Chamber and committees

There has been regular communication between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Prison Service on HMP Highland, including costs, since 2011, in line with updates to the Infrastructure Investment Plan.

• In September 2011 the Scottish Government was updated that the total capital investment for HMP Highland was estimated at £52m.
• In August 2014 the Scottish Government was updated that the total capital investment for HMP Highland was estimated at £62.8m.
• In December 2015 the Scottish Government was updated that the total capital investment for HMP Highland was estimated at £66m.
• In July 2018 the Scottish Government was updated that the total capital investment for HMP Highland was estimated at £73.9m.
• In November 2018 the Scottish Government was updated that the total capital investment for HMP Highland was estimated at £80.5m.
• In March 2020 the Scottish Government was updated that the total capital investment for HMP Highland was estimated at £92m.
• In February 2021 the Scottish Government was updated that the total capital investment for HMP Highland was estimated at £98m - £110m.
• In July 2022 the Scottish Government was updated that the total capital investment for HMP Highland was estimated at £139.5m.
• In February 2024 the Scottish Government was updated that the total capital investment for HMP Highland would be £209m.

The Scottish Government has not had specific discussions with North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire or Falkirk Council about underage vaping, including the sale of vapes to young people.

We work closely with the Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland (SCOTSS) on underage sales of vapes. SCOTSS provides an overview of the action taken at a local level on underage sales of vapes and provides an opportunity for concerns to be raised.

As members of the COSLA Trading Standards Policy and Co-ordination Group we are able to work with a range of stakeholders at national and local level on the topic of youth vaping.

To drive progress towards our circular economy goals, Scotland had a set of waste and recycling targets in place over the past decade running to 2025, and spanning the waste hierarchy.

As our Circular Economy & Waste Route Map set out, while these previous 2025 targets have provided a good platform for progress over the past decade, they are not universally the best indicators to deliver our circular economy, emissions and nature objectives.

By 2027, we will set new statutory circular economy targets, using powers from the Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024. These targets will follow the development of a monitoring and indicator framework to allow for more holistic tracking of Scotland's consumption levels and wider measures of circularity, and will take into account the waste hierarchy.

We are carefully considering the recommendations in the UK Farm Animal Welfare Committee report from 2014 and its updated opinion of February 2023, in conjunction with the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Affairs and Islands Committee’s follow-up inquiry report into fish farming that was published on
17 January 2025.

The welfare of farmed fish at the time of slaughter is assured by Article 3.1 of retained Council Regulation (EC) 1099/2009 and as such we have no immediate plans to introduce further legislation. However, once engagement with the industry and other stakeholders is complete, the guidance we intend to publish will provide flexibility for the industry to quickly adopt new technology and management techniques to improve fish welfare at time of slaughter.

We did not expect to consider a change of ownership as part of the business case work, and this alternative approach has not been taken lightly. Transport Scotland and CMAL were formally advised to take forward initial discussions with Peel Ports Group in November 2024.

These initial discussions had progressed to a more advanced stage which allowed for the recent update to Parliament. Intensive commercial negotiations are ongoing.

The Scottish Government recognise the crucial role councils and their employees play in communities across Scotland. That’s why the Scottish Government has made available over £14 billion to local authorities this year, a real terms increase of 4.3 per cent, with a record £15 billion for 2025-26 set out in the Scottish Budget, a further real terms increase of 4.7 per cent.

In the context of that record settlement, the Scottish Government are committed to working in partnership with local government to ensure that children across Scotland continue to receive the high-quality education services that they deserve but 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 non-teaching staff, on the basis of local needs and priorities.

Revenue Scotland is responsible for the collection and management of Scotland’s fully devolved taxes, including Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT).

Management information data from Revenue Scotland regarding the LBTT Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS) is provided in the following tables. On (c), the information provided is based on the correspondence address included in the tax return. The return does not however require information to be provided regarding a taxpayer’s residency status.

Where an amount of ADS is due in relation to a transaction, it may in some cases later be reclaimed.

(a) Tax returns submitted in 2024 with ADS declared due by local authority

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The Respiratory Care Action Plan contains broad commitments from a wide range of areas including increasing uptake of vaccines, ensuring people live in warm homes and improvement of air quality. We have made progress across a number of areas under these commitments, such as the Four Nations approach to tobacco.

Along with obesity, smoking represents a chief threat to Scotland's public health and we remain committed to a tobacco-free Scotland by 2034 and welcome the re-introduction of the UK-wide Tobacco and Vapes Bill to UK Parliament, which will help us to achieve our ambitious target.

The Bill will gradually increase the age of sale for tobacco products and provide powers to legislate on vape flavours, displays, packaging, as well introduce an advertising ban for vapes and nicotine products.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Funded places at colleges is based on the number of credits allocated to each college, with a credit equating to 40 hours of learning. SFC publish funding allocations annually in the College Final Funding Allocations release. Information for 2024-25 is available on the SFC website: https://www.sfc.ac.uk/publications/college-final-funding-allocations-2024-25/.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) collect and publish student data, through their annual College Statistics publication: https://www.sfc.ac.uk/publications/college-statistics-2023-24/

Previous funding allocation publications can be found on the SFC website:

Main Website - https://www.sfc.ac.uk/publications/

Archived Website (for publications pre-2019) - https://www.sfc.ac.uk/about-us/sfc-archive/

Further details can be requested from the SFC.