Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has claimed £669m to date from the European Structural and Investment Funds, equating to 83% of the original allocation from the European Commission in 2014.

The Young Person’s Guarantee last and final update report was published in March 2023 and outlines the outcomes and opportunities provided by the funding from the Young Person’s Guarantee.

A joint implementation evaluation of No one Left Behind and Young Person’s Guarantee was published in Autumn 2023 which explores how well they had been implemented, the experiences of service providers and service users, and lessons from early delivery.

Since April 2023, the Young Person’s Guarantee has been mainstreamed across Government, with activity across education, skills and employability supporting young people into opportunities.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-36497 on 8 May 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

We are unable to provide specific information on expenditure that exclusively supported new jobs. Successive budgets within the current parliamentary session have prioritised expenditure to support economic growth, including business growth and the jobs they generate.

In terms of ensuring people have the skills for jobs of the future, our 2025-26 Scottish budget allocates over £2 billion for colleges, universities, and the wider skills system, prioritizing support for students and ensuring access to education. We are focussing on maximising high-quality apprenticeships with an investment of over £185m to deliver 25,500 new Modern Apprentices, 5,000 Foundation Apprentices and 1,200 Graduate Apprentices, while continuing to support around 38,000 apprentices already in training.

Through the Just Transition Fund we've also spend £9.7 million on a package of skills interventions, including a digital offshore energy skills passport and the Energy Transition Skills Hub.

As part of the Falkirk and Grangemouth Growth Deal, we have committed £4 million for a Skills Transition Centre at Forth Valley College – to ensure that people can get the training they need for jobs in new and emerging sectors, including at the Grangemouth site. We have also allocated of up to £450k to support those workers who have been made redundant at the Grangemouth Refinery into new in-demand jobs. We are committed to ensuring that those highly skilled people continue to contribute to businesses in Grangemouth and the wider Scottish economy.

The support referenced about is not exhaustive. A diverse array of national, regional, and local support services are available across the public and private sectors, making a comprehensive overview impractical and information not all held by SG.

The independent evaluation of the fish farm pre-application consenting pilots is in progress.

The final report had been expected in April 2025, however this timescale has been delayed to allow for the completion of the gathering and analysis of important data on the pre-application consenting pilots.

The Report is now expected to be finalised and published in the summer.

This is not correct.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) publish data relating to the length of time patients wait to be seen as a new outpatient or admitted for treatment as an inpatient or day case on a quarterly basis. The latest Stage of Treatment publication, published on 4 March 2025, includes information on gynaecology new outpatient and inpatient or day-case waits up to 31 December 2024. This can be accessed here: Stage of treatment waiting times - Inpatients, day cases and new outpatients quarter ending 31 December 2024 - NHS waiting times - stage of treatment - Publications - Public Health Scotland

The next Stage of Treatment report will be published on 27 May 2025 and will include waiting times data for all planned care specialities, including gynaecology, up to the quarter ending 31 March 2025.

The Scottish Government takes the welfare of all animals, including racehorses, very seriously and the fatalities that occurred are clearly distressing.

Horse racing in Scotland is already tightly governed and regulated by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA). The BHA aims to ensure racehorse welfare, including compliance with all aspects of the Animal Health & Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006, through its Rules of Racing, the licensing and inspection of participants, education, training and monitoring. The BHA also works closely with a range of animal welfare organisations such as World Horse Welfare to maintain and promote horse welfare and constantly reviews its rules and procedures to ensure that they are as effective as they can be in safeguarding equine welfare.

The BHA also seeks to minimise the risk of injury and fatalities to thoroughbred horses on racecourses, and records and analyses injuries sustained with a view to future prevention.

The Paramedic, Nursing and Midwifery (PNM) student financial support review is currently ongoing. This review will take time, as it is important that we clearly understand how we can support our PNM students to complete their studies. The options for consideration will be presented to the me before the end of the year. An equalities impact assessment will be published once the review has concluded.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The Scottish Government’s budget for 2025-26 includes £412.2 million for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) which is an increase of £18.8 million. This will enable SFRS to continue to deliver the high standard of services required to keep communities safe. This includes an increase from £43 million to £47 million in capital funding which will allow the service to invest more in property, fleet and equipment. The allocation of resources is a matter for the SFRS Board and Chief Officer.

The Scottish Government is committed to working with SFRS to ensure continuing priority is given to the implementation of its wildfire strategy. The Service’s planned spend is circa £1.6 million over the course of the 3 year roll-out of its strategy. New equipment, vehicles and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) continues to be rolled out and SFRS will fully implement its wildfire strategy during the course of 2025. Within it, SFRS is adopting ‘burn suppression’ techniques such as those in use in the new Mediterranean-style specialist wildfire units. Due to extensive training and the use of new techniques, SFRS’s ability to tackle wildfires has never been so advanced.