The Scottish Parliament agreed the general principles of the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill in April. In advance of the dates for Stage 2 of the Parliamentary process being agreed, I am proposing to make some amendments to the Bill.

On 9 October the Scottish Government published its response to the independent review of the Victim Notification Scheme (VNS), which signalled our intention to use the Bill to deliver reforms to the VNS that require primary legislation, to ensure we reform the VNS as quickly as possible.

I have already made clear my willingness to amend the provisions that enable a time-limited pilot of single judge rape trials. I recognise, however, that there is not enough cross-party support at this time for such a pilot, irrespective of the model. In the interests of building as much consensus as possible, I will no longer pursue this policy and bring forward relevant amendments to remove it from the Bill. I remain committed to exploring the impact of rape myths and improving access to justice for rape victims. As part of this work, I will bring forward amendments to allow for research to be carried out into jury deliberations, which is currently heavily restricted by the Contempt of Court Act 1981.

I also intend to bring forward amendments at Stage 2 so that Scotland retains a 15 person jury in criminal trials. After reflecting carefully on the Criminal Justice Committee’s recommendations, and on the evidence, I believe that the most prudent approach to jury reform, including the abolition of the not proven verdict, is to seek support for a model with two verdicts (guilty and not guilty), 15 jurors, and a two-thirds majority requirement for conviction.

I have written to the Criminal Justice Committee to provide further detail about the planned amendments.

The reply to the 2024 PQ S6W-30359 was interpreted as seeking cost information for the Digital Waste Tracking project. The Electronic Duty of Care (edoc) system was a wholly separate project to the ongoing “Digital Waste Tracking” project. As such, edoc was not referred to in the response to PQ S6W-30359 on 16 October 2024.

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 regularly meets with the Scottish Funding Council to discuss a wide range of matters, including sectoral skills initiatives.

For example, skills officials recently met with SFC to discuss the co-led Tertiary Pathfinder Programme which, among others, includes the NESA Energy Transition Skills Pathway pilot project.

The anticipated full year spend (12 months from opening, not the financial year) is £2.3 million. This funding is largely to cover the staffing of the facility. Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership have funded the building works and furnishings.

Our Equally Safe strategy for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls (VAWG) emphasises the importance of challenging the underpinning attitudes which enable such violence to take place.

Our Equally Safe at School (ESAS) project, developed by Rape Crisis Scotland and Zero Tolerance, applies a whole school approach to inequality and gender-based violence in schools. Rape Crisis Scotland have reported that currently 116 schools are registered with an ESAS account.

The Scottish Government also funds and supports other education-based programmes and initiatives aimed at tackling violence against women and girls and the attitudes which perpetuate it such as Mentors in Violence peer education programme, the preventing and responding to gender based violence: a whole school framework, Gender Equality Taskforce in Education and Learning and Rape Crisis Scotland’s national sexual violence programme for secondary schools.

The Scottish Government recognises how vital Tourism is to both our national economy and to that of Glasgow as well.

Through our national tourism agency, VisitScotland, the Scottish Government is committed to helping grow the value of tourism across Scotland, including in our cities. VisitScotland promote Glasgow throughout the year across all of their channels and activity, focusing on driving visits at times of the year where there is capacity for growth. A live example is Glasgow being featured in current VisitScotland Expedia activity in the US and UK. Partnership working is a core part of VisitScotland’s approach, and they are guided by their Glasgow city partners and work with them on content planning and development.

VisitScotland also provide specialist support for tourism businesses in Glasgow – to help them develop quality experiences, build digital capability, reach new markets and move towards more sustainable practices. They work closely with partners to support delivery of the Glasgow 2030 Tourism Strategy, which is aligned with the national tourism strategy Scotland Outlook 2030, a key component of the National Strategy for Economic Transformation. In addition, VisitScotland will be a supporting partner in the delivery of the forthcoming Glasgow Events Strategy 2035 to maintain the city’s position as a leading global event destination.

Scotland, and in particular Glasgow, is a world-leading events destination with an annual portfolio of major events, These events contribute to a range of outcomes, including the Scottish Government’s ambition to grow the economy and showcase Scotland on the world stage.

The refreshed National Events Strategy Scotland the Perfect Stage 2024 – 2035, sets a clear vision for the events sector as a whole, reaffirming Scotland’s ambition for the events sector. The Scottish Government will continue to work with partners across the events sector to attract major events to Glasgow and Scotland.

Hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games will deliver economic and sporting opportunity for Scotland and support a new future for the Games movement. The Scottish Government is pleased to be working alongside partners to once again welcome athletes, official and visitors to Glasgow and showcase all that Scotland has to offer. Commonwealth Games Scotland estimate the Gross Value Added from the 2026 Commonwealth Games to be in excess of £100 million. The capital investment funding will provide direct economic benefit for the Scottish supply chain and visitors to the event would be expected to provide further direct spending into the Scottish visitor economy.

In addition, Scotland will co-host EURO 2028 after UEFA confirmed the success of the joint UK and Ireland bid in October, 2023. Building on successfully hosting games at EURO 2020, matches in Scotland will be played at Hampden Park in Glasgow.

Although the Glasgow City Region Deal supports infrastructure projects and does not include any tourism projects in Glasgow itself, the £14.1m City Deal funded Ocean Terminal Project in Inverclyde, aims to provide a new Cruise Line Terminal including a berthing facility, state of the art visitor centre, gallery, and restaurant to boost the number of cruise ship passengers welcomed to Scotland through the facility operated by Peel Ports. It is estimated that over 150,000 passengers could pass through Greenock Ocean Terminal delivering £26 million in annual visitor and crew spend to the Scottish economy.

From 2026, the Visitor levy will have the potential to make a positive impact on Tourism in Glasgow. While it is up to Glasgow City Council to decide on whether to have a levy or not, the Act requires that funds raised by a visitor levy must be used to support the visitor economy. Funding raised by a visitor levy (net of local authority administrative costs) must be used for purposes related to developing, supporting or sustaining facilities or services substantially for, or used by, those visiting the scheme area for leisure and/or business purposes.

Glasgow’s rich heritage is also vital for promoting tourism. The Scottish Government delivers support for the Historic Environment through sponsorship of Historic Environment Scotland, who deliver over £13 million in grants each year for projects which conserve and enhance the sustainability of our historic environment. Amongst other grants awarded in the Glasgow area, Historic Environment Scotland issued over £2.5 million in grant funding to the Glasgow City Heritage Trust in the financial years 2023-24 and 2025-26. Historic Environment Scotland welcomed over 450,000 visitors to Glasgow Cathedral last year, demonstrating a 65% increase on last year, and is working alongside Glasgow Life on the retail offer in St Mungo's Museum of Religious Life and Art, sourcing from new Glasgow-based designers and suppliers to benefit locals and visitors alike.

By supporting the tourism industry both in Glasgow and nationally, the Scottish Government is investing in the livelihoods of countless individuals and the prosperity of the entire country. The money spent by tourists goes into our schools, healthcare, and infrastructure. Therefore, supporting the tourism industry is not just about spending; it's an investment that brings returns to our society as a whole.

Data on supported inward investment projects secured and created in Scotland is tracked by Scottish Development International.

SDI reports that for the financial years 2019-20-2023-24 there were 172 new inward investment projects supported, i.e. inward investors supported with their first inward investment to Scotland, from a total of 492 projects.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with the culture sector to do everything within our powers and resources to help those most affected by current economic challenges.

Creative Scotland (CS), the public body that supports the arts, screen and creative industries in Scotland, continues to have regular discussions with Glasgow Life and the Centre for Contemporary Arts Board members and staff. CS have offered them flexibility in the use of existing regular funding they receive, together with support for external expertise to inform their future operating model when they reopen.

The Scottish Government regularly meets with Scottish Renewables to discuss a wide range of matters related to the energy transition. The First Minister met Claire Mack, the Chief Executive of Scottish Renewables, in August, and this meeting included discussion of skills, workforce and training in the renewables sector.

Following this, the Minister for Higher and Further Education and the Minister for Climate Action met Claire Mack, along with other partners, in September to discuss the needs of the energy sector.

Scottish Ministers are responsible for securing the provision of general medical, general dental and general ophthalmic services, and of pharmaceutical services.

Health Boards have a duty to provide those services in accordance with regulations.

Each set of regulations makes its own requirements of the contractors providing various primary care services. General Medical Services contractors, for example, must respond to undifferentiated presentations; patients who are ill or believe themselves to be ill and require diagnosis. This is necessarily a matter of judgement and the regulations do not set targets or particular goals for GP practices. By comparison, routine dental and ophthalmic examinations take place at intervals set by the Scottish Government in accordance with clinical best practice guidelines.