Chamber and committees

Eradicating child poverty is a national mission and this Government’s top priority, and our Programme for Government sets out how we will continue to drive forward progress on child poverty and tackle the cost of living crisis facing households in the final year of this Parliament.

Through the Children, Young People, Families, Early Intervention and Adult Learning and Empowering Communities (CYPFEI & ALEC) third sector fund the Scottish Government has provided core funding of £139,650 to the Child Poverty Action Group in 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26 financial years. The funding supports staff, utility, building and equipment costs within the organisation to support delivery of grant funding outcomes associated with the delivery of tackling child poverty in Scotland.

The Scottish Attainment Challenge programme has also provided targeted funding to the Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland of £152,479 in 2023-24, £158,415 in 202425 and £160,940 in 2025-26. This support has been critical in driving the development of Cost of the School Day approaches across Scotland, enabling the team at Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland to provide strategic leadership and engage with school communities, local authority partners, policymakers and the third sector, facilitating action on school costs and supporting children and families on low incomes.

As part of the Scottish Government's grant conditions, we ask all funded organisations to monitor and report their progress towards delivery of their funding outcomes to ensure appropriate use of public funds and value for money. Through this process we are aware that the Child Poverty Action Group met their funding outcomes in 2023-24 and 2024-25.

Clinical decisions on the care and treatment of individual patients are always matters of professional judgement for the responsible practitioner.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) has four national youth engagement services on offer ranging from primary, secondary and tertiary interventions depending on local partnerships, funding and need. These are:

• FireSkills – This is a fully flexible programme, free for those aged between 12-18, consisting of a range of sessions based on firefighter drills, adapted to provide a unique opportunity and learning experience for young people.
• FireSkills Employability Award (FEA) - Building on the sessions from FireSkills, the FireSkills Employability Award has been developed in partnership with Ayrshire College and demonstrates the SFRS commitment to supporting the attainment challenge by providing the best opportunities for young people through providing formal recognition of their achievement.
• Fire Safety Support and Education (FSSE) - SFRS works in partnership to deliver FSSE to those under the age of 18. Through a programme of tailored interventions, FSSE offers a flexible approach to assist in the early intervention of those who demonstrate an unsafe interest in fire or fire related anti-social behaviour. The scheme aims to educate young people and their families on fire safety and consider wider implications and impact of their actions.
• Youth Volunteer Scheme (YVS) – SFRS’s YVS is a free national youth initiative that creates opportunities for young people aged 12-18. The main objective of YVS is to provide a safe, welcoming, enjoyable and fun environment where young people can learn as individuals, develop positive relationships and actively work together for a safer Scotland.

The Scottish Government has not carried out any formal risk assessment regarding Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and Ministry of Defence (MOD) civil defence co-operation and the proposal to transfer any defence liabilities to the civil sector as no formal proposal to transfer any such liabilities has been presented to us.

We are aware of technical work being conducted by NDA and MOD to evaluate the potential transfer of the Vulcan Naval Reactor Test Establishment, near to Caithness, to the NDA when the site reaches the end of its operational life, not expected to be before April 2027, and we will consider the results of this in due course. Under the terms of the Energy Act 2004 any proposal to give the NDA additional responsibilities, including defence liabilities, in Scotland requires agreement from Scottish Ministers and a Designation Direction under the Energy Act 2004 would require to be to be laid in the Scottish Parliament.

Any transfer of Vulcan to the NDA would also require the relevant authorisation under the Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018 issued by SEPA and so would be subject to robust independent scrutiny.

The Scottish Government is committed to advancing equality and tackling the structural barriers that contribute to the gender pay gap. We recognise the concerns raised in Close the Gap’s From Data to Action briefing, particularly the need to improve the effectiveness of the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) to ensure meaningful action on gender pay gaps in Scotland.

We remain committed to taking a phased approach to improving the effectiveness of the PSED in Scotland. This includes consideration of regulatory changes to strengthen pay gap reporting. We are considering the points raised in this briefing carefully, alongside a range of other pieces of evidence on the operation of the Scottish Specific Duties, as we develop our PSED improvement proposals for the 2025-29 cycle. A report on these proposals is due to be published in December 2025, in line with Scottish Ministers’ statutory duty under Regulation 12 of the Scottish Specific Duties.

In the meantime, my officials are meeting regularly with Close the Gap to discuss their briefing and other related issues.

The funding decisions taken by the UK Government flow into UK Spending Reviews and budgets, which also set out the Scottish Government’s overall capital funding. The capital budget as laid out in the UK spending review on 11 June 2025 delivers a real terms cut to the SG CDEL budget by the end of period covered. In financial year 2029-30 the SG CDEL budget is 1.1% lower in 2025-26 terms. While the front-loaded nature of the capital budgets as well as the sizable increase in financial transactions are welcomed they do not offset the loss of spending power from this real terms reduction. It is widely accepted that the recent inflationary environment has had a greater effect on capital budgets particularly construction related projects. Therefore, the loss of spending power on infrastructure could be even greater than the numbers show. This has been compounded by historic real terms cuts to our Capital settlement by previous governments leading to a backlog in maintenance.

Since the report from the Independent Working Group on Antisocial Behaviour was published on 25 February 2025, the Scottish Government has been engaging with partners including COSLA and Police Scotland regarding a comprehensive response. The Scottish Government’s response to the report will be made available to both Members of the Scottish Parliament and the wider public as soon as practicable.

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with partners, including antisocial behaviour teams in local authorities, regarding best practice in this area. The Government also engages with colleagues in Police Scotland and other agencies to ensure they have the capacity and capability for tackling antisocial behaviour.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) has been working closely with partners, including Fife Council, to address a previous rise in fire-related antisocial behaviour. SFRS believes prevention and education to be the best method of dealing with fire-related antisocial behaviour and has confirmed that this partnership approach has contributed to a recent decline in such behaviour locally.

SFRS staff work year-round to share key fire safety guidance and to engage communities on the dangers and consequences of deliberate fire-setting. The Service’s Youth Volunteer Scheme operates in areas across Scotland, including in Methil, and is open to all 12 to 18 year-olds.

A) Under the terms of the Energy Act 2004 any proposal to give the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) additional responsibilities in Scotland, including defence liabilities, requires agreement from Scottish Ministers and a Designation Direction under the Energy Act 2004 would require to be laid at the Scottish Parliament.

B) Scottish Ministers have not agreed any transfer of defence liabilities in Scotland from the Ministry of Defence to the NDA as no formal proposal to transfer any such liabilities has been presented to us.