Chamber and committees

The recording and retrieving of information by Police Scotland on incidents of pet theft is an operational matter for Police Scotland. Any query in relation to the Police Scotland operational approach in this area would therefore best be directed to Police Scotland.

The Scottish Government is providing record funding of over £14 billion to local authorities in the 2024-25 financial year, including £600.6 million of additional revenue funding for day to day services.

It should be noted that the vast majority of funding available to councils is provided by means of a block grant from the Scottish Government. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocated the total financial resources available to them on the bases of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

The responsibility for staff training in schools is a matter for local authorities.

The Scottish Government has published guidance on supporting children and young people with healthcare needs in schools. Annex B of this guidance focuses upon UK-wide Regulations which allow schools to buy and hold spare adrenaline auto-injector (AAI) devices to treat pupils suffering from allergic reactions in emergency situations where their own prescribed device is unavailable. This guidance is available through the following web link: Supporting children and young people with healthcare needs in schools: guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Our guidance states that schools must arrange specialist anaphylaxis training for staff where a pupil in their school has been diagnosed at risk of anaphylaxis. The specialist training should include practical instruction in how to use the different AAI devices available.

The Recorded Theft of Dogs in Scotland April 2019 - March 2021 was published by Police Scotland in response to queries they were receiving relating to dog theft. The data published revealed once ownership disputes arising over dogs were excluded from the data, the number of dogs thefts recorded in 2019-20 was 48 and the number of dog thefts recorded in 2020-21 was 60. It is an operational matter for Police Scotland as to information they publish as contained on their internal management information systems and any query as to whether Police Scotland will publish further information in this area would therefore best be directed to Police Scotland.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government as it is a matter for local Health Boards. Health boards carry out annual asbestos monitoring surveys and asbestos management plans are in place across the NHS estate.

The Bank receives funding through Grant in Aid which it uses to cover operating costs and fund its investments. From launch in November 2020 to the end of March 2023, the Bank received a total of £325m and has invested £304m. The annual breakdown is detailed below. The amount of cash invested in 2023-24 will be confirmed in the Bank’s audited Annual Accounts which will be published in the coming months.

The Scottish National Investment Bank is operationally independent of Government. It makes commercial debt and equity investments to deliver on the three Missions set for it by Scottish Ministers. The Scottish Government will provide the Bank with £174m of budget for investment during 2024-25. Some of that budget will support existing investment commitments with the remainder available for new and follow-on investments.

The Scottish National Investment Bank does not consider ‘applications for funding’. Rather, it makes commercial debt and equity investments to deliver on the three Missions set for it by Scottish Ministers. The Bank is operationally independent of Government and the Government does not hold the information sought.

The Scottish Government recognises the hazard of asbestos and the risks to health that it poses. However, asbestos is only dangerous when disturbed and advice from the Health and Safety Executive is that asbestos should remain in-situ providing it is in “Good” condition and even where damage is minor it should still be encapsulated rather than removed. The Scottish Government does not provide support to public authorities specifically for the removal of asbestos from their buildings as it is their statutory duty under UK Government legislation to manage issues relating to asbestos affecting their estate.

The Scottish Government published the annual Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 progress report on 17 June 2024, providing an update on progress on delivering the actions.

Of the twenty medium term actions, the timeframe for completing three of these actions has been extended beyond 2024. The reasons for this are as follows.