Chamber and committees

The position outlined in the answer to S6W-37289 on 13 May 2025 remains that the revised policy statement for the protection of natural features on Ramsar sites will be published at the earliest opportunity.

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 development of our new palliative care strategy – Palliative Care Matters for All - has been informed throughout by ongoing collaboration with relevant policy areas across Scottish Government, such as health and social care, housing, equalities and social security.

This co-design approach across Scottish Government will help ensure that palliative care is considered and reflected in other relevant policies, delivery plans and standards, and supports their outcomes.

We are aware that Scottish Land and Estates have voiced concerns with the proposed measures in the Bill, whereas other stakeholders would like the measures to go further and faster. It is important that our Land Reform policies take a proportionate and balanced approach, whilst improving how land is owned and managed in our rural and island communities.

We continue to listen to the views of stakeholders and have brought forward a number of amendments at Stage 2 to strengthen and simplify the Bill.

All teachers should have access to protected non class contact time as set out in the Scottish Negotiation Committee for Teachers Working Time Agreements. Appendix 2.18 - SNCT Handbook.

In referring to "clawback", Scottish Government assumes the question relates to differences in funding provided by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) via its annual allocations process to institutions based on forecast uptake of places at colleges and universities, and any subsequent adjustment made by the SFC to that funding on the basis of reduced take up of college and university places. While there are regular funding reconciliation exercises between the Scottish Government and public bodies, no funds have been returned to the Scottish Government for that specific reason.

The Scottish Government does not routinely collect or publish data on drug deaths within a specified radius of individual facilities, including the Thistle facility in Glasgow.

Accredited official statistics on drug deaths in Scotland are published annually by Drug-related deaths in Scotland in 2023 - National Records of Scotland (NRS) The most recent available statistics are for deaths registered in 2023. The next publication of these statistics is expected in September 2025 and can be found here Upcoming publications - National Records of Scotland (NRS) and will cover deaths registered in 2024. The most detailed geographical breakdown of these statistics is local authority area (i.e. Glasgow City).

Scottish Government publishes quarterly data to provide an indication of current trends in Suspected drug deaths in Scotland: January to March 2025 - gov.scot This data is operational information from Police Scotland who compile figures on the basis of reports from police officers attending scenes of death. This is management information and not subject to the same level of validation and quality assurance as official statistics. A geographical breakdown by Police Division is available for this data. Over the period January to March 2025, 61 suspected drug deaths were recorded in the G: Greater Glasgow Police Division.

The Scottish Government does not support the manufacture of munitions - nor do our public agencies. The support provided is focused on helping firms to diversify and develop civilian applications for their technology and ensure Scotland continues to benefit from the thousands of jobs in the defence, aerospace and shipbuilding sectors.

The licencing of exports of military technology, including for Scottish-based companies, is a reserved matter over which the Scottish Government has no control. We have repeatedly called on the UK Government to place an immediate ban on licenced arms exports from the United Kingdom to Israel. The UK Government’s decision, announced on 2 September 2024, to suspend 30 export licences to Israel for arms used in military operations in Gaza, was therefore welcome, but should go much further

Our Guidance on Due Diligence: Human Rights sets out recommendations on how the Scottish Government, our executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies should undertake appropriate due diligence on companies, including their human rights record, before entering into an investment relationship with them. In operationalising our guidance, Scottish Enterprise’s Customer Due Diligence Procedure sets out the process that it follows to undertake human rights due diligence checks on companies it works with.

The Glasgow Safer Drug Consumption Facility (SDCF) will undergo a comprehensive, independent evaluation, led by a collaboration of academic institutions, including the University of Glasgow, Glasgow Caledonian University, and other expert research partners.

The Scottish Government is committed to an evidence-based approach to tackling drug-related harm and will ensure any further facilities are informed by robust, independent evidence.

The Scottish Government will assess the impact of the Glasgow pilot using those forthcoming evaluation findings and this will assist to build an evidence base for future policy considerations.

Any proposal for additional facilities or a wider roll-out will be considered on a case-by-case basis but will also require agreement from the Lord Advocate and the provision of a statement of prosecution policy similar to that which is in place in Glasgow.

The Strategic Board for Teacher Education is developing a Teacher Education and Development Framework to support teacher development throughout their careers. This includes a specific focus on improving support and mentoring for early career teachers.

Local authorities are responsible for meeting the statutory guidance requirements in relation to cross-boundary and are further encouraged to work together to ensure families’ choice of provider is not limited by local authority boundaries through joint Funding Follows the Child guidance developed by COSLA and the Scottish Government. The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 (Section 50) also requires local authorities to consult with families in their area about how they should make ELC available.

The Scottish Government has an outcomes-based evaluation strategy for the national ELC expansion, which will look at accessibility. We published an interim report in August 2024, with the full report due to be published next by the end of 2025.

A further national Parent and Carer Survey took place in May 2025, building on the surveys previously undertaken in 2017 and 2022. Findings from the survey will be published later in the year and will provide a useful insight into parents' and carers' current experiences of 1140.