Chamber and committees

Tackling food fraud has been one of the main functions of Food Standards Scotland since the Scottish Government decided to set up the organisation from 2015. The Scottish Food Crime and Incidents Unit combines the investigative and intelligence functions of FSS, and was established to prevent, detect and investigate fraud and deliberate non-compliance across the food and animal feed chain, while supporting public bodies during incidents to protect public health from risks associated with food consumption. Its remit on fraud includes food adulteration, substitution, counterfeit products and document fraud within food and feed supply chains. Examples of fraud cases include the seizure of over 250 bottles of counterfeit vodka in 2024-25 The labelling closely resembled that of genuine products, but the bottles contained potentially lethal isopropyl alcohol. A successful prosecution case in 2025, resulted in a sentence of 3 and a half years following various fraudulent claims and mislabelling of imported tea as Scottish grown.

Specifically, on mis-leading labelling the Scottish Government and FSS recognise the importance of protecting consumer confidence and the reputation of genuine Scottish producers by ensuring origin claims are accurate and evidence-based. Under the Food Information to Consumers Regulation, an indication of country of origin is required where the absence of such information is likely to mislead consumers as to the true country of origin or place of provenance of that food. The place of last substantial change, such as curing pork into bacon or baking ingredients into a cake determines the origin of processed food. Simply packing a food does not constitute a substantial change therefore the origin isn’t affected. Where food businesses are not required to provide origin information, they can still provide this information on a voluntary basis providing such indications are accurate and this is done in the same way as if it were mandatory. However, where businesses falsely present products as Scottish or UK-produced when this is not the case, appropriate enforcement action will be taken to protect consumers and legitimate Scottish producers.

A range of different stakeholder organisations are reflecting shared concerns about the nature and extent of protest activity, disorder and incidents of hate, prejudice and intimidation and their impact on faith communities, adversely racialised communities, people seeking asylum and refugees. This is independent of government and there is not a formal or constituted body as such called the Anti-Racism Coalition.

A range of different stakeholder organisations are reflecting shared concerns about the nature and extent of protest activity, disorder and incidents of hate, prejudice and intimidation and their impact on faith communities, adversely racialised communities, people seeking asylum and refugees. This has been independent of government and there is not a formal or constituted body as such called the Anti-Racism Coalition.

Implementation of many measures in the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2025 require secondary legislation and guidance, and will therefore be subject to Parliamentary business and timetabling. The timetable for implementation of the measures is being developed. I intend to write to the Convener of the Rural Affairs Committee to set out the planned timetable for implementation.

As I set out in my statement to Parliament on 2 June, we will launch our consultation on a legislative approach to restrictions on mobile phones in schools within the first 100 days of this government. Further development of the legislative approach will be informed by the outcomes of this consultation, including the views of local authorities who have implemented restrictions.

I have asked Linda Pollock, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The numbers of prison officers employed by SPS at the end of each financial year from 2015-16 to 2025-26 are set out in the following table:

All consenting decisions are made on a case-by-case basis in line with the planning, consenting and assessment framework available at the time. No delays to individual project determinations have occurred because of the development timeline of the Updated Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy, which remains on track for adoption in Summer 2026. Due to the conclusions of the plan-level Appropriate Assessment, adoption of the Updated Sectoral Marine Plan is contingent on UK Ministerial agreement.

The Scottish Budget for 2026-27 includes £9.4 million of investment to support independent hospices to provide pay parity with NHS levels for staff who deliver essential palliative care services.

We are working with the Scottish Hospice Leadership Group (SHLG) to gather relevant information from hospices to help ensure our governance and approval procedures are correctly followed prior to any allocation of funding being agreed.

This funding will be provided to hospices via allocations to NHS boards, with the clear expectation set that this funding should be immediately paid onward to the hospices.

We will continue to engage with SHLG and NHS boards to ensure that all independent hospices receive the funding as intended.

A national programme of work to address recommendations of the Independent Review of Audiology Services in Scotland (IRASS) was concluded in 2025. A final report was produced which sets out how recommendations have either been implemented and completed, or embedded in longer term work programmes within the health and social care system.

This report is available at: Implementing-the-Recommendations-from-the-IRASS-March-2025.pdf.

Our 100 days prospectus includes a commitment to convene government, NHS Heads of Service, community audiology providers and stakeholders to set out an agreed plan to enhance community audiology services. This reflects our ongoing commitment to working with partners to determine how best to shift audiology care into the community.

The Scottish Government has not identified any Barnett consequential funding specifically linked to the introduction of the Places of Worship Renewal Fund in England.

Under the Barnett formula, changes to the Scottish Government’s funding are calculated at the level of overall UK Government departmental spending, rather than individual programmes or schemes. UK Government ministers have confirmed that the funding for the Places of Worship Renewal Fund is included within the wider Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) settlement, and that Barnett consequentials are applied to the total departmental allocation rather than to specific funding lines.

Decisions on how to allocate funding received through the block grant are a matter for the Scottish Government, in line with devolved responsibilities.

The final decision to end the UK-wide scheme was also only confirmed to the Scottish Government after the 2026-27 Scottish Budget was set, further limiting Scottish Ministers' options. However, Ministers will continue to seek options.