Chamber and committees

National Records of Scotland (NRS) is a non-ministerial department of the devolved Scottish Administration. The NRS Chief Executive is supported by an advisory board in the effective discharge of their statutory responsibilities. It would not be appropriate for the Scottish Ministers to attend these meetings.

In the last twelve months, I have met the NRS Chief Executive on 11 separate occasions. The NRS Chief Executive also provides me with routine written updates.

Since May 2021, Ministerial oversight of Historic Environment Scotland (HES) has been led by the Minister for Europe and International Development until January 2022, then the Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development from January 2022 until May 2024. I took over Ministerial oversight of HES in May 2024.

In that time period, I have not attended any board meetings of HES. However, the Cabinet Secretary and Ministers have met regularly with the Chief Executive as is normal convention for non-departmental public bodies.

Scottish Ministers do not routinely attend Architecture & Design Scotland board meetings and I have not attended any board meetings of the body since May 2021. Most recently, I met with the Architecture & Design Scotland Chair and Chief Executive in November 2024. A senior official in the sponsor directorate attends the Architecture & Design Scotland AGM on behalf of Scottish Ministers. Officials also regularly attend A&DS board meetings as requested as an observer.

The Scottish Government regularly liaises with the UK Government and law enforcement partners about money laundering.

As I referred to in my answer to S6W-41770 on 24 November 2025, Operation Machinize has had successful results in relation to disrupting activity within shops that are being used for money laundering.

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.

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.

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 Deal publishes both Annual and Quarterly Performance Reports to Governments and the City Region Cabinet, which are publicly available and report on delivery of the Deal.

Our investment has delivered significant outcomes to date including 34.9 hectares of enhanced public realm, more than 68 kilometres of new cycling and pedestrian routes, and over 63 hectares of vacant and derelict land reclaimed. At the tenth anniversary last year, partners announced that £880 million of follow-on investment has been secured.

Further benefits, including jobs, will be assessed as projects are completed and evaluated.