Chamber and committees

The New Scots Partnership staffing costs came to £87,333 between January to March 2024. The following table provides a further breakdown on how this funding was spent.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-35981 on 31 March 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

All funding provided towards the development of the app is currently interlinked with the piloting of the app, which will begin in Lanarkshire from 2025 and begin it’s rollout from 2026.

The Scottish Government and NES are also in the development stage of the full business case for Digital Front Door, therefore we do not yet have an agreed longer-term budget. Once it has been approved and a minimum viable product (MVP) has been produced this will inform future costs of a national roll out for Digital Front Door.

The Scottish Government fully condemn all forms of prejudice including sectarianism, racism and religious bigotry.

That is why we have consolidated legislative protections aggravated by protected characteristics, including race and religion, through the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 to support Police Scotland to deal with prejudice and discrimination and why we are currently working closely with Police Scotland and Scottish football authorities to assess the effectiveness of football banning order legislation.

Separately, we have invested over £5 million of funding since 2016 to tackle sectarianism through community based projects in schools, colleges, communities and workplaces. Organisations such as Nil by Mouth and Fair Play Foundation will continue to work with football clubs from grassroots to senior football in 2025-26 and Sense Over Sectarianism will continue to engage with Police Scotland to ensure the ‘Pitchin’ In’ programme is available for officers to use in schools to help develop pupils decision making and steer them away from prejudicial behaviour.

The report of the key issues raised at the summit will be published shortly. The member will also be aware that preparations are currently being made for a further cross-party meeting of MSPs at which these issues will be discussed.

The Scottish Government is grateful to everyone who attended and contributed to the Responsible Dog Ownership Summit held in Edinburgh on 20 September 2024.

The Summit brought together attendees from a wide range of organisations.

The Summit was jointly chaired by myself and the Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity Jim Fairlie MSP.

The Summit Report is available on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/report-scottish-government-responsible-dog-ownership-summit-discussions-key-stakeholders-approaches-dog-control-dog-welfare-20-september-2024/

The Summit Report contains key outputs and recommendations from the Summit.

The Scottish Government committed £16,000 to the New Scots welcome video project December 2021 to March 2022. We do not currently plan to publish a further breakdown of cost.

The Office of the Chief Statistician published guidance for public bodies in Scotland on the collection of data on sex and gender in 2021. This guidance recommends that statistics producers should collect data that best serves the needs of users in their specific context, an approach with aligns with the guidance published by the Office for Statistics Regulation in 2024.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-36103 on 15 April 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

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-36103 on 15 April 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

COPFS does not hold this information.

There are a number of agencies who may be involved in carrying out inquiries into the circumstances surrounding a death. It is important that the results of those inquiries – which may be specifically instructed by COPFS or part of a separate investigation process - are carefully considered by COPFS before any decisions can be taken on the holding of an FAI.

COPFS has limited influence over the timescales for the completion and provision of reports by other organisations. However, we are currently constructively engaging with many of the public bodies responsible for the completion of internal investigations to ensure that they are completed to an acceptable standard, with outcomes provided to COPFS at the earliest possible stage.