Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has already designated the Mental Welfare Commission to undertake national monitoring and reporting on the use of restrictive practices in inpatient mental health units. NHS Boards were notified of this on 30 October 2025.

The Scottish Government is delivering a transformation programme to reform the post-school education and skills system, which aims at making the system more responsive to Scotland’s strategic skills needs at national and regional levels.

Alongside reform, we are also taking targeted action to meet urgent skills needs in specific sectors. For example, we are investing up to £2 million to develop engineering skills in the Glasgow City Region through a programme led by Clyde Maritime Cluster, and the defence sector, with Skills Development Scotland. Member authorities, led by Inverclyde Council, are leading on engagement with local employability partnerships to identify individuals who would benefit; and offer training opportunities through interventions including Skills Academies, paid work experience and guaranteed interviews. Companies are also working innovatively with regional colleges and other partners to look at specific interventions that would support candidates with particular upskilling or reskilling needs or with additional barriers.

Operational decisions such as curriculum delivery are the responsibility of individual colleges.

Through the Colleges Tripartite Alignment Group, the Scottish Government and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), along with Colleges Scotland, regularly discuss issues in the sector, such as the college funding model.

The changes implemented by the SFC aim to deliver a fair and flexible distribution model, and as advised by the SFC at the Education, Children and Young People Committee on 1 October, they are engaging with Colleges Scotland and the wider college sector on the fundamental review of the funding allocation model.

Scotland is excited to co-host EURO 2028 as part of the biggest ever sporting event jointly hosted by the UK & Ireland. EURO 2028 will be an unforgettable summer of football that will create memories to last a lifetime.

The Scottish Government will invest up to £73 million, including contingency. This funding will help deliver a safe and successful event, and unlock the far-reaching social and economic benefits. Updated socio-economic figures show benefits of hosting EURO 2028 of £3.6 billion for the UK and Ireland. Scotland’s estimated share is £270 million.

Scottish Government investment sits alongside funding contributions from other government partners in the UK and Ireland. Our support for EURO 2028 includes a £3.2 million investment into social impact and community activity programmes which form part of a wider partner social impact fund of circa £45 million. This investment will generate significant benefits long after the tournament concludes. It will help to deliver on the Scottish Government’s priority of Growing the Economy by creating jobs, driving regional prosperity and encouraging visitors to our nation. It is also designed to reduce barriers to opportunity, bring communities together through shared national moments and showcase Scotland as a world class host of major events. A key objective for Scottish Government is to spread the socio-economic benefits of hosting EURO 2028 throughout Scotland.

Through the relevant budget review processes Scottish Government will continue to scrutinise the budget lines and engage with the Scottish Parliament’s Finance and Public Administration Committee as appropriate.

I have asked Gerard Hart, Chief Executive of Disclosure Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

The Disclosure Scotland helpline received 129,575 calls over the past 12 months. Customers waited an average of 16 minutes and 18 seconds to speak to an advisor, with the longest recorded wait time being one hour, 49 minutes and 32 seconds. Call volumes to the Disclosure Scotland helpline usually range between 6,400 to 10,400 per month. From April to July 2025, Disclosure Scotland experienced higher than normal call volumes, which reflects the application volume peak during this period and has increased overall average wait time in the 12 month period.

Monthly calls received and wait times are provided in the following table:

The Scottish Government will revise the Code of Practice under the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 to add guidance on the use of restrictive practices in inpatient mental health wards against children, young people and adults. This will include minimum expectations for reporting, and will be aligned to the new role for the Mental Welfare Commission with regards to national monitoring and reporting on the use of restraint. The Code of Practice will be revised before the end of October 2026.

The Scottish Government partners with a relocation company to assist staff who are assigned to Scottish Government offices overseas.

The costs for the services provided, from financial year 2021-22 to date, are detailed in the following table:

The regulation for the licensing, safety and efficacy of medicines is currently reserved to the UK Government and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. As a result, the Scottish Government has no plans to assess the reasons for three states in the United States of America legalising psilocybin for the treatment of major treatment-resistant depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance-use disorders and in end-of-life care.

The total amount of carbon levy collected in each of the last three financial years is as follows. The levy is calculated and paid back annually by the Scottish Governments travel provider. It is not broken down by Ministerial portfolio.

2024-25 - £8,704

2023-24 - £9,658

2022-23 - 11,148

The Scottish Government carbon levy is collected annually and is accumulated until there is enough available funds to invest in carbon reduction projects on the core estate. In the last three financial years no carbon levy money has been spent.