Chamber and committees

It is the Scottish Government’s expectation that all violent and abusive incidents against school staff should be recorded. Guidance published as part of the Relationships and Behaviour in Schools Action Plan 2024-27 has provided clear messaging to schools and local authorities about recording and monitoring incidents, including incidents affecting school staff. Information should be recorded in a way that supports it being utilised for monitoring of trends and patterns. This allows schools and organisations to assess the effectiveness of policy and practice and to ensure the necessary support is in place for children, young people, and for staff.

On Scotland’s national forests and land, tree felling associated with windfarm developments and associated infrastructure since 2022 is 922.30 hectares. Based on the average of 2000 trees per ha, this gives an estimated total of 1.84 million trees felled over this period.

The Scottish Government recognises the positive role that Eurasian beavers can play as a native keystone species, and we remain supportive of their managed expansion in appropriate areas, as set out in Scotland’s Beaver Strategy 2022–2045.

Beavers can create wetlands, retain water and contribute to wider ecosystem resilience, which can reduce burn severity in some settings. However, our assessment is that their contribution to preventing large-scale wildfire events such as the 2025 Dava Moor fire is likely to be limited, localised and realised over the longer term, rather than offering a systemic or immediate solution to megafire risk.

Beaver expansion offers one helpful nature-based measure within a broader package of actions, alongside peatland restoration, preparedness and wildfire prevention, rather than as a stand-alone answer to Scotland’s growing wildfire risk.

The Scottish Government’s Strategic Action Plan on Wildfires sets out a coordinated approach to preventing, preparing for and responding to wildfires, including through national initiatives to strengthen resilience to all climate-related hazards as outlined in the Scottish National Adaptation Plan, such as peatland restoration.

Through our world leading Peatland ACTION programme, we have carried out restoration on over 59,000 hectares of peatland since 2020, including a record 15,448 hectares in 2025-26. This work will continue in 2026-27, investing a further £28 million to deliver at least another 10,000 ha of peatland restoration, towards our aim of restoring more than 400,000 ha of peatland by 2040.

Our recently published Peatland Action Partnership Plan commits to working with our delivery partners to strategically prioritise peatland restoration where it can maximise the multiple benefits for climate, nature and people. Understanding which parts of Scotland face the greatest risk from wildfire as the climate changes, and which could benefit most from rewetting degraded peatlands, will be part of this work.

Coastguard Rescue Officers do a vital job in keeping people safe, and responding to incidents and casualties in some of the most demanding environments. Shipping safety, including coastguard cover, is a matter reserved to the UK Government. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is responsible for establishing maritime safety protocol and legislation, and providing an effective response to maritime incidents in UK waters.

My officials have liaised with the MCA on this issue. I am advised that changing the Coastguard Rescue Service operating model is a consequence of the Court of Appeal ruling. I have been assured that public safety remains the priority and careful consideration was given to the options for a revised operating model.

The Scottish Government expects the highest shipping safety and crew welfare standards, and for these to be applied in the case of those vessels and crews accessing Scotland’s waters, including for the Coastguard Rescue Officers protecting our seas. My officials will continue to liaise closely with the MCA as this issue progresses.

Restoring degraded peatlands involves taking measures such as drain blocking, creating bunds and reprofiling gullies in order to reinstate the site’s natural hydrology, raise the water table and increase wetness. This plays an important role in halting the spread and extent of fires, and in reducing their intensity and the risk of them burning deep into the peat.

Our Climate Change Plan commits to restoring more than 400,000 hectares of degraded peatland by 2040. Recent successes in upscaling continued in 2025-26 with the restoration of 15,448 hectares – the highest area ever in a single year.

Our recently published Peatland Action Partnership Plan commits to working with our delivery partners to strategically prioritise peatland restoration where it can maximise the multiple benefits for climate, nature and people. Understanding which parts of Scotland face the greatest risk from wildfire as the climate changes, and which could benefit most from rewetting degraded peatlands, will be part of this work.

Scotland’s schools should be safe, consistent learning environments for everyone. While the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research (BISSR) (2023), which surveyed almost 4000 school staff, showed the majority of school staff think children and young people behave well most or all of the time, the Scottish Government recognises concerns about violent incidents in schools and is taking action through our Relationships and Behaviour in Schools Action Plan and wider investment in prevention.

Local Authorities are responsible for employment of staff in schools.

We published our Early Years Speech Language and Communication Action Plan in December last year. This plan sets out a preventative, system-wide approach to improving early speech, language and communication outcomes through leadership, support for families and a skilled workforce, at the earliest opportunity.

On behavioural psychologists, we are investing £1.9m per annum with local government in the training of educational psychologists to ensure that they are available across Scotland to support children and young people with additional support needs.

As regards Additional Support Needs (ASN), the Scottish Ministers are committed to improving the educational experiences of children and young people with ASN and recognise the vital role all staff play in this. 2026-27 budget set out a further £29m of investment for local and national programmes to support the recruitment and retention of the ASN workforce. We will also continue to work in partnership with local government support schools to develop positive learning environments and promote positive relationships and behaviour through the delivery of our Relationships and Behaviour in Schools Action Plan.

174 loans were paid out through the Equity Loan Pilot. 31 have been repaid, leaving 143 to be repaid.

The repayment of a loan provided through the scheme is made when the loanee sells the property or if there is a transfer of ownership.

Following its initial launch in Lanarkshire in December 2025, MyCare.scot successfully launched nationally in April 2026 as a web-based service. As of today, 17 June, MyCare.scot is now also available as a free app from Google and Apple app stores. This downloadable app is a further significant milestone in the programme’s development, which will expand availability and support service uptake.

Homebirth services in NHS Lothian have never been paused. There may be occasions where a homebirth cannot be attended due to high activity or staffing issues, however this happens very rarely due to the model of on-call midwifery in NHS Lothian.

NHS Lothian currently manages homebirths via the community midwife service, however a new, dedicated home birth team has recently been established and staff recruitment is underway.