Chamber and committees

The Town Centre Capital Fund was only active in 2019-20 and 2020-21, providing funding allocations to all local authorities to support delivery of town centre regeneration

There has been significant investment over recent years in our capital investment programmes, including the Place Based Investment Programme, the Regeneration Capital Grant Fund and the Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme, which have helped to accelerate our ambitions for regeneration activity in town centres.

Place Based Investment Programme (PBIP) funding is allocated directly to Scotland’s 32 local authorities, who are responsible for targeting investment locally in line with the agreed objectives of the fund. As such, the Scottish Government does not receive applications from local organisations for this funding. A total of £5.465 million was made available to 17 local authorities in 2024-2025 via the Place Based Investment Programme (PBIP) as detailed in the following table:

Our Domains Management contract provides Scottish Government and other Scottish Public Sector organisations a single set annual cost on a per top level domain basis. The cost per domain is set for the duration of the contracted period and includes the annual renewal, management and enterprise DNS fees.

Transport Scotland, through its four Trunk Road Operating Companies and five Design Build Finance Operate (DBFO) Concessionaires, is responsible for the management and maintenance of the strategic trunk road network, including motorways. The repair of potholes on all other roads is the responsibility of the local authorities.

Category 1 potholes are defined within the term maintenance contract as those that present, or could present, an immediate hazard to trunk road users. Operating Companies are required to carry out temporary repairs by 6am the following morning and permanent repairs within 28 days. For DBFO concessionaires, road surface Category 1 requirements generally require temporary repairs within 24 hours and permanent repairs also within 28 days. Category 2 defects are those with a lesser severity, which do not warrant a safety-led immediate response. These are considered for maintenance along with information from the annual condition assessments to determine future maintenance schemes within the three-year maintenance programme.

The tables below list the number of Category 1 and Category 2 potholes that were either recorded or repaired in each of the full years between 2021-22 and 2024-25. The data is not available broken down by Local Authority.

The Scottish Government is committed to increasing organ and tissue donation and transplantation to enable more people who desperately need a transplant to access one. The UK-wide Organ Donor Register (ODR) was established in 1994 and is run by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT). As of 1 August 2025, NHSBT reports that there were 3,156,442 people residing in Scotland who have registered their decision on the ODR. The numbers of people in Scotland who have registered in each year since 2021 are as follows:

There is no place for antisemitism, Islamophobia or any form of racism or discrimination in Scotland’s education system. Antisemitic statements, behaviour or offensive or threatening material either on line or in person in universities is wrong and not acceptable. Debate on the current conflict must be done in a courteous and respectful manner. We expect universities to have in place measures to safeguard students and staff and continue to build good relations on campus. Jewish students should be able to express their faith and identity openly and without fear.

We are aware of the StandWithUS UK Report and regularly receive reports from the Community Security Trust (CST) which chart the rise in antisemitism since the start of the current conflict in the Middle East.

My officials meet regularly with Universities Scotland, the Union of Jewish Students and the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh and, at the end of August, met with a range of stakeholders, including Chaplaincy, Community Security Trust, Jewish Council of Scotland, Scottish Funding Council and Universities Scotland. The meeting provided the opportunity for stakeholders to share concerns on antisemitism on campuses, and the roles of key partners including higher education institutions, the Equality and Human Rights Commission and Police Scotland in addressing those.

Any student who has experienced antisemitism should report it to their institutions, the Community Security Trust (CST) and Police Scotland.

The number of Scottish Graduate Entry Medicine (ScotGEM) students that graduated in the denoted years are as follows:

(a) 2023 – 46 students

(b) 2024 – 59 students

(c) 2025 – 49 students

The Scottish Land Commission has not incurred any expenditure on diversity, equality and inclusion officers in any year since 2021.

The Scottish Land Commission has not incurred any expenditure on diversity, equality and inclusion training in any year since 2021, with the exception of 2024-2025 when £59.40 was incurred.

Scottish Ministers are occasionally given prints and artwork as gifts. I have included a breakdown of the data you are seeking below:

Ministers may have received artwork or prints up to the value of £140 as gifts. Gifts under the value of £140 are not recorded by Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The member should refer to each operator, CalMac Ferries Limited and NorthLink Ferries.