Chamber and committees

Ministers and officials engage regularly with the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) on oversight of the college sector, including governance and institutional performance.

Operational matters, including health and safety, remain the responsibility of individual colleges. Regulation and enforcement are undertaken by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Within this framework, the SFC expects colleges to comply with their legal duties and seeks assurance on this through its ongoing monitoring and engagement, helping to ensure that appropriate standards are maintained across the sector.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-01099 on 13 July 2026. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Clinical guidelines are intended to support and inform professional clinical judgement, not to replace it. Decisions regarding any specific clinical procedure or treatment must always be made on the basis of the individual patient’s clinical condition, personal circumstances, and expressed preferences, alongside the professional judgement of the responsible healthcare team.

The Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Rural Affairs announced the Pig Producers Scheme on Friday 10 July. This is a £2 million scheme for independent pig producers in Scotland to help with the significant market challenges facing the sector. The funding aims to support farms most at risk from a prolonged drop in pig prices, and those eligible will be able to claim the difference between the price they received for their pigs and 85% of the Standard Pig Price (SPP). The scheme will open to applications from 15 July, and the support will apply retrospectively to losses incurred since March, with provision for the scheme to continue until the end of August 2026.

The cost of waking watch measures implemented in buildings affected by unsafe cladding are as follows:

1.The total cost to date has been circa £6.5m.

2.The total budgeted costs for the 2026-27 Financial year are £1.2m.

3.The average monthly cost is £166,948.

(Period covered in relation to total cost (1) and average cost (3) is from March 2023 to July 2026. Budgeted costs for 2026-27 (2) could be subject to change as part of the annual budget process).

Scottish Government has directly met all of these costs.

The Scottish Government has been consistently clear we expect colleges to embed Fair Work principles, which includes ensuring there are effective mechanisms for staff and students to raise concerns, and for these to be considered and acted upon, without fear of detriment. Responsibility for putting appropriate arrangements in place rests with individual colleges.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC), through its ongoing engagement and assurance role, seeks to ensure that colleges are operating in line with these expectations, including fostering a culture of openness, respect and meaningful partnership working.

The Scottish Government published the annual Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2025-26 statistical bulletin on 23 June 2026. The publication provides information on crimes and offences recorded by the police across Scotland, including breakdowns by crime type and local authority area. Supporting tables published alongside the bulletin include local authority-level data for a range of crime categories, including vandalism.

While data on crimes of vandalism recorded by the police is available at local authority level, the published statistics do not include information on the ages of suspected perpetrators. Although age breakdowns are available for some crime types through other statistical publications, equivalent data is not published for vandalism. Consequently, it is not possible to identify from these statistics the number of vandalism incidents involving individuals under the age of 18.

The statistics show that vandalism has fallen substantially over the longer term. More generally, recorded crimes of damage and reckless behaviour—of which vandalism accounts for the majority—are now at their lowest level since 1976.

The member may wish to contact Police Scotland, who may be able to provide further information. They can be contacted at: [email protected].Postal requests should be addressed to: FOI - Information Management, Police Scotland, Clyde Gateway, 2 French Street, Glasgow, G40 4EH.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-01058 on 13 July 2026. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-01050 on 13 July 2026. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-01058 on 13 July 2026. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

We are grateful for the work of all six Advisory Groups in developing their recommendations. These recommendations were made for Scottish Ministers to consider. It is for Scottish Ministers to decide whether and to what extend any of the recommendations become government policy.