracts have been introduced which can reduce the time commitment needed to be an on-call firefighter.

The recruitment of staff is an operational matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. There are challenges in recruiting and retaining on-call firefighters in some rural areas of Scotland and there are currently no on-call fire stations in Shetland with a full staffing complement. However, a full staffing complement is not required for an on-call fire appliance to be deployed because it can attend emergencies if there are 4 crew available at any given time. When an appliance is not available, a response will be provided from the next nearest available location.

The allocation of Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) resources to respond to wildfires and indeed to respond to any emergency incident that requires its attendance, is an operational matter for SFRS.

Since the launch of its Wildfire Strategy in 2023, SFRS is investing £1.6 million in vehicles and operational equipment including Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The provision of wildfire PPE has been focused on the specialist fire stations which deal with the majority of wildfire incidents. Firefighters from non-specialist wildfire stations who respond to support operations continue to wear standard structural PPE.

The Chief Fire Officer has provided assurances to the Scottish Government that firefighter safety is an absolute priority, that all specialist wildfire PPE and existing standard PPE in place is safe and that SFRS remains fully prepared and equipped to respond to wildfires.

The recruitment and retention of staff is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service as the employer. There is currently one on-call stations in the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar Council area with a full staffing complement. When an appliance is not available, a response will be provided from the next nearest available location.

The recruitment and retention of staff is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service as the employer. There are currently six on call fire stations in the Argyll and Bute Council area with a full staffing complement. When an appliance is not available, a response will be provided from the next nearest available location.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. The use of overtime is an operational matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

The £1m allocated to the project is to cover liabilities if awardees exercise their option to redeem their Peatland Carbon Units with Scottish Government rather than selling them on the open market.