The National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (CSAE) Group has been established to increase cross-sectoral coordination and capability to address the risks and harms of CSAE in Scotland. This includes a focus on better equipping frontline staff with the skills and knowledge to identify and disrupt harm and continued training on interagency referral discussions to better share information.

Reflecting this continuing focus, the Group agreed that the Workforce Learning and Development short life working group sub-group should become a permanent sub-group working at pace to implement progress towards the recommendations from their report.

In direct response to the recommendations on improving training standards, the Scottish Government has provided £42,000 to develop a pilot for the Centre for Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse ‘Practice Leads Programme’ in Scotland to further equip professionals to respond to sexual harm. This funding is part of the additional £220,000 to be invested this financial year to enhance support for victims and families impacted by sexual offending and improve access to training for professionals to respond to sexual harm.

Professor Alexis Jay chaired a meeting of the National CSAE Group on 28 January where an update was provided by the workforce subgroup on its engagement with frontline workers. The subgroup intends to provide specific recommendations to the National Group at a future meeting which will inform our approach to any actions required to improve practice and skills which may include further developing or updating training standards to address CSAE and related harms.

In December 2025, I announced the Independent National Review of local responses to group-based CSAE. This work will be led by four independent national inspectorates and will include scrutiny of local areas’ understanding, skills and response to CSAE, including that of frontline workers. This rigorous work is expected to also support identification of further opportunities to enhance workforce knowledge and practice on CSAE.

These activities sit alongside the ongoing improvement work led by the Scottish Government on workforce skills and responsibilities, including continued implementation of the National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021 which was most recently updated in 2023 to provide further information and resources to local areas on approaches to identify, prevent and address children at risk of, or experiencing CSAE.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-43146 on 2 February 2026. 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

I am pleased to announce that the fourth Annual Report of Scotland’s Vision for Trade (the Vision) is being published today. The Vision sets out our strategic approach to trade policy and this report details the progress we have made in the implementation of the Vision since our last report in late 2024. It demonstrates our continued commitment, in what has been a particularly turbulent year, to transparency and accountability in international trade policy making, and to our principle-based approach.

The last year has seen a number of shocks to the global economy, set against a background of wider and longer term trends changing the way we trade goods and services globally. Scotland has of course not been immune to the headwinds buffeting economies across the globe.

This report details how the First Minister’s mission to grow the economy has been at the forefront of our approach in responding to these developments. In particular, we have taken action to support Scotland’s businesses to be successful globally. That action included influencing the terms of the UK-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA), engaging directly with President Trump in support of Scotch Whisky and collaborating with the UK Government in tackling market access barriers in the EU and other markets for Scottish exports such as pork, crabs & whisky.

In considering the wider impacts of trade, we have pursued our aims for both growth and inclusive trade, for example by taking action to reduce the gender export gap in support of women-led businesses.

The report details how we worked constructively with the UK Government in furthering these aims and our shared trade interests. I encourage the UK Government to commit to working with Devolved Governments to navigate these turbulent times together, ensuring that the UK Trade Strategy delivers for the whole of the UK

The publication of this report marks five years since the original publication of the Vision for Trade. A lot has changed in that time, and the report sets out some of the highlights and challenges we have faced, including how we have used our principles to navigate difficult issues and trade-offs.

As we look towards the future, there is little to suggest that the challenges will be any less complex. We must continue to build on the legacy of Scotland’s Vision for Trade, building on our successes and continuing to apply our distinct, principled approach to the issues we face.

National security and defence are matters reserved to the UK Parliament under Schedule 5 of the Scotland Act 1998, (noting the exception of civil defence). The concept of national security does not extend devolved competence beyond those reserved matters. The Strategic Defence Review is a UK Government policy document and does not alter the statutory division of responsibilities set out in the devolution settlement. As such, including in relation to maritime matters and resilience, it does not provide additional scope for the Scottish Government to rely on the national security exemption set out in Section 45 of the Subsidy Control Act 2022 when procuring vessels for devolved purposes. As explained in the answer to question S6W-42791, marine protection vessels and marine research vessels reflect the operational needs of the Marine Directorate, are built and operated to merchant-vessel standards and fulfil functions related to fishing and environmental protection. The national security exemption within the Subsidy Control Act is intended to apply only in exceptional circumstances where this is necessary for the protection of UK national security, and its use does not affect the underlying reservation of defence and national security matters. The Scottish Government continues to engage with the UK Government on subsidy control matters through established intergovernmental mechanisms.

The High Level Action Plan outlines how we are implementing these recommendations. The Scottish Government’s 2026-27 budget reinforces our mission to eradicate poverty and tackle inequality, with £72m invested in equality, inclusion and human rights. We are working with organisations to promote LGBTQI+ equality in Scotland, providing funding that strengthens outcomes for LGBTQI+ people in areas such as, health, education, tackling housing inequality and capturing lived experience through research. Additionally, we are delivering our Non-Binary Equality Action Plan and progressing our commitment to ending conversion practices in Scotland.

The unequal protection for seasonal workers is something we want to address as urgently as we can. The work undertaken by officials has not been compiled into a report but in my meeting with you on 29 January my officials provided an update on our work on seasonal worker accommodation, including a summary of findings from engagement with key stakeholders.

Relevant information will be included in a proposed consultation on the introduction of measures which will be published at an appropriate point in the future.

Whilst we focus on a longer term piece of work, considering whether a set of bespoke standards is appropriate, we expect local authorities to use existing laws to make provision in their area, suited to their area and in response to activity in their area by making byelaws.

I would like to reiterate that the Scottish Government cannot accept that people need to live in substandard accommodation in Scotland.

At my meeting with you on 29 January my officials provided an outline of the work undertaken and the key aspects of this work, particularly the provisions within the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 which oblige individual local authorities to make byelaws with respect to accommodation for agricultural and seasonal workers. We expect local authorities to exercise these provisions, suited to their area and in response to activity in their area.

In the meantime, we will continue to develop a longer term piece of work within which we propose to undertake a formal consultation and introduce bespoke regulations for seasonal worker accommodation.

The Scottish Government recognise that joint and several liability for Council Tax can create very difficult circumstances for those experiencing or who have experienced abuse.

We want to understand this better, which is why we supported the inclusion of provisions during the passage of The Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 which require a review of how joint and several liability for Council Tax arrears affects people experiencing domestic abuse.

As set out in Section 76(2) of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025, Scottish Ministers must complete this review no later than the 6th of November 2026, which is the end of the period of one year beginning with the day of Royal Assent.

This review would aim to help councils navigate these complex cases with greater care and understanding, ensuring that support is available.

At National level, the Scottish Government is working closely with partners, including the Scottish Funding Council and Skills Development Scotland, to deliver the 2025-26 Programme for Government commitment to a new national skills planning approach for skills needs at national and regional levels. New or improved processes will be designed with stakeholder engagement, including employers, colleges, universities, training providers, Enterprise Agencies, and regional partners.

Apprenticeships are a key pathway to careers in the freight sector. Collaboration with employers and other key stakeholders is an integral part of the development, design and re-design of apprenticeships, with organisations strongly encouraged to get involved in apprenticeship development and to help identify demand.

Specifically for freight, Modern Apprenticeship pathways are currently available for Freight Logistics at SCQF levels 5, 6 and 7 via Skills Development Scotland. In 2024-25, Transport and logistics apprenticeship starts were among the top ten starts by occupational grouping in 2024-25, comprising around 3% of total starts. The achievement rate for freight logistics apprenticeships in 2024-25 was 80%, in line with the overall average, demonstrating the success of our education and training providers.

Our 2025 Draft Transport Just Transition Plan highlighted opportunities for workers in decarbonising transport, including the freight sector and, to date, we have invested just over £1.2 million to support Scotland's colleges to move at pace to prepare for the transition and provide relevant training.

In 2023, in collaboration with industry, the Scottish Government established the Zero Emission Truck Taskforce, who published a Decarbonisation Pathway including actions on workforce skills development HGV Decarbonisation - Pathway for Scotland - Zero Emission Truck Taskforce | Transport Scotland.

Following on from this, in 2025 Transport Scotland set up a zero-emission heavy duty vehicle skills forum to help share knowledge among industry and other stakeholders. This covered various topics related to skills and workforce challenges, including attracting and retaining talent.

The Scottish Government intends to publish the Cervical Cancer Elimination Action Plan in spring 2026.

In the meantime, progress is already under way towards our goal of eliminating cervical cancer by 2040. This includes the upcoming launch of a cervical screening pilot for Human Papillomavirus (HPV) self-sampling, which is expected to begin in March. Self-sampling will be offered in selected GP practices within some of Scotland’s most deprived areas to women who have never, or rarely have, been screened. This pilot will inform the planning of a national roll-out of self sampling, and increase uptake within the cervical screening programme.