Chamber and committees

The Veterans Mental Health Advisory Group was established to progress the Veterans Mental Health & Wellbeing Action Plan. Tackling stigma is a key objective.

A Veterans Voice group serves to ensure the views of veterans inform the development and implementation of proposals emerging from the Advisory Group. This lived experience group will play a vital role in ensuring we remove barriers that prevent veterans from accessing mental health support.

Additionally, the Scottish Government has worked in partnership with See Me Veterans | End Mental Health Stigma and Discrimination (seemescotland.org) providing £50,000 to tackle stigma and promote the importance of veterans seeking help for mental health issues.

a) NHS Boards are informed of their individual baseline funding on the day of the Scottish Budget announcement. In the last five years, this has been:

2020-21 – 6 February 2020

2021-22 – 28 January 2021

2022-23 – 9 December 2021

2023-24 – 15 December 2022

2024-25 – 19 December 2023

b) Baseline funding is further supplemented by Scottish Government directorate funding allocations throughout each financial year, to arrive at the NHS Board revenue resource limits (RRL). NHS Boards draw cash from the Scottish Government throughout the year as required, based on the value of their RRL.

In year changes can happen depending on in year consequentials received from UK decision making. This uncertainty on funding makes it difficult to have long term financial planning for the Scottish Government, boards and our other partners including community and voluntary sector organisations.

The General Practice Armed Forces and Veterans Recognition Scheme opened to General Practices across Scotland in November 2023. The scheme aims to raise awareness among General Practice teams of some of the health challenges that veterans and Armed Forces families face as a result of military service. The training itself is easily accessible through NHS Scotland’s Digital learning platform and is currently being further developed for use by staff in secondary care.

During 2020, the Scottish Government, in partnership with local authorities, MOD and Veterans Scotland, promoted and distributed Armed Forces and Veterans awareness training to all local authorities in Scotland via the network of Armed Forces and Veterans Champions. The training package also provided sources of further information and support for the veterans and Armed Forces community.

While training is currently available, it is for individual practices and local authorities themselves to determine the mandatory training requirements of their staff.

This information is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government is clear that any cuts to learning hours are not acceptable. Scottish Ministers remain keen to come to an agreement with local government on the provision of learning hours in local authority schools. If no agreement is reached Scottish Ministers will take steps to ensure learning hours are protected, including considering the use of regulatory powers.

The Scottish Government is committed to working with our international partners to secure a global transition to a net zero and resilient future in a way that is fair and just for all.

COPs are an important opportunity for international partners to come together, share lessons and agree action. Scotland will continue to play our part at COPs, making the case for greater inclusion of devolved governments and ensuring climate justice is at the heart of international climate action.

No decision on SG attendance has yet been made in relation to COP29. A decision regarding ministerial attendance will be taken in due course.

It is an offence in Scotland, as it is in England and Wales, for utilities to fail to secure the safety of road works by ensuring that those works are adequately guarded and lit and that appropriate traffic signs are placed to guide and direct persons using the road. The Scottish Ministers may issue or approve codes of practice giving practical guidance to utilities in respect of these duties and this is incorporated in the Safety at Street Works and Road Works Code of Practice 2013. A failure to comply with the Code of Practice is evidence of a failure to discharge the relevant safety duties and accordingly evidence that an offence has been committed. These requirements for utilities arise from the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991.

For roads and highway authorities the equivalent legislation is the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 (covering Scotland), and the Highways Act 1980 (Covering England and Wales). While the 1980 Act also included a provision for a mandatory Code of Practice on safety, the 1984 Act did not, and so it was not previously possible to prescribe a mandatory Code for Scottish roads authorities on this topic. As this omission predates the formation of the Scottish Parliament, we cannot provide detail of the policy rationale of the time. This was rectified in 2019, when the Scottish Government made the necessary legislative changes to the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 to extend the requirement to follow the mandatory safety Code of Practice to Scottish Roads authorities. The legislation which requires Scottish roads authorities to follow the mandatory Code of Practice has now been in force since 10 January 2022. The 2013 version of the Code of Practice is currently under review, which will result in an amended foreword, including Scottish road authorities in the list of bodies the Code applies to.

The appointment of a new ministerial team has presented an opportunity to simplify portfolio titles across all parts of government. This in no way changes our commitment to the principles of a Wellbeing Economy, as set out in the National Strategy for Economic Transformation.

A growing economy that is fair and green supports delivery of our other priorities to work towards eradicating child poverty, delivering sustainable public services and tackling the climate emergency. These are and will continue to be the key focus for the Scottish Government.

Steps have already been taken to disseminate the NCA alert to all schools in Scotland.

Education Scotland officials worked with the NCA to ensure a copy of the alert went to all safeguarding leads in each local authority for onward transmission to all schools. In addition, the alert has been circulated to the Personal and Social Education and Health and Wellbeing Network members, who are school teachers, as well as the Registrar of Independent Schools.

The Scottish Government accepted the Investor Panel's recommendations and published its initial response alongside the Panel’s recommendations in November 2023. Officials have since been working with key partners to progress the development of a properly costed, shaped and prioritised pipeline of projects. The Scottish Government has committed to publishing an update on progress and the development of an investment pipeline will form a key part of this.