Chamber and committees

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

To date the Scottish Government has not carried out any assessment of the international data regarding automated harm reduction kiosks.

We remain committed to exploring any evidence-based harm reduction measure which will help us to reduce drug-related harms and save lives. We are aware of different methods of IEP distribution across the world designed to suit their localities and encourage local areas to consider what would best suit their area.

If a local area has identified an automated vending machine as a measure which would benefit their area, Scottish Government officials would be happy to work with them on the feasibility and logistics of implementing it.

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.

The Scottish Government is currently working to support the delivery of a pilot drug checking service in Scotland, with local sites planned in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow, supported by a National Testing and Research Laboratory at the University of Dundee. This pilot is intended to: provide evidence into the effectiveness of drug checking services in Scotland; improve understanding of substances circulating in Scotland’s drug supply; and support harm reduction responses to emerging drug threats.

Through our new Alcohol and Drugs Strategic Plan, we have committed to exploring options to expand access to drug checking. This could include alternative models but will be informed by local need and international best practice. Given the urgency of the challenge, following the establishment of the pilot programme we will not delay in exploring how to further expand access to drug checking, working closely with partners and learning from the pilot as it progresses.

We remain committed to exploring any evidence-based harm reduction measure which will help us to reduce drug-related harms and save lives. If a local area identified an automated vending machine as a measure which would benefit their area, Scottish Government officials would be happy to work with them on the feasibility and logistics of implementing it.

Services across Scotland have already developed flexible and targeted approaches to supplying Injecting Equipment Provision (IEP) equipment by introducing more mobile and more fluid approaches (such as IEP vans) that actively go out to areas where they know people will use them.

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.

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.

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.