Chamber and committees

To ensure people can easily identify products that are suitable for them, added vitamins and minerals, including folic acid, must be labelled in the flour’s ingredients list in accordance with food information and labelling requirements. This must also be declared when fortified flour is used as an ingredient in other food products, enabling consumers to make informed choices about the food they purchase. A 24-month transition period has been provided ahead of the regulations coming into force to give businesses sufficient time to amend their product specifications and labelling.

To maintain consumer choice and access to unfortified options, only non-wholemeal wheat flour will be required to be fortified with folic acid. This means individuals can avoid flour fortified with folic acid if they need to or choose to. These individuals will continue to be able to access products made from unfortified flour, which includes wholemeal flour, and other non-wheat products, including gluten-free products and other flour types such as soya and spelt.

A range of work is underway to ensure that people have access to healthy, affordable food. We have launched a consultation to gather views and evidence on whether capping the price of essential food items could help to improve affordability. We are also supporting local convenience stores to provide healthy, affordable options through the Scottish Grocers Federation Healthy Living Programme.

Fish farm escapes pose a risk to wild salmon populations through interbreeding (genetic introgression) and competition. Scotland’s regulatory framework is designed to minimise the risk of escapes and ensure that any potential environmental impacts are fully assessed through the consenting process.

While the Scottish Government has no current plans to take specific action in response to this paper, it builds on our first national assessment of introgression, published in 2023, by applying a new spatial analysis to quantify levels of introgression at both national and regional scales for the first time.

Research and monitoring of this kind are important for improving our understanding of the extent, distribution and trends of introgression in wild salmon populations over time, helping to inform the development of future policy and regulation. This includes the delivery of a new Technical Standard for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture in 2027-28.

Escapes of farmed fish are not in the interests of the sector, the environment or wider stakeholders, and we expect continued progress in reducing escape incidents.

The Scottish Government is determined to reduce avoidable cardiovascular deaths by a fifth over 20 years by ensuring people receive timely and high-quality care. Obesity medicines, such as semaglutide (Wegovy ®,) offer an effective treatment for obesity and cardiovascular disease, as part of a range of interventions for eligible patients, used alongside a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity.

The Scottish Government published a national consensus statement in September 2024, to support Health Boards to consider how best to implement these obesity medicines. It is a matter for individual Health Boards to consider the implementation of any new medicine within their services in order to meet the needs of their local population in a safe and clinically appropriate way. This includes determining which criteria they apply in prescribing obesity medicines to individuals, and for taking appropriate phased steps to make them available across their services.

The Scottish Government regularly engages with obesity experts and stakeholders from NHS health boards through a range of forums to share learning and support access to these medicines for people living with obesity in Scotland. We are delivering additional programmes to support these people, including the digital Type 2 Diabetes remission programme, which will support up to 3000 patients to achieve remission by 2029 across Scotland.

Decisions on the scheduling of individual criminal cases are a matter for the independent Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service. It is important that delays in the criminal justice system are minimised insofar as possible and statutory time limits exist to prevent unnecessary delays in criminal cases coming to trial and help the judiciary to effectively manage the progress of cases. This is particularly important in trials for offences of rape, serious sexual assault and domestic abuse where delays can impact on complainers.

Different time limits apply depending on whether an accused is in custody or in the community and prioritise cases where an accused person has been remanded in custody prior to trial, recognising the particularly importance of minimising the length of time which an accused person who has not been convicted of a criminal offence spends in custody prior to their trial.

Section 65(1) of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 (the 1995 Act) provides that in any case where an indictment has been served on a person, the trial must commence within 12 months. A stricter time limit applies where the accused has been remanded in custody prior to trial. Section 65(4) of the 1995 Act provides that where an accused has been remanded in custody prior to trial, the trial must commence within 140 days failing which the accused shall be released on bail. These time limits can all be extended by the court on a case-by-case basis. These time-limits apply to all cases and are not specific to rape or sexual offence cases.

The Cairngorms wildfire this summer was significant, and we are committed to working with partners to understand the impacts and the steps needed to support recovery and resilience to future events.

We are taking action to prevent future wildfires through our Strategic Action Plan on Wildfires, which sets out a coordinated approach to preventing, preparing for and responding to wildfires. A Scottish Government Strategic Oversight Group, that includes Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and the Scottish Wildfire Forum representation, has been established to monitor progress of the Action Plan and all 18 of the actions contained within the Plan are underway. The Cabinet Secretary for Justice commissioned a review of the Action Plan to ensure every possible step is being taken to address the increasing risks posed by wildfires.

In a statement to the Scottish Parliament, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice announced on 3 September that the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) would now be able to put helicopters on standby when a high or very high wildfire risk warning was issued.

Aerial firefighting support, actions to raise public awareness of risk, enhance danger assessments and ensuring a co-ordinated multi-agency response are key areas of focus. There is ongoing engagement with partners, including the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and the Scottish Wildfire Forum, and those with experience at the forefront of wildfire management and we will use that experience and expertise to inform the implementation of the Action Plan.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken a specific assessment, taking account of the current composition of the fishing fleet, of the potential contribution of "static-gear reserves" as a distinct fisheries management measure to the recovery of inshore fish populations. The establishment of static-gear reserves is not current Scottish Government policy.

The Scottish Government's current approach is to improve the sustainability and management of Scotland's fisheries through a range of measures. This includes implementation of the Future Fisheries Management Strategy 2020-2030 and associated Future Catching Policy, which aim to ensure fishing activity operates sustainably while minimising environmental impacts, alongside measures to improve monitoring and selectivity.

