Chamber and committees

Scientific advice has underpinned the decision to authorise derogations permitting licensed fishing vessels to catch, land and sell razor clams while participating in the trial.

The biological and ecological goals describe the areas in which the scientific trial has sought to further our knowledge. These are:

Levels of uptake of the winter flu vaccine

As of the 16 November, 941,833 adult flu vaccinations have been administered. Around the same point last year (17 November 2024) 861,472 adult flu vaccines had been administered. Therefore, this year 80,361 more adult flu vaccines have been administered at this point.

For week ending 16 November, Boards administered 117,026 adult flu vaccines, an increase from the previous week, where they administered 113,936. Clinics and appointments are continuing and we will continue to monitor uptake. The flu programme will run until Sunday 29 March 2026.

Whether there is a significant risk of death as a result of a lack of vaccination

Vaccination is offered to those at the highest risk of complication from flu on the basis of JCVI recommendations. Public Health Scotland (PHS) advises that it is currently too early in the flu season to understand how circulating strains will affect risk of death among unvaccinated (and vaccinated) populations in Scotland.

To note, it is difficult to estimate the impact of vaccination - or lack thereof - on risk of death in the UK (or in Scotland), even at the end of the season, as there are insufficient events to produce precise estimates of differential risk over one year. Instead, PHS produces Scotland-specific and UK-wide estimates of vaccine effectiveness against severe disease, as measured by hospital admissions due to flu. These vaccine effectiveness estimates are typically published on an interim basis in February and finalised for the following June; however, given the early start to this season, PHS is working on a four-nations basis to provide more timely estimates.

NHS Highland operates a Hospital at Home service as part of the Scottish Government’s wider programme to provide acute hospital-level care in people’s own homes. NHS Highland currently have a service running in Argyll & Bute and a new service being developed in Inverness.

The board has been allocated up to £3,513,797 for 2025-26 to support further development of these services.

The Argyll & Bute service managed a median of nearly 20 patients per month in 2024-25. Board level data for the Older Adults pathway is a matter for Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) who collate and manage this data. HIS provide an annual publication on services with information on patients managed here - https://www.healthcareimprovementscotland.scot/publications/hospital-at-home-services-annual-report-july-2025/.

The most recent reconviction statistics were published on 27 August 2025 and are for the 2021-22 cohort

Reconviction Rates in Scotland: 2021-22 Offender Cohort - gov.scot

A reconviction is defined in our statistics as someone who is reconvicted within 12 months of release from custody, or 12 months of being given a non-custodial sentence. Therefore, statistics on the 2021-22 cohort are people released from custody or given non-custodial sentences in 2021-22 who went on to be reconvicted in 2022-23. The most recent criminal proceedings data published is for 2022-23 so the 2021-22 cohort for reconvictions is the most up to date it can be.

Criminal proceedings data for 2023-24 will be published next month and after that, we can begin work on producing reconvictions statistics for the 2022-23 cohort.

We appreciate that the impact of the forthcoming mandatory EU changes may be significant for Scottish seafood exporters. In particular, around the additional new information required for the export documentation.

The changes being introduced by the EU are mandatory for all imports of fisheries products entering the EU from all third countries after 10 January 2026 so there is no alternative to compliance when trading.

Where industry hold specific questions or concerns regarding the current guidance and approach, we would encourage them to raise these as soon as possible as part of the ongoing engagement campaign.

Alongside other Fisheries Administrations, we are still in the process of raising technical questions for clarification with the EU, via UK Government, including those flagged via industry engagement.

When answers are secured to these questions, these will be made available in the FAQ section of the relevant Fish, Trace, Ship campaign website: Frequently asked questions (FAQs) - Fish, Trace, Ship

We will continue to ensure the interests of the Scottish industry are considered throughout this process. The Scottish Government will also continue to push for the UK to deliver as much assistance as possible to enable our industry to comply with the new requirements and minimise the impact on trade.

Longer term, UK Fisheries Administrations – including Scottish Government - are currently progressing the introduction of a revised UK Control and IUU Regulations in light of these EU changes. This is a complex process with many considerations.

As the IUU changes have a direct impact on the ability of Third Counties to continue to export fisheries products to the EU this has to be taken into consideration when assessing our regulatory alignment.

The programme of informing the UK industry of these changes is being led by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) with input and support by Devolved Governments. The Scottish Government has been closely involved in the development of the MMO campaign, including at the recent virtual industry engagement sessions that have progressed during October and November.

To supplement the MMO campaign, Marine Directorate officials have organised meetings with key stakeholders in Scotland to raise awareness of the forthcoming changes.

This includes in September, when meetings took place with some of Scotland’s largest seafood exporters.

The Energy Consents Unit (ECU) manages all representations through established administrative procedures and does not employ the use of AI.

The ECU is actively working to make the representations process more efficient, including enhancing its website and portal. These changes to the representations process are expected to be implemented next year, with the aim of simplifying administrative procedures and improving transparency for both the public and the ECU.

The changes being introduced by the EU are mandatory for all imports of fisheries products entering the EU from all third countries after 10 January 2026 so there is no alternative to compliance when trading.

We have been and will continue to engage closely with Scotland’s seafood exporters both as they prepare for these forthcoming EU changes and through the go-live period and beyond.

There is a commitment to a process of inquiry into the circumstances of the malicious prosecutions. This process of inquiry including the details of the inquiry process will be progressed once all related investigations and proceedings are concluded.