Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government provided funding to support the efforts of Legion Scotland and Poppyscotland to commemorate the anniversary of VE Day through a concert at the Usher Hall on Tuesday evening. Titled Scotland’s Salute to VE Day 80, this was Scotland’s national commemorative event to mark this anniversary and told of the historic efforts which lead to victory in Europe 80 years ago.

Earlier this year, the Scottish Government wrote to MSPs and Local Authorities to highlight the funding being made available from the UK Government to arts organisations across the UK from April to August of this year to share stories of towns, cities and villages during the Second World War, as well as the funding available from the National Lottery Community Fund Awards for grants to host community events, activities and exhibitions to help tell the stories of the Second World War at a local level. I subsequently wrote to local MSPs and Local Authority Veterans Champions to reemphasise this support.

In the current parliamentary session to date the Emerging Energy Technologies Fund has spent a total of £15.3 million on grant awards:

• £6.8m to 31 projects, via the Hydrogen Innovation Scheme (details at: Emerging Energy Technologies Fund - Hydrogen Innovation Scheme: successful projects - gov.scot)
• £3.1m to the Storegga Speyside Hydrogen Project (details at: Green hydrogen production - gov.scot)
• £3.4m to 11 projects, following the 2024/25 green hydrogen funding call (details at: £3.4 million for Scotland’s hydrogen future - gov.scot)
• £2.0m to National Gas Transmission Plc. to support the pre-Front End Engineering and Design phase of the SCO2T Connect Project.

The First Minister announced to the Scottish Parliament on 6 May 2025 that we intend to remove the ban on alcohol on trains and replace it with new restrictions which will allow alcohol consumption between from 10am to 9pm every day. ScotRail will reserve the right to implement alcohol restrictions on specific services where BTP and rail industry intelligence indicates it necessary, for example major concerts or sporting events.

The current ban will be lifted and the new rules will come into force on 2 June 2025.

The Scottish Budget: 2025-26 published on 4 December 2024 allocated £46.0 million of capital to Ferguson Marine for the financial year commencing 1 April 2025 (with details in Table 9.13: Ferguson Marine Spending Plans (Level 3).

This allocation is designed to cover capital spending associated with completion of the MV Glen Rosa and investment in yard capital equipment and infrastructure in the current financial year. Over the current and next financial years, 2025-26 and
2026-27, the Scottish Government is committed to invest up to £14.2 million in Ferguson Marine’s investment programme subject to standard commercial tests being met.

Work on Ferguson’s investment programme began in December 2024, with approved funding being directed towards addressing essential repairs and new equipment to enhance yard productivity.

There are existing protections for freedom of speech and the Equality Act 2010 protects people from discrimination or harassment at work or in other areas of their life, because of their religious or philosophical beliefs.

The Equality Act 2010 is mainly reserved to the UK Parliament and UK Government. The regulator, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, has issued guidance on avoiding discrimination and harassment in the workplace and there is a Statutory Code of Practice on Employment.

Freedom of speech is a qualified right and the ways in which a person’s religion or belief is manifested might not be protected if this impacts on the legal rights of others, including those with the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, not to be discriminated against or harassed.

The Shingles vaccination programme was first introduced in Scotland in 2013. In 2023, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended the use of a new two-course vaccine and the expansion of the age cohorts to protect individuals at an earlier age. They recommended a phased implementation over ten years. Currently, individuals who are age 65 and 70, over age 50 with a severely weakened immune system and people with certain health conditions are eligible for two doses of shingles vaccine. The second dose is usually offered between 2 and 12 months after the first. Eligible individuals will be contacted by their local NHS Immunisation team. Most Immunisation teams begin inviting patients forward from January onwards.

In due course, those who reach age 60 or 65 years during the period 1 September 2028 to 31 August 2033 will become eligible from 1 September in the relevant year.

At launch we substantially widened eligibility for Funeral Support Payment in comparison to the UK Government’s funeral payment. We recognised the complex nature of family relationships and introduced flexibility, meaning that the applicant does not have to be the closest relative of the deceased.

We regularly consider how to improve our payments and last year introduced amendment regulations to make improvements to Funeral Support Payment, further supporting bereaved people and helping people who are struggling to pay for a funeral. The changes included extending the definition of funeral to include alkaline hydrolysis, providing assistance for funerals abroad in exceptional circumstances and removing the cap for funerals outwith the deceased’s local area.

All Health Boards in Scotland have the responsibility for delivering the shingles vaccination programme and have operational flexibility to reflect local needs.

Each year, individuals become eligible for vaccination depending on their age on 1 September. Boards can decide when it is most suitable to deliver this effectively alongside other immunisation programmes.

The Chief Medical Officer publishes advice for health professionals which includes the programme eligibility, priority and asks Health Boards to include an element of proactive inclusion work to reduce health inequalities. He also asks for a particular focus on underserved communities; this might include people living in the areas of highest deprivation and certain ethnicities who may experience lower vaccine uptake.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government and is a matter for individual public bodies. The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is the body responsible for regulating and enforcing the Equality Act 2010. The Scottish Government is already undertaking a review of existing policies, guidance and legislation impacted by the recent Supreme Court judgment but will require to fully consider the revised Guidance and Code from the EHRC when it is issued, along with the Supreme Court judgment itself, before any changes could be made.