Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government’s approach to harm reduction is informed by current intelligence on emerging drug trends through Public Health Scotland’s Rapid Action Drug Alerts and Response (RADAR) system. Current intelligence indicates that nitazenes are the most commonly detected new synthetic opioids in Scotland. Fentanyl (as an illicit substance) is not often detected in Scotland but is a widely used street term to refer to all synthetic opioids.

We are aware that nitazene test strips are available from some services in Scotland. We are working with partners including Public Health Scotland and Healthcare Improvement Scotland to consider the evidence and inform appropriate Scottish guidance.

The Scottish Government opposes the construction of new nuclear power stations under current technologies, and this position applies to any variation of conventional nuclear fission technology.

The Scottish Government has had no discussions with the UK Government on these matters, nor made any such assessment, as we do not support the building of new nuclear power stations under current technologies. New nuclear comes at a very high cost and creates long-term radioactive waste liabilities.

The Scottish Government has made no legal assessment of this matter. Our policy remains that we do not support the building of new nuclear power stations in Scotland using current nuclear fission technologies. This includes small modular reactors.

Historic Environment Scotland maintains the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland. Due to digital security concerns, the Register webpage has been temporarily taken offline with the aim of restoring the site as soon as possible.

In the meantime, Register information remains publicly available through downloadable datasets on Historic Environment Scotland's Trove and Data Services platforms, including the dataset as it stood when the Register was paused in 2024. Enquiries about individual Register entries can also be made to Historic Environment Scotland.

I have asked Historic Environment Scotland to contact the member directly with more information.

As per answer to Parliamentary Question S7W-03170 on 21 September 2026, Education Scotland's professional learning resource, Learning to Read in the Early Years (2024), identifies systematic phonics as a critical component of early reading instruction and reflects current research on effective reading teaching.

As part of the work to develop that guidance, Education Scotland examined a range of research evidence. This includes research by McGeown, Johnston and Medford (2012), which found that reading instruction can influence the cognitive skills that support early reading development, and McGeown, Medford and Moxon (2013), which identified evidence that systematic synthetic phonics approaches may be particularly beneficial for some learners, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Key sources of evidence and research are as follows:

McGeown, SP., Medford, E., and Moxon, B (2013) ‘Individual differences in children's reading and spelling strategies and the skills supporting strategy use’,Learning and Individual Differences, 28, pp. 75-81.

McGeown, S., Johnston, R., and Medford, E (2012) ‘Reading instruction affects the cognitive skills supporting early reading development’, Learning and Individual Differences, 22, pp. 360-264.

Castles, A., Rastle, K., and Nation, K (2018) ‘Ending the Reading Wars: Reading Acquisition From Novice to Expert’, Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 19(1), pp. 5–51.

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 annual National Improvement Framework (NIF) publication sets out the vision, key priorities and educational outcomes for children and young people. The National Improvement Framework 2026 confirms “Improvement in achievement, particularly in literacy and numeracy” as one of 5 key priorities for our education system.

As part of the package of activity taken forward under the NIF, Education Scotland has published national guidance and professional learning resources Learning to Read in the Early Years.

The guidance makes it clear that systematic phonics should form a foundational part of early reading instruction; states that phonemic awareness is key to reading development; provides definitions and advice to schools on how to develop phonemic awareness, and; provides links to a range of additional resources and advice, including advice from the Education Endowment Foundation.

Education Scotland continues to work with local government partners to share evidence-informed approaches to literacy and reading across Scotland's schools.

2026 National Improvement Framework

Education Scotland: Learning to Read in the Early Years

The Scotland Legacy Group was established in 2025 and tasked by the Royal Household and the Scottish Government to advise on an appropriate Scottish memorial to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II.

The Group's role is advisory. It will shortly be undertaking a programme of public and stakeholder engagement to inform its recommendations and has not yet reached conclusions on the form, location or design of any future memorial. Individuals and organisations who wish to express views or ideas on the Scottish memorial will be encouraged to feed those views into that engagement programme.

The detail of any next steps will be advised in due course.

To date there have been no specific discussions with Police Scotland or the Lord Advocate regarding the legal status of individuals possessing or distributing drug-testing equipment.

The Lord Advocate is independent of the Scottish Government and is responsible for prosecution policy in Scotland. Any decisions regarding prosecution are a matter for the independent Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service within the existing legal framework.

We remain committed to supporting evidence-based harm reduction approaches and continue to work with partners to respond to emerging drug trends and reduce drug-related harm.

The Scottish Government has not provided funding specifically for the evaluation, purchase or distribution of rapid testing strips. However, organisations receiving National Mission funding may have used a proportion of that funding to support such activities as part of wider harm reduction or service delivery programmes.

The Scottish Government has committed more than £1.7 million to deliver Scotland’s drug checking pilot, including the establishment of a National Testing and Research Laboratory at the University of Dundee and local drug checking services planned in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow. In line with our evidence-based approach, the drug checking pilot will be evaluated, and we expect to provide further detail on our evaluation approach over the coming months.