Addressing allegations of sexual misconduct is an operational matter for the Chief Constable. The information requested is not held by the Scottish Government.

Officer wellbeing is an operational matter for Police Scotland. I refer the member to my response to S6W-35420 on 17 March 2025 and S6W-37984 on 9 June 2025.

The Chief Constable has stated to the Criminal Justice Committee that the wellbeing of police officers and staff is one of her main priorities. Police Scotland has made a £17 million investment in workforce wellbeing, which includes a 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme and enhanced occupational health services, to support officers and staff wellbeing.

Police Scotland has provided reassurance that they have a healthy recruitment pipeline and has recruited around 1,370 officers since the start of 2024.

Funding was approved for the school programme of the Edinburgh International Book Festival on 28 March 2025, some months prior to the appointment referred to.

Edinburgh International Book Festival have confirmed that appointments to their Board for directors, which are unsalaried and unremunerated, follow fully advertised and formal open recruitment processes.

We have undertaken a full policy development process in order to reach a finalised position of no support for onshore conventional oil and gas in Scotland, in line with statutory requirements. The first step in this process was the launch of a call for evidence which ran from 21 June to 2 August 2022, which invited stakeholders’ views and expanded our evidence base in this policy area.

We have undertaken a full policy development process in order to reach a finalised position of no support for coal extraction in Scotland, in line with statutory requirements. The policy position was subject to statutory and other assessments, including Strategic Environmental Assessment, before finalisation. This included in our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan (ESJTP), and our National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4).

We have undertaken a full policy development process in order to reach a finalised position of no support for coal extraction in Scotland, in line with statutory requirements. The first step in this process was the launch of a call for evidence which ran from 21 June to 02 August 2022, which invited stakeholders’ views and expanded our evidence base in this policy area.

Hydrogen policy officials met recently with several of the academics from Manchester University to discuss the findings in the On Hydrogen report and we will take these papers into consideration as part of our ongoing studies of the broader research landscape in the hydrogen sector.

Our industrial clusters will play an important role in achieving our vision of a decarbonised, successful, industrial sector. In some cases, decarbonisation will mean adoption of a range of new technologies, including low carbon hydrogen.

We do not hold lists of organisations and their views on shock collars, and it would be inappropriate for us to comment on their views.

We are continuing to give the SAWC reports on remote control static pulse devices and other aversive training devices careful consideration, along with the findings of our review into whether further provisions for wearable static pulse training devices are required, which was undertaken as part of the review of the Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Act 2020. Once we have finished our deliberations, we will announce our timeline for a further consultation.

Scottish Government officials meet regularly with the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission to discuss a range of issues. Officials were invited to subgroup meetings during the development of SAWCs report on remote controlled static pulse training collars; however there have been no specific meetings regarding the use of static pulse collars since the publiscation of SAWC's findings.