More broadly, the Scottish Government is delivering a range of marine conservation measures to support biodiversity and ecosystem recovery. Around 37% of Scotland's seas are designated as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), exceeding the global target to protect 30% of the world's oceans by 2030. Fisheries management measures for MPAs containing some of the most sensitive habitats in the Scottish MPA network were introduced in 2016. Work is ongoing to implement the remaining fisheries management measures across the MPA network and for the 11 most sensitive Priority Marine Features (PMFs) where further protection from bottom-contacting mobile fishing gear is considered necessary, and a consultation on proposals for additional protections for inshore MPAs and PMFs will be launched in the coming weeks.

The Scottish Government has established arrangements to respond to and manage confirmed cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), working with the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), Food Standards Scotland (FSS) and other relevant partners. These arrangements include epidemiological investigation, movement restrictions where required, tracing of offspring and cohort animals, and the implementation of statutory disease control measures.

These arrangements are activated following confirmation of a BSE case through the statutory surveillance and testing regime. Following confirmation of the recent case in Dumfries and Galloway, established control protocols were implemented and APHA commenced epidemiological investigations.

The Scottish Government remains in regular contact with the UK Government, APHA, FSS and industry representatives on animal health preparedness and disease response matters. Following confirmation of the recent case, officials engaged with relevant partners through established channels to support the implementation of the multi-agency response arrangements and to keep stakeholders informed as investigations progressed.

The affected animal did not enter the human food chain and FSS has confirmed that there is no risk to human health arising from this isolated case. The owners of the affected animals are continuing to work with the relevant authorities as epidemiological investigations progress and any necessary follow-up actions are taken.

Patients subject to a Compulsion Order and Restriction Order can only be conditionally discharged by the Mental Health Tribunal where detention in hospital is no longer necessary.

Conditionally discharged restricted patients remain subject to their orders, must comply with conditions of discharge imposed by the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland, and are subject to ongoing supervision by their Responsible Medical Officer, Mental Health Officer and Community Psychiatric Nurse, with regular reports provided to Scottish Ministers by each of them. Scottish Ministers can vary the conditions of discharge where necessary or recall a conditionally discharged patient to hospital. The clinical practice of the Responsible Medical Officer and the wider multidisciplinary team is, in turn, subject to the relevant NHS Board’s clinical governance arrangements.

Formal multidisciplinary risk assessments must be updated annually. Monitoring and review are ongoing and are undertaken by the multidisciplinary team through the Care Programme Approach, with arrangements reviewed in light of any changes in the patient's circumstances or risk. Restricted patients are also managed through Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA), which provide for information sharing, coordinated risk management and regular multi-agency review.

The Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland’s (MWC) 2006 inquiry into the care and treatment of Mr L and Mr M examined aspects of the management of a restricted patient following conditional discharge and identified lessons for the care, treatment and risk management of other restricted patients. Its recommendations informed the revised Memorandum of Procedure on Restricted Patients, published in 2010.

The MWC inquiry was case specific rather than a review of the national arrangements as a whole, and there has been no subsequent independent review of the current national arrangements in their entirety.

The potential impacts of pumped-storage hydro developments on wild Atlantic salmon populations are assessed and considered as part of the statutory consenting and environmental assessment processes for individual proposals, including section 36 (Electricity Act 1989) consenting for projects over 50 mega-watts, Environmental Impact Assessment, Habitats Regulations Appraisal where required, and SEPA’s environmental authorisation process.

In determining section 36 applications, Scottish Ministers must, so far as possible, avoid causing injury to fisheries or fish stocks and obtain SEPA’s advice where regulated water activities are involved. Where an appropriate assessment is required under regulation 48 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994, the Scottish Ministers must consult NatureScot and have regard to its representations.

Where relevant, decision-makers will also have regard to National Planning Framework 4 policies on biodiversity, natural places and renewable energy development alongside the statutory consenting and environmental assessment processes.

Separately, pumped-storage hydro schemes require environmental authorisation from SEPA for activities affecting the water environment. SEPA assesses impacts, including those on wild fish stocks, hydrology and morphology, and may impose conditions requiring mitigation and monitoring. These processes support delivery of the Wild Salmon Strategy by helping to avoid or reduce additional pressures on freshwater habitats, migration routes and wild smolt production, including cumulative effects. SEPA is also consulting on draft guidance setting out the environmental information, assessment and mitigation expected for storage and pumped-storage hydropower schemes.

I wrote to members of the Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board (ARIOB) in August to confirm that the Board would no longer continue. At that time members were informed that the Scottish Government was forming a new stakeholder group, the Land, Agriculture and Nature Delivery (LAND) Group which will be chaired by the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Rural Affairs.

The LAND Group will be multi-disciplinary, made up of 12 member organisations reflecting the mix of key interest areas. These include agriculture, forestry, peatland, biodiversity, wildlife and species management and water. It will meet three times a year and will take forward strategic discussions around how land use can be integrated to deliver the multiple benefits needed to achieve the wider ambitions of ‘Scotland PLC’ and its people.

The Land, Agriculture and Nature Delivery (LAND) Group is not intended to be a direct replacement for the ARIOB but instead reflects the strategic understanding of our land as an interactive system and the expanded responsibilities in the current Climate Action and Rural Affairs portfolio. This approach ensures our stakeholder engagement is structured to provide a truly holistic approach to land use issues.

Additionally, the Agriculture Policy Development Group (APDG), which was originally set up to support the ARIOB, has been expanded and has met a number of times since the last meeting of the ARIOB. I attended their meeting in May to make clear the APDG is an essential part of our engagement with the industry on agricultural reform and the Scottish Government will rely on it to help get us into the delivery phase of the Agricultural Reform Programme. I will chair the Group going forward and we will continue working towards positive outcomes for agriculture in Scotland.