Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has regular communication with the UK Government and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) on a variety of issues affecting the maritime industry in Scotland including related to seafarer welfare.

Whilst shipping safety, seafarer welfare and employment conditions are reserved functions, the Scottish Government is committed to working with the UK Government and the MCA to ensure that these matters are given the highest priority on those vessels accessing Scotland’s waters and ports.

When a patient moves to Scotland from abroad with an existing diagnosis and treatment plan, and where such treatment is approved by the Scottish Medicines Consortium, clinicians will make a decision whether to reassess the patient to ensure it is safe to go ahead with their existing treatment plan.

Patients with an urgent clinical need will always be prioritised.

In all cases, we expect Health Boards to make every effort to ensure equity of care and that any disruptions to the patient’s journey are minimised.

There are no plans for Transport Scotland to introduce a formal reporting and tracking system for antisocial behaviour as there is no requirement on all operators in this deregulated sector to collect and share this data, which will affect the coverage of any data collected. Additionally, operator thresholds for reporting antisocial behaviour will vary affecting the consistency of any shared data.

Nevertheless, Transport Scotland is working with the Confederation of Passenger Transport and operators to encourage the industry to collect more data and to similar standards to improve knowledge of antisocial behaviour on buses. This supports the recommendations from the Independent Working Group on antisocial behaviour. Furthermore, the Transport Focus Your Bus Journey survey provides an indication of perceived trends in behaviour on buses. The results for Scotland show that in 2023 5% of respondents stated that passenger behaviour caused concern (8% in England). This increased to 6% in 2024.

The Scottish Government is aware of a range of views from football supporters when it comes to the availability of alcohol in football stadiums, and recognises there is an argument for football supporters to be afforded the same opportunities as fans at other sporting and cultural events. However, we currently have no plans to amend the legislation but remain open to discussions on this issue and will consider any proposals put forward.

Ministers listened closely to the sector in the development of this year’s budget, and we are investing over £1.1 billion in university teaching and research. In addition, the Scottish Government has made a further £25m of funding available to the Scottish Funding Council to support the sector in mitigating financial challenges.

The Scottish Funding Council monitors financial sustainability across the sector and Ministers have confidence in their ability and expertise. There are many factors impacting universities at the present time, including UK migration policies and the UK Government’s increase to employer national insurance contributions. The latter is estimated to cost Scottish universities over £48 million.

There are no plans to revaccinate individuals who have had a previous Zostavax vaccination. The need for booster doses following previous vaccination has not yet been determined by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

A statement on the shingles vaccination programme was published on 13 November 2024, advising that the offer of Shingrix vaccination should be expanded to include older adult cohorts aged 80 years and over.

JCVI recognise that some of these individuals will have already received a Zostavax vaccination. However there is a clear cost-effective benefit from offering a single dose of Shingrix to this age group as this would help prevent severe illness and other serious complications from shingles, which can cause illness or hospitalisation.

The Scottish Government, Public Health Scotland and NHS Boards will work together to consider these recommendations.

The Scottish Government has made £25m of funding available to the Scottish Funding Council to support the sector. The Scottish Funding Council has allocated £22m of this to the University of Dundee to support the university in addressing its immediate financial challenges.

The Scottish Government and Scottish Funding Council will continue to explore all means possible and consider any reasonable asks to further support the University of Dundee as it develops a plan to secure a sustainable future. The Scottish Government will carefully consider any approaches for further emergency funding in relation to the financial challenges faced by the university.

A. There have been no discussions between the Scottish Government and the Camphill organisation regarding long-term funding for their work.

A public consultation was undertaken in 2021, which looked at levels of Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs). Following this, on 1 April 2023, the maximum PCN amount was raised to £100. Local authorities must ensure that they issue PCNs only when it is lawful to do so. It is important to note that PCNs are a penalty for illegal parking and are not to be used specifically to generate income, though any profit from PCNs is ring-fenced and must only be used by the local authority for transport related purposes. Local authorities also report the income and expenditure annually and these reports are published on the Transport Scotland website.

Under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, the statutory responsibility for the provision of education in Scotland rests with individual local authorities.

School catchment arrangements are a matter for individual local authorities, which have the responsibility to manage their own school estates in consultation with local communities.

Any proposal to redraw school catchment areas is subject to the requirements of the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010, which sets out clear procedures for public consultation to ensure that local communities have the opportunity to express their views.

There have been no discussions between Scottish Ministers and COSLA about the redrawing of school catchment areas – that is because a decision pertaining to changing catchment areas for Schools in Scotland is a matter for Local Authorities, not Scottish Ministers.