Chamber and committees

Scottish Government has been informed of a memorandum of understanding and initial business case between the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and Ministry of Defence (MOD) to carry out technical work to evaluate the potential transfer of the Vulcan Naval Reactor Test Establishment, near to Caithness, from the MOD to the NDA when the site reaches the end of its operational life. As this relates to initial work to consider the viability of a potential transfer, Scottish Ministers are not required to endorse or approve this.

Under the terms of the Energy Act 2004 any proposal to give the NDA additional responsibilities, including any defence liabilities, in Scotland requires agreement from Scottish Ministers and a Designation Direction under the Energy Act 2004 would require to be laid at the Scottish Parliament so Scottish Ministers agreement would be required for any transfer. We expect that Vulcan will continue operations until at least April 2027.

This is a matter for the operation company and the Scottish Government is unable to disclose this information as it is considered commercially sensitive.

Operational responsibility for the National 5 Creative Industries course is a matter for the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA).

This Skills for Work qualification has been designed to link broadly to National Occupational Standards in the creative industries sector and provides some of the underpinning knowledge required for the industry. The course also gives learners experience of the practical skills required to work in the sector and helps prepare them for further training.

The course is context free so centres can choose which creative industries sector to base their course on. The City of Edinburgh Council is piloting using Roof Tiling and Stone Carving as the context for their course. This is not an SQA pilot although SQA did agree with the City of Edinburgh Council that the course could be used for this purpose.

The qualification itself is already established and available to all schools in Scotland.

We want young people to have the opportunity to undertake the pathway that best matches their abilities and aspirations.

SQA attainment data from Results day this year showed that the number of pupils and students achieving passes in vocational and technical qualifications and awards has reached a record high of 110,380 – this represents a year-on-year increase of 22.6% compared to 2024.

The link below shows the number of ongoing waits for Cardiology for Inpatient/Daycase Admission and New Outpatient Appointments at 30 June 2025 (latest) latest published statistics – this can be found under the 'data files' heading.

The first table is the waiting list size at month end for Cardiology Inpatient/Day case Admission and New Outpatient Appointments along with the median waiting time (days) at 30 June 2025 (latest). This information can be found at latest published statistics.

The second table shows the whole time equivalent and headcount of cardiologists at 30 June 2025 (latest). This information is available at NHS Education for Scotland NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence.

The overall budget for hosting the Tour de France Grand Départ 2027 is still being finalised. The event is being funded through a combination of public and private investment, with contributions from the Scottish Government, Welsh Government, UK Government, and commercial partnerships. The Scottish Government contribution will be announced to parliament in due course.

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

It is the aim of SPS to prepare people in custody for their eventual release and return to communities as contributing citizens. Whilst part of this preparation for release, progression to less secure conditions is an option, however, not an automatic entitlement.

We currently have 3 establishments which are classed as ‘open’, HMP Castle Huntly, and the Community Custody Units, Lilias and Bella.

The following table shows the number of individuals in SPS care that have transferred from a ‘closed prison’ to those 3 sites:

There are no plans to define rural crime in legislation. The Scottish Government is fully supportive of the work of the Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime which has collectively defined rural crime as “Any crime that occurs in a rural location, or affects any person living, working or visiting a rural location.”

Working with our Monitoring and Evaluation Working Group, we published our Evaluation Strategy on the impacts of the 1140 expansion on outcomes for children, parents and families over the 2018-2025 period in October 2022.

The Scottish Study of Early Learning and Childcare (SSELC) is the main vehicle for collecting evaluation evidence on child and parent outcomes. Baseline data for the SSELC were collected during 2018 and 2019 from children and their parents accessing up to 600 hours of funded ELC. Reports on the first three phases were published in 2019-20. Data collection for the post-expansion phases of the SSELC took place during 2023 and 2024 with reports published across 2024-25. Independent contractors ScotCen are now analysing this data and preparing their overall report.

In August 2024 we published the ELC Expansion to 1140 hours: Interim Evaluation report, which considered progress against the intermediate outcomes of quality, flexibility, accessibility and affordability. I previously informed Parliament that a full report on the ELC 1140 expansion evaluation for the period 2018-2025 would be published in late 2025, however we now expect to publish this in early 2026. This report will draw together findings from across all the strands of the evaluation, including the SSELC and parent and carer surveys carried out before, during and after the ELC expansion.

The Scottish Government continues to investigate the wide-ranging implications of aligning with the recast Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive on policy and legislation. This includes implications for the operation of storm overflows and the related guidance. I will provide further information to Parliament once this work has reached an appropriate stage.

The Scottish Government’s commitment to tackling retail crime was reaffirmed in our Programme for Government, which makes clear our strong support for Police Scotland’s robust approach in addressing this issue.

The Scottish Government has commenced work on developing a multi-year Scottish Spending Review, which will deliver on its priorities in a fiscally sustainable way. The Government’s core priorities will sit at the heart of the spending review process, and guide how and where we will allocate funding.

Decisions on the future of the funding for retail crime, will be taken in the context of developing the 2026-27 budget and the Scottish Spending Review.