Chamber and committees

Over the last five years, Scottish Government has provided over £33m to Creative Scotland to compensate for the continuous shortfall in National Lottery funding.

As a result of rising costs and pressure on budgets across government, we are unable to make up the ongoing shortfall this year.

On 27 September the Board of Creative Scotland agreed to provide £6.6m for this financial year from its funding reserves, which totals £17m, to cover the shortfall in National Lottery funding. Therefore this means that none of Creative Scotland’s Regularly Funded Organisations will receive reduced funding this financial year.

Subject to the usual Parliamentary processes we will provide the National Lottery shortfall funding of £6.6m to Creative Scotland in 2024-2025.

I moved a motion for Scottish Parliament to reconsider the United Nations Convention on the Rights Of the Child (Incorporation)(Scotland) Bill on 14 September 2023, which was passed unanimously by Parliament. The amendments to the Bill were formally lodged with Parliament on 18 September and the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee is currently taking evidence on the amendments. It is for Parliament to set the date for the Reconsideration debate which it is hoped will be before the end of the year.

Fair Deal was awarded £35,270 from the Scottish Government’s Wellbeing Fund in 2021-22. The £50m Wellbeing Fund was part of a £350m package of emergency community support announced in April 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Wellbeing Fund was managed by a partnership including Scottish Government, the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, Corra Foundation, Inspiring Scotland, and the Hunter Foundation, with support from Scotland's 32 third sector interfaces. Information relating to Fair Deal’s application is held by the Corra Foundation.

We recognise that hygiene related needs in Gaza are acute. However, it is generally accepted as good practice to defer to the expertise of local humanitarian organisations that are best placed to assess and prioritise needs.

We have consulted with a number of UN agencies and international non-governmental organisations operating in Gaza who have also indicated a preference for sourcing locally.

This is why the Scottish Government has no plans at present to donate period products. Instead, we are providing £500,000 towards the United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s flash appeal in response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. These funds will support the immediate food, health, shelter and protection needs of people seeking safety.

With the escalation of violence, the delivery of humanitarian aid in Gaza is extremely challenging. A ceasefire from all sides is urgently needed to allow the creation of a secure and sustained humanitarian corridor to ensure the protection of innocent civilians, and the delivery of essential supplies including food, fuel, water, and medical provisions.

Pathology service providers have confirmed that, where a brain requires to be removed and examined as part of the post mortem examination, no chemicals are used in that process.

On the rare occasions when the pathologist requires to retain the whole brain, the brain is removed and placed intact in 10% formalin (a colourless solution of formaldehyde in water used chiefly as a preservative for biological specimens) and fixed for a few days before detailed examination. The body does not leave the mortuary until that examination has been completed and the brain is returned to the body. Whole brains are not stored in Scotland.

As detailed in my previous answer, in less than 10% of post mortem examinations the pathologist may decide they do not require the whole brain to be examined by a neuropathologist but do require a specialist neuropathology report to be prepared based on the examination of small brain samples. In such cases, the brain is cut fresh and brain regions are selected which are then placed in 10% formalin for a few days before becoming histology blocks and then histology slides. No tissue is retained beyond what is contained within the blocks and slides.

A post-mortem examination may require to be instructed by the Procurator Fiscal to determine the cause of death, to ensure the circumstances surrounding the death are fully investigated and to exclude criminality.

When a death is reported to the Procurator Fiscal, it may not be possible to determine from the facts and circumstances known at that time whether the death is suspicious. That may only be possible when the results of further enquiries – such as the findings of a post mortem examination – are known.

A post mortem examination conducted by two pathologists will be instructed where there are grounds for believing that a criminal prosecution is likely and there is a reasonable belief that a charge requiring a corroborated cause of death will follow. Of the 4,460 post mortem examinations instructed by COPFS from 1 January 2023 to 31st August 2023, 130 of those were conducted by two pathologists.

I have asked the Chief Executive of Education Scotland to write to the member directly on this matter.

The Just Transition Fund did not open for bids in 2023-24. Alongside announcing a £25 million allocation to the Scottish National Investment Bank, our focus has been on continuing to deliver the £50 million multi-year programme of projects announced in 2022-23, including our £11 million package of skills interventions and £30 million investment on innovation projects.

Businesses, social sector organisations and communities have still been able to bid in for grant funding this year through the Supply Chain Pathway and Energy Transition Challenge Fund, Social Enterprise Just Transition Fund, and Participatory Budgeting Fund respectively.

In Year 1, the Just Transition Fund’s £20 million allocation was made up of £10 million capital grants and £10 million Financial Transactions.

Of the £20 million available to be distributed in 2022-23, the full £10 million capital grant allocation was spent. £0.5 million Financial Transactions were allocated to Social Investment Scotland’s Social Enterprise Just Transition Fund and £9.5 million Financial Transactions were unallocated.

In 2023-24 the Fund’s entire Financial Transaction allocation of £25 million has been allocated to the Scottish National Investment Bank. Businesses, projects, and their representatives can contact the Bank via its website, where the Bank’s new enquiries team will handle the approach. Up to an additional £25 million grant funding will be spent as part of the ongoing delivery of the £50 million grant funding committed to in 2022-23.

Scotland’s Population 2022: the Registrar General’s Annual Review of Demographic Trends’ will be published at 9:30 a.m. on 31 st October 2023. The Report provides an overview of trends in population, migration, and deaths, together with other demographic information. A copy of the report is available at

https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/stats-at-a-glance/registrar-generals-annual-review/2022 .