Chamber and committees

I refer the Member to the answer to question S6W-40018 on 8 September 2025, which outlines work that the Scottish Government is doing with all Health Boards, including NHS Lanarkshire. 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 S6W-40008 on 8 September 2025. 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.

Discussions have already taken place for the MV Isle of Islay in relation to commercial crewing levels in which trade unions, with the exception of RMT, have agreed the crew numbers.

A meeting will be scheduled by CalMac Ferries Ltd within the coming weeks with the RMT to continue discussions. This same approach will be taking forward for all new vessels entering service.

In regards to the route specific sea trials mentioned, CalMac have confirmed that once that vessel is under their operation, the vessel personnel will operate under the terms of their individual Seafarer Employment Agreements and Collective Agreements, which they do not envisage as needing to be re-negotiated.

CalMac informed Transport Scotland of the incident, which is their contractual obligation. The Scottish Government has no role in discussing these matters with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

Neither Transport Scotland or CMAL record staff time or costs by project task and therefore we are unable to provide the member with a definitive response. I can confirm that project partners across Scottish Government and CMAL continue to work on the Ardrossan Harbour Redevelopment Project as quickly as practicable whilst negotiations on port purchase are progressed.

The Scottish Government is unable to provide such a list, as the dry dock facility at Inchgreen has not been used to undertake scheduled or unscheduled dry dock work on vessels that are owned by CMAL.

To ensure there are protections for women and girls in law, we have laid in draft an SSI to add the characteristic of sex to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021. This ensures that women and girls will have the same protections as other groups protected by that Act. If passed, it will make it an offence for a person to stir up hatred against women and girls, and where an offender is motivated by, or demonstrates, malice and ill-will towards women and girls in committing a criminal offence, that offence will be aggravated by prejudice relating to the characteristic of sex.

This SSI is subject to super affirmative process and is therefore subject to consultation prior to the final version being laid in Parliament. The draft SSI, accompanying explanatory note, policy note and consultation paper can be found online at Draft SSI to add 'sex' as a characteristic to the hate crime and public order (Scotland) Act 2021 - gov.scot and the consultation itself can be found online at SSI to add "sex" as a characteristic to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 - Scottish Government consultations - Citizen Space. The consultation will run until 10 October 2025.

Further, we continue to take forward a range of actions in schools to address gender based violence and sexual harassment. Our Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) Scotland Programme is working to tackle gender stereotyping and attitudes that condone violence against women and girls, and addresses a range of behaviours including name-calling, sexting, controlling behaviour and harassment. We have also published a national framework for schools to help tackle sexual harassment and gender-based violence. Rape Crisis Scotland also provide a national sexual violence prevention programme to local authority secondary schools across Scotland. The programme aims to provide consistency in approaches to the prevention of sexual violence and contributes to Equally Safe (our strategy to prevent and eradicate violence against women and girls). Since the programme started in 2016, it has reached over 48,000 pupils.

The Scottish Government remains firmly committed to delivering our vision for agriculture and support farming and food production in Scotland to become a global leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture. To achieve this we are delivering a phased transition from legacy Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) support into the new four-tier framework ensuring ensure a just transition for our farmers and crofters.

In 2025 we introduced additional measures to protect wetlands and peatlands as part of the mandatory conditions of GAEC 6. These measures are designed to promote healthy peatland contributing to improved biodiversity by providing a habitat for plants and insects as well as regulating water flow and prevent flooding.

Work is continuing with the industry as we demonstrate our commitment to co-develop the future support framework delivering the Vision for Agriculture and meeting the objectives of the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act 2025.

The Scottish Government does not currently have plans to establish a national framework for shared care. However, we are engaging with the Royal College of GPs (Scotland) to understand the current issues around shared care agreements for patients with ADHD.

Officials have also written to all health boards seeking clarification on what neurodevelopmental assessment and support they currently have in place for adults, this included a question on local protocol for patients with a private diagnosis. We are currently collating and considering this information.

The Scottish Government’s expenditure on international letter postage for each year from 2021 is as follows.