Chamber and committees

Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) administers the payment of free university tuition fees for eligible Scottish-domiciled students. The following tables cover the number of people in each local authority area to have benefitted from this from the 2007-08 academic year.

Number of University Students receiving Tuition Fees by Local Authority, 2007-08 to 2016-17

Implementation of the Scottish Government’s Feminist Approach to International Relations is underway across ministerial portfolios, following the publication of the position paper in 2023, with ministers and officials continuing to apply its principles to policy development, programme design and international engagement.

For example, we are delivering our participatory Women and Girls Fund in our international development partner countries of Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia. This programme seeks to both advance gender equality and equalise power with the Global South through supporting women and girls in our partner countries to define and meet their own priorities.

In the climate action and rural affairs portfolio, the Scottish Government is continuing to put climate justice at the heart of our international action. We are embedding participatory approaches in our programmes and mainstreaming gender equality considerations by addressing structural inequality and ensuring all programmes have specific gender equality objectives.

Future Farming Investment Scheme grants were paid in advance specifically to give businesses the cash flow to make the approved investments, which was one of the main barriers experienced with previous schemes. Verification before Basic Payment Scheme payment protects public funds by ensuring funds were used as agreed, and establishing whether any grant is recoverable before further support is paid. The Scottish Government has extended the deadline for businesses to submit evidence to 30 September, providing additional flexibility. As of 15 September 2026, 423 beneficiaries are still to provide evidence that the funded investment was carried out.

Scotland follows the advice of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), the independent expert body that advises all four UK nations on screening programmes.

On 28 May 2026, the UK NSC recommended that prostate screening should be offered to men aged 45 to 61 who have both a confirmed BRCA2 gene variant and a family history of breast, ovarian, pancreatic or prostate cancer. We have accepted this recommendation.

The UK NSC currently does not recommend prostate screening for other groups of men. It has found that there is not yet a suitably accurate test for a national screening programme of asymptomatic men, and there is currently insufficient evidence that the benefits of screening outweigh the risks for other groups of men.

However, ongoing research studies, such as TRANSFORM, will provide new evidence about screening other potentially higher-risk groups and different screening methods. The UK NSC is monitoring emerging evidence closely and will consider whether it supports expanding their current recommendation. The Scottish Government and NHS partners are exploring what would be required to extend prostate cancer screening to other groups should the UK NSC expand its recommendation.

Planning work being undertaken by Public Services Delivery Scotland will provide the information necessary to develop a 24/7 thrombectomy service across Scotland.

This work will include consideration of the specific requirements of rural and island communities, including those of people living in Dumfries and Galloway.

Scottish Government Rural Payments and Inspections Division are processing received applications in a timely and robust manner to ensure the safeguarding of public funds. The deadline for submitting evidence is 30 September 2026. As of 15 September 2026, 423 beneficiaries are still to provide evidence that the funded investment was carried out.

At this time, the Scottish Government has no plans to bring in legislation to prevent the release of sky lanterns and helium balloons, as there is not currently enough evidence to support an outright ban. However, the Scottish Government is aware of the risk that their release can pose in terms of animal safety and fire risk and will therefore continue to monitor and consider all options available to us. We welcome engagement with stakeholders in order to ensure the best outcome, in particular, the release of sky lanterns as a consequence of the fires we have witnessed during the past two summer periods.

No Code of Practice on investigation functions as set out in section 57 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 has been published.

Accordingly:

1.There have been no revisions to a published Code of Practice since the Act came into force;

2.No revised version has been in place; and

3.There have been no reviews of a published Code of Practice.

The Scottish Government, as part of the Marine Consultation on ‘Proposed Fisheries Management Measures in Scottish Inshore Marine Protected… has undertaken a Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA).

In accordance with the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005, there is a requirement to consider reasonable alternatives that fulfil the objectives of the proposed fisheries management measures as part of a SEA.

For the purposes of this assessment the reasonable alternatives are considered to be the two alternative management options under consideration, referred to in the consultation documents as Option 1 and Option 2.

Option 1 proposes a zoned approach in sites where possible – either spatial, temporal or in 2 sites by engine power for Marine Protected Areas (MPA) and for proposed Priority Marine Feature (PMF) management areas, the proposed measures are across a smaller spatial area. Option 2 represents a scenario of greater restriction for fisheries management measures in MPAs or proposed (PMF) management areas.

The SEA assessed the likely environmental effects of both Option 1 and Option 2. While both options were assessed as contributing towards the environmental objectives of the proposals, Option 2 generally represents a greater level of restriction on fishing activity and therefore has the potential to deliver greater environmental benefits where additional restrictions are proposed.

It is concluded the proposed fisheries management measures under either Option 1 or Option 2 are likely to result in immediate and future benefits and achieve the SEA objectives.

The Scottish Government is progressing work with the fishing industry, offshore wind developers and other stakeholders to explore potential options for addressing the impacts of offshore wind developments on fishers.