Chamber and committees

To date there has been no specific consideration given to the feasibility of making rapid adulterant screening test strips available alongside naloxone at community fire stations or other civic safe access points.

We are aware of both the potential benefits and limitations of rapid testing strips as harm reduction tools, including their role in supporting engagement and risk reduction, alongside recognised limitations relating to accuracy and false negative results. We are working with partners including Public Health Scotland and Healthcare Improvement Scotland to consider the evidence and inform appropriate Scottish guidance.

We remain committed to an evidence-based approach to harm reduction and to responding rapidly to changing drug trends, including through expanded naloxone provision and the development of drug-checking services.

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.

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.

I meet regularly with Education Scotland and local authority representatives to discuss a range of education policy and delivery matters.

As per answer to Parliamentary Question S7W-03170 on 21 September 2026 Education Scotland has published strengthened national guidance Learning to Read in the Early Years. That guidance makes it clear that systematic phonics, including synthetic approaches, is an essential and evidence-based method to promote decoding.

In addition, Education Scotland is strengthening the Literacy and English curriculum through the Curriculum Improvement Cycle. This will include a period of engagement and feedback in autumn 2026, providing an opportunity for a wide range of stakeholders to provide comment on that framework.

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 has no plans to commission a feasibility study around the restoration of Holyrood Abbey as a national memorial chapel.

Holyrood Abbey is a Property-in-Care managed by Historic Environment Scotland on behalf of Scottish Ministers. The Properties-in-Care are part of the national estate of historic monuments and sites that are cared for to ensure their long-term preservation and deliver public benefit.

Decisions regarding the conservation, maintenance and management of Holyrood Abbey are therefore made by Historic Environment Scotland.

Education Scotland’s professional learning resource, Learning to Read in the Early Years (2024) makes it clear that systematic phonics is a critical component of early reading instruction.

During 2024, 2025 and 2026, Education Scotland delivered 25 professional learning events to support research-informed early reading pedagogy and practitioner enquiry, engaging 785 practitioners. This included year-long professional learning programmes which, including the 2026-27 cohort, will have engaged 309 practitioners from 84 schools and early learning and childcare settings. Education Scotland will continue to promote and share this guidance and professional learning resources.

While the adoption of specific programmes and approaches is a matter for individual local authorities, the Scottish Government welcomes the focus on phonics as part of the steps being taken by Glasgow City Council to improve reading and literacy outcomes for pupils. 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.

A part of its work to review and update the curriculum, Education Scotland oversees a National Literacy Network which includes representatives from Glasgow City Council. In addition, Glasgow City Council is represented within the Curriculum Improvement Cycle Collaboration Group for English and Literacy. Education Scotland will therefore continue to engage with local authority representatives to ensure that evidence on the impact of the programme can be considered and shared more widely.

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 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.