Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-34901 on 3 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.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-35129 on 4 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

The Scottish Government has not had specific discussions with North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire or Falkirk Council about underage vaping, including the sale of vapes to young people.

We work closely with the Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland (SCOTSS) on underage sales of vapes. SCOTSS provides an overview of the action taken at a local level on underage sales of vapes and provides an opportunity for concerns to be raised.

As members of the COSLA Trading Standards Policy and Co-ordination Group we are able to work with a range of stakeholders at national and local level on the topic of youth vaping.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-34909 on 4 March 2025. We recognise the importance of having access to meaningful data in relation to respiratory services, in 2023 we provided Public Health Scotland with £60,000 to undertake a scoping exercise with a view to developing a respiratory audit programme. Now that the budget for 2025-26 has been passed by Parliament, we aim to progress this in the current financial year.

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

Improving access to Mental Health services is a priority for Scottish Government and whilst we recognise the ongoing pressures facing the NHS, we remain committed to supporting all Boards to achieve the standard that 90% of patents start treatment within 18 weeks of referral in CAMHS and PT.

As was announced last week we have seen transformational improvements in CAMHS waiting lists over the last year and this has continued during the latest quarter. For the first time ever, national performance against the 18-week CAMHS standard has been met, with 90.6% of children and young people starting treatment within 18 weeks of referral in the last quarter and 1 in 2 children referred to CAMHS start treatment within 4 weeks compared to 12 weeks pre-pandemic (quarter ending March 2019).

Latest publication of data (4 March 2025) shows Psychological Therapies (PT) services are responding well to demand, with one in two people referred starting treatment within three weeks of referral.

More detailed information, including breakdowns at NHS Board level, can be found on the Public Health Scotland website where the latest publication on both PT and CAMHS waiting time is available for quarter ending December 2024 published on 4 March 2025. Publications - Public Health Scotland

The Respiratory Care Action Plan contains broad commitments from a wide range of areas including increasing uptake of vaccines, ensuring people live in warm homes and improvement of air quality. We have made progress across a number of areas under these commitments, such as the Four Nations approach to tobacco.

Along with obesity, smoking represents a chief threat to Scotland's public health and we remain committed to a tobacco-free Scotland by 2034 and welcome the re-introduction of the UK-wide Tobacco and Vapes Bill to UK Parliament, which will help us to achieve our ambitious target.

The Bill will gradually increase the age of sale for tobacco products and provide powers to legislate on vape flavours, displays, packaging, as well introduce an advertising ban for vapes and nicotine products.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Funded places at colleges is based on the number of credits allocated to each college, with a credit equating to 40 hours of learning. SFC publish funding allocations annually in the College Final Funding Allocations release. Information for 2024-25 is available on the SFC website: https://www.sfc.ac.uk/publications/college-final-funding-allocations-2024-25/.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) collect and publish student data, through their annual College Statistics publication: https://www.sfc.ac.uk/publications/college-statistics-2023-24/

Previous funding allocation publications can be found on the SFC website:

Main Website - https://www.sfc.ac.uk/publications/

Archived Website (for publications pre-2019) - https://www.sfc.ac.uk/about-us/sfc-archive/

Further details can be requested from the SFC.

Revenue Scotland is responsible for the collection and management of Scotland’s fully devolved taxes, including Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT).

Management information data from Revenue Scotland regarding the LBTT Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS) is provided in the following tables. On (c), the information provided is based on the correspondence address included in the tax return. The return does not however require information to be provided regarding a taxpayer’s residency status.

Where an amount of ADS is due in relation to a transaction, it may in some cases later be reclaimed.

(a) Tax returns submitted in 2024 with ADS declared due by local authority

As set out in the answer to questions S6W-35253 and S6W-35256 on 11 March 2025, as part of the NHS Scotland Board Annual Review process, the feedback obtained from Area Partnership forums highlighted safety related concerns from a wide range of Agenda for Change colleagues on any reduction to the working week in 2025.

Extensive research was undertaken on the impact of the first 30 minute reduction of the working week for Agenda for Change staff. This included its impact on maintaining system performance, meeting legislative requirements around safe staffing and the delivery of planned initiatives to support service recovery. On review of this research it was clear that, to avoid unacceptable levels of risk to service resilience and patient safety, introducing the remaining hour on 1 April 2026 would be the most appropriate option.

To confirm, there is no delay in the implementation of the reduction of the working week to 36 hours for Agenda for Change staff. It was always the intention to use the initial 30 minute reduction in April 2024 as an opportunity to learn and assess how best to move forward with any further reduction in the working week.

The Scottish Government is therefore committed to fully implementing the remaining 60 minute reduction in the working week for all Agenda for Change staff on 1 April 2026. This will facilitate patient and staff safety, support the continued recovery of services and avoid any extra burden for our workforce.

This implementation date of 1 April 2026 remains fully in line with the commitment made as part of the 2023-24 Agenda for Change pay settlement and the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government.

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

As set out in the answer to question S6W-35253 on 11 March 2025, as part of the NHS Scotland Board Annual Review process, the feedback obtained from Area Partnership forums highlighted safety related concerns from a wide range of Agenda for Change colleagues on any reduction to the working week in 2025.

To confirm, there is no delay in the implementation of the reduction of the working week to 36 hours for Agenda for Change staff. It was always the intention to use the initial 30 minute reduction in April 2024 as an opportunity to learn and assess how best to move forward with any further reduction in the working week.

The Scottish Government is therefore committed to fully implementing the remaining 60 minute reduction in the working week for all Agenda for Change staff on 1 April 2026. This will facilitate patient and staff safety, support the continued recovery of services and avoid any extra burden for our workforce.

This implementation date of 1 April 2026 remains fully in line with the commitment made as part of the 2023-24 Agenda for Change pay settlement and the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government.

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