Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government, through policy initiatives such as Getting it right for every child, emphasises the importance of professionals such as social workers and teachers working together to achieve the best outcomes for children and young people. This will continue as we work towards delivering the Promise.

At present the Scottish Government does not routinely gather data regarding the exact locations where social workers are co-located in schools. The Whole Family Wellbeing Fund (WFWF) programme however has a key core component of implementing a whole systems approach and has supported several initiatives throughout Scotland to enable young people to engage with social workers school.

Examples of these are located in:

South Lanarkshire

A family support programme called ‘Pathfinders’ is working with secondary schools and social workers to contact and support young people who are disengaged from school, with a focus on preventing the child or young person being taken into care.

This programme was established prior to WFWF in three secondary schools in 2019, and expanded to seven in total. Evaluation has shown that by the end of March 2023-2024 the programme had worked with 534 young people and families.

South Lanarkshire reports indicate a range of improvements relating to young people’s meaningful participation in school or learning. The report also indicated that young people were able to recognise positive changes in their behaviour and wellbeing. Young people also expressed trust in Pathfinder officers, saying they feel listened to and understood.

Fife

A test of change project provided early access to social work support in two localities. The project provided drop-in services in schools that focussed on: building supportive networks for families within the local communities. The project also provided advice on benefits, housing, fuel poverty, social isolation and mental health. Senior practitioners were recruited to work with a small number of children and young people to provide early help in schools, specifically to avoid exclusions.

Freight Facilities Grants of over £25 million have been made to Scottish ports since 1997. This has enabled ports to purchase shore based handling equipment, has allowed piers and berths to be built or refurbished and enabled rail lines to be built into ports.

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) is the executive agency which manages Scotland’s national forests and land. The majority of deer management on land owned by the Scottish Government is undertaken by FLS. Alongside land owned by the Scottish Government, public bodies also manage deer on public land they are responsible for. This includes NatureScot and Scottish Water. Further detail on the revenue these organisations have received from deer management activities is as follows.

Forestry and Land Scotland

FLS income from deer carcasses, the associated bye-products and fees from leases/permissions for recreational stalking, has amounted to:

2020 £22244.75

2021 £17596.71

2022 £18675.86

2023 £34395.19

2024 £35329.33

Our International Development work focuses on three partner countries in Africa. The Scottish Government has not had official or unofficial contact with representatives from Bangladesh in relation to International Development, for either infrastructure or financial projects in Bangladesh. Our International Development overseas investment partner countries are Malawi, Rwanda, and Zambia. More information on our International Development work can be found online at <https://www.gov.scot/policies/international-development/>

Since the independent Barclay Review of Non-Domestic Rates, a range of key reforms to the NDR system have been implemented to support growth, improve administration and increase fairness.

Following the implementation of the final recommendations of the Barclay Review on 1 April 2023, a consultative sub-group on Non-Domestic Rates (NDR) was established under the New Deal for Business to advise on further enhancements to the NDR system. This sub-group provides a forum for ongoing dialogue and engagement on NDR issues with members who come from a range of business representative organisations, including the hospitality sector, as well as Scottish Assessors and local authorities who are also represented.

The Scottish Government has no plans to consult on a long-term replacement for the NDR system in advance of the next revaluation on 1 April 2026 but remains committed to the NDR sub-group and to working with the hospitality sector on the long-term issues that have been raised by the sector.

The Scottish Biodiversity Strategy sets out a range of ‘conditions for success’ required to ensure its Strategic Outcomes are achieved, including securing the necessary investment. The Biodiversity Investment Plan is therefore an important element of our Strategic Framework for biodiversity, setting out actions we will take to improve the flow of investment into nature restoration projects. The Biodiversity Investment Plan was published on 26 February 2025 and is available at https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781836910640.

The vast majority of dog owners are responsible people who take good care of their animals and enjoy the widespread benefits of dog ownership and companionship.

The Scottish Government Code of Practice on the Welfare of Dogs, approved by the Scottish Parliament, provides dog owners with information on caring for their pets. This has been promoted by various marketing campaigns in recent years working in partnership with the relevant stakeholders.

Furthermore The Scottish Government would encourage all dog owners to follow the guidance and advice from reputable organisations such as the Scottish SPCA, the Dogs Trust and others if they require assistance with the use of crates for their dogs and crate training.

The role of the National Specialist Services Committee (NSSC) is not to "sign off" procedures. Instead, it provides oversight and governance for the commissioning of new specialist services and networks, reviews potential decommissioning of existing services and undertake an annual prioritisation process in relation to service business cases for development.

Numbers of prioritised procedures by NSSC