The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all students with a disability, long term medical condition or additional support needs are able to access further and higher education and are fully supported throughout their studies.

Further Education

The Additional Support Needs for Learning Allowance is a non-income assessed allowance administered by individual colleges. It is intended to support students with disabilities or additional learning needs who are studying a course of Further Education and may have extra costs because of their disability.

Colleges, as part of their integral core funding via Scottish Funding Council, also receive the Access and Inclusion Fund. This supports the teaching and learning of students with additional support needs.

It is the responsibility of individual colleges to manage their student support budgets in a prudent and effective manner. The Scottish Funding Council has clear guidelines and processes in place to monitor colleges’ management of their student support funds, including the requirement for colleges to be audited, by external auditors, on their annual student support expenditure.

Higher Education

The Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) is a non-income assessed fund that is administered by Student Awards Agency Scotland. It is intended to support disabled students and those with additional learning needs who are studying a course of Higher Education and may have extra costs because of their disability.

As a bespoke fund, the amount a student is eligible to receive is based on their individual needs. Those awards are made based on comprehensive guidance prepared by Student Award Agency Scotland and shared with institutions on an annual basis, ensuring that there is a consistency of approach across the sector.

The common staffing method (CSM) sets out a process to identify, mitigate risks and determine what changes, if any, are needed to staffing numbers. Its purpose is to ensure a consistent approach to decision making across NHS Scotland. The frequency of applying the CSM has been defined as once per financial year as a minimum.

Local recruitment based on the outputs of the CMS are a matter for the Health Board and are one of several factors used to determine recruitment.

Use of the CMS will form part of the evidence that Health Boards submit Scottish Government to demonstrate how they have complied with the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019. Under the Act all Health Boards must submit a report on how they complied with their legislative requirements. Scottish Ministers will then lay a summary report to Parliament outlining overall compliance with the Act.

Under the Act, Scottish Ministers have a duty to take all reasonable steps to ensure that there is a sufficient number of registered nurses, registered midwives, medical practitioners, and other types of employees.

Information gained from Health Board annual reports will inform national policies to ensure sufficient future supply including determining future student intake numbers, recruitment and retention polices, and student career pipelines.

The Scottish Government highly values youth work and continues to fund youth work across Scotland in a variety of ways. Local Authorities are required to provide adequate and efficient Community Learning and Development (CLD), which includes youth work, as set out in the Requirements for Community Learning and Development (Scotland) Regulations 2013. In line with the Verity House Agreement, Local Authorities have the autonomy to allocate resources to meet the specific needs of young people in their areas.

In addition to the block grant given to Local Authorities, the Scottish Government directly funds a range of youth work initiatives, projects and programmes. These initiatives aim to support diverse youth work models, promote partnership working and enhance the quality of youth work.

The Scottish Government highly values youth work and continues to fund youth work across Scotland in a variety of ways. Local Authorities are required to provide adequate and efficient Community Learning and Development (CLD), which includes youth work, as set out in the Requirements for Community Learning and Development (Scotland) Regulations 2013. In line with the Verity House Agreement, Local Authorities have the autonomy to allocate resources to meet the specific needs of young people in their areas.

In addition to the block grant given to Local Authorities, the Scottish Government directly funds a range of youth work initiatives, projects and programmes. These initiatives aim to support diverse youth work models, promote partnership working and enhance the quality of youth work.

The agriculture support framework will be aimed at delivering against the following five key outcomes: support for a just transition, high quality food production, thriving agricultural businesses, climate mitigation and adaptation and nature restoration.

To summarise, Tier 1 (Base) of the framework will be a universal, entry-level payment for undertaking agricultural activity while meeting minimum essential standards in relation to sustainable farming activities, protecting the environment, animal health and welfare and ensuring Fair Work. Tier 2 (Enhanced) will supplement applicants delivering Tier 1 requirements and who wish to undertake further activity that delivers outcomes for nature and climate improvement, including recognition of wider land management.

Working closely with farmers, crofters and land managers, we are co-designing Tiers 3 (Elective) and 4 (Complementary), which both remain under development and will be subject to continued robust engagement with the Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board. This collaborative approach will deliver our Vision for Agriculture, support rural communities and economic growth whilst tackling climate change and biodiversity loss.

The Scottish Government highly values youth work and continues to fund digital youth work across Scotland in a variety of ways. Local Authorities are required to provide adequate and efficient Community Learning and Development (CLD), which includes youth work, as set out in the Requirements for Community Learning and Development (Scotland) Regulations 2013. In line with the Verity House Agreement, Local Authorities have the autonomy to allocate resources to meet the specific needs of young people in their areas.

In addition to the block grant given to Local Authorities, the Scottish Government directly funds a range of youth work initiatives, projects and programmes. These initiatives aim to support diverse youth work models, promote partnership working and enhance the quality of youth work.

The funding announced in the draft Scottish Budget will develop an underused space at 252 Saracen Street, Possilpark, into a new Social Entrepreneurial Centre providing 379sqm of space for those from disadvantaged communities to meet, innovate and support new local and diverse social business.

The project will be delivered in partnership with Glasgow City Council and North Glasgow Homes supported with approximately £0.6m investment from Scottish Government, subject to the budget being approved by Parliament and final allocations being agreed by Ministers.

The Scottish Government recognises the huge value that the Belmont, and cultural cinema as a whole, bring to Scotland’s creative landscape. Cinemas like the Belmont are a vital source of cultural experience, community connection, learning, and wellbeing.

The Scottish Government has committed an additional £34m to culture budgets in 2025-26, and our aim is to provide a further £20m in 2026-2027, subject to usual parliamentary procedure. Amongst other activity, this will allow Creative Scotland to offer a comprehensive package of Multi-Year Funding to the largest ever number of cultural organisations across Scotland, ensuring that more people have access to cultural projects and venues, which will benefit their health and wellbeing as well as bringing enjoyment. Creative Scotland will now complete their due diligence, and will aim to notify the successful organisations in January.

While those funding decisions are for Creative Scotland, the Scottish Government is absolutely clear on the value of cultural cinema, and we will continue to engage with Screen Scotland and others to ensure that cultural cinema is protected for Scotland's audiences today and in the long term.

Since its closure in 2022, Screen Scotland has already provided £320,000 in funding to support the reopening of the Belmont cinema. This includes £60,000 to Aberdeen City Council to undertake feasibility and transition work, and £260,000 to Belmont Community Cinema Ltd. to support development of a business model, recruit key staff to support the reopening bid, and progress fundraising activity, amongst other key development work.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

As previously advised with reference to question S6W-31621 on 3 December 2024, during daily routine engagement with the police, Procurators Fiscal undertake the long-established practice of instructing the police in their investigation of crime and all suspicious, sudden and unexplained deaths. The ongoing input and direction during the investigative process is not specifically recorded as implementation of section 12 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, nor is there any statutory obligation to do so.

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