Chamber and committees

Scottish Government’s grant conditions require all funded youth organisations to comply with the clauses as set out in their grant letter. Clause 4.7 requires them to: have robust safeguarding policies and procedures in place to protect vulnerable adults and children which comply with current national guidance in Scotland; report all and any cases of suspected abuse or malpractice relating to anyone involved in delivery of the agreed Activities or any beneficiary of these Activities to Scottish Ministers and the relevant authorities immediately; and provide, upon request, copies of their policies and procedures.

It is a legal requirement for people carrying out regulated roles with children or protected adults to be in the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme. Organisations must not offer a regulated role to an individual without confirming scheme membership.

Disclosure Scotland carried out a major public communications campaign earlier this year to ensure that stakeholders, including youth groups, understand that the PVG Scheme is now a legal requirement for people doing regulated roles with children and protected adults.

In 2025-26, the Scottish Government are providing grant funding to Youth Scotland to deliver capacity-building for youth workers and volunteers through training and workforce development. This includes further development of a suite of online resources including safeguarding policies and procedures.

Decisions around the Scottish Government’s Budget are being considered over the coming months. The Scottish Government will continue to work collaboratively with Universities Scotland on developing a framework for the sustainability of universities, including considering future funding needs.

Through our International Education Strategy, we are committed to strengthening global connections through education and research exchange, in working collaboratively with our world leading universities and colleges, while promoting Scotland as a destination to live, work, and study.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Money laundering is investigated by Police Scotland alongside other partners including His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and the National Crime Agency.

Scotland hosts world-class research and innovation, with each of our unique universities conducting cutting edge, collaborative research across a broad range of disciplines. A suite of innovation activity occurs within Scottish research organisations and businesses. This generates a wide range of economic, societal and environmental impacts, and means we are highly successful in leveraging competitive funds from other sources. Recent analysis was undertaken by Elsevier on Scotland’s research and innovation performance.

The Scottish Government remains committed to research, which sits at the heart of a number of our key policies and strategies, such as NSET, the National Innovation Strategy and the International Education Strategy. We continue to support high-quality research and innovation across Scotland, increasing the investment in HE capital (which includes funding for research) to over £368m – an increase of 3.2% (or over £11m) for AY 25-26. We also continue to fund a portfolio of knowledge exchange and innovation investments, including the Innovation Centres, Interface and Alliances for Research Challenges (ARCs), and funding supporting international research collaboration.

Decisions around the Scottish Government’s Budget are being considered over the coming months. The Scottish Government will continue to work collaboratively with Universities Scotland on developing a framework for the sustainability of universities, including research activity.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-41771 on 24 November 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

As outlined in the Programme for Government this year, we are considering how best we can empower regional partnerships, so that local authorities can work together more with enterprise agencies, businesses, and the third sector at regional scale to drive growth.

The Scottish Government currently provides Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) with £341,250 core grant funding per year through the Children and Young People Early Intervention Fund to support Members of the Youth Parliament (MSYP). Scottish Government’s grant conditions include a requirement that all funded youth organisations must have robust safeguarding policies and procedures in place to protect vulnerable adults and children which comply with current national guidance in Scotland and that, upon request, they provide copies of their policies and procedures. The SYP safeguarding policies can be found here on its website: https://syp.org.uk/safeguarding/.

I also refer the member to the SYP Board statement from 2022. The statement provides details of action taken to strengthen safeguarding policies to ensure they are in line with legislation and also meet national standards. That statement can be found here: https://syp.org.uk/statement-from-syp-board/.

The organisation continues to review their safeguarding polices annually to ensure they are as comprehensive as possible.

The Scottish Government currently provides Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) with £341,250 core grant funding per year through the Children and Young People Early Intervention Fund to support Members of the Youth Parliament (MSYP) to become confident and resilient young people and develop the skills they need to influence change and reach their full potential. They also receive £30,000 for their role in supporting MSYPs to meet with the Scottish Cabinet and Executive team once a year.

My officials have sought reassurance from the SYP about its child protection and safeguarding procedures in the context of the management of these grants. In September 2025, SYP provided reassurance that they work continuously to strengthen their safeguarding guidelines and procedures in line with evolving national child protection policies.

The Scottish Government is clear that we will not reintroduce tuition fees. Access to higher education must be based on the ability to learn, not the ability to pay. State funded tuition is a collective investment in our society and economy.

Within the clear and steadfast policy on free tuition, we are working closely with the University sector to understand and adapt to external factors, such UK immigration policies, while strengthening the sector’s national and global impact and reputation.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-41790 on 20 November 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers