Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government was concerned to hear about the withdrawal of funding from the Notre Dame Centre. We recognise that the potential closure of the Centre as a result will be causing concern for the children and families that use its services. Scottish Government officials have received assurances from the Integrated Joint Board that alternative services will be available and transition plans put in place for those currently using the services provided by the Centre.

Although it is for the IJB to make decisions about the local provision of services they fund, we expect these decisions to be made in consultation with the communities in which they are based. The Scottish Government also expects the IJB to consider the impact this may have on those that use the Centre, particularly vulnerable users, and on other services which may be asked to step in.

The Scottish Government and the whole of the public sector faces a very challenging situation as we continue to manage our finances through the current financial year, in 2025-26 and beyond.

Operating within a fixed budget, we have had to manage Scottish public finances in the face of higher inflation and cost of living pressures, making tough decisions to protect the most vulnerable in society.

As part of the Scottish Government 25/26 budget, Food Standards Scotland (FSS) was given a flat budget. FSS have notified the Scottish Government of a pressure due to increased staffing and delivery costs and the Scottish Government will work with FSS to manage the pressure. This has included the set-up of the FSS policy forum with relevant policy teams across Scottish Government to provide a co-ordinated response to the issues FSS face and facilitates the exchange of soft intelligence and problem solving.

Scottish Government have also committed to review the allocated budget in year.

Food businesses inspected by an Environmental Health Officer or Food Safety Officer.

2020 – 9,041

2021 – 9,674

2022 – 20,745

2023 – 20,409

2024 – 19,466

2025* – 6,722

*01-01-25 to 12-05-25

While the Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care policy in Scotland, it is for Health and Social Care Partnerships to ensure that support services are in place to provide people with the appropriate support in the right place and at the right time. Decisions on how best to deliver services to local communities, are ultimately for local partners to make.

We continue to protect and prioritise additional investment into social care, despite an extremely challenging Budget settlement. This includes almost £2.2 billion for social care and integration – exceeding our commitment to increase funding by 25% by almost £350 million.

We would encourage all partners to work together to find solutions that put the needs of local people and those impacted by the decision, particularly those who are most vulnerable, at the centre.

The Scottish Government’s policy could not be clearer, our National Health Service must be maintained on its founding principles – publicly owned, publicly operated, and free at the point of need. As we have previously said, the provision of health services must always be based on the individual needs of a patient.

The 2025-26 Budget will provide a record £21.7 billion for Health and Social Care, including almost £200 million to reduce waiting lists and improve flow through hospitals.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-35337 on 11 March 2025 which covered the costs of the current charter agreement. 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

The Scottish Government recognises the vital importance of tourism to Scotland’s economy. Whilst, several funds were created as part of our covid recovery plan in the previous parliamentary session, no specific funds have been created during this session.

The Scottish Government has continued to provide funding support to the sector through the enterprise agencies and VisitScotland, as well as support to Creative Scotland which also provides benefits to wider tourism through support for cultural events.

For example: In its first five years South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE) has invested around £28m in supporting projects connected to Tourism and the Visitor Economy in the South of Scotland, supporting over 200 projects with enterprises and community groups.

In addition we have allocated £4 million in the 2025-26 Scottish Budget to the Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund (RTIF) for projects which enhance transport links and infrastructure in areas that experience high visitor numbers. This will help communities to reap the rewards of their tourism offer, driving growth and sustaining vital jobs.

A further £2 million, will be provided to VisitScotland in 2025/26, to support activity to spread visitor numbers more equally across Scotland, including by promoting some of the country’s lesser-known beauty spots and attractions. It will also support activity to grow direct international connectivity.

Growth Deal Funding is also helping to support the tourism sector. For example the Destination Tweed project received £10 million from the Scottish Government to create a trail allowing options for both cycling and walking along the River Tweed. The 113 mile route will connect Berwick upon Tweed to Moffat and will showcase some of the South of Scotland’s most scenic areas.

It is not the policy of the Scottish Government to create a Scottish food agency. Following the manifesto commitment to set up a Scottish Food Agency, exploratory work was undertaken and the decision was taken not to proceed. Scotland Food & Drink and the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership bring together the key actors in food and drink in Scotland for collaboration, with excellent results.

The requirement to provide evidence of letting to assessors to ensure compliance with the thresholds for self-catering holiday accommodation to be included in the valuation roll was introduced from April 2022 to counter a known tax avoidance tactic for second homes.

Assessors undertake annual audits to ensure that self-catering accommodation entered on the valuation roll meets the statutory requirements to be classed as non-domestic property. To provide clarity to self-catering accommodation providers on these requirements, and to provide greater certainty regarding the consequences of failure to meet the requirements, a statutory deadline to respond to requests for evidence was introduced from 1 April 2024. If evidence is not provided to the Assessor by the deadline, or if it is insufficient to establish if the requirements have been met, the Assessor must remove the property from the valuation roll under the current statutory framework.

The Scottish Government has no immediate plans to alter the rules for self-catering properties, however we do keep all policies under review and routinely engage with stakeholders on any issues with the operation of the system and associated legislation.

We are committed to ensuring that children and young people have the opportunity to learn about substance use and its impact on life choices and health. Curriculum for Excellence already provides the opportunity to explore the risks associated with a variety of substances including alcohol, medicines, drugs, tobacco and solvents. We recognise that education alone will not resolve the harmful abuse of substances, but it is an important strand within a broad range of measures across communities that are designed to tackle this issue.

There are no plans to introduce information on the dangers of methanol poisoning to the school curriculum. We do not take a prescriptive approach to the curriculum in Scotland and it is up to individual schools and local authorities to design approaches to help them deliver relevant and engaging learning.

Following the announcement in December 2023, Education Scotland has been leading on development and delivery of the new Curriculum Improvement Cycle (CIC). This represents a planned and systemic approach to strengthening the curriculum to ensure it remains forward looking, and supports more consistent teaching and learning experiences and improved attainment and achievement of our children and young people. The CIC, which covers all curricular areas including Health and Wellbeing (HWB), is considering all curricular areas and key aspects – including the subject area of HWB, where work is already underway, drawing on robust interrogation of evidence and a co-design process with practitioners and wider stakeholders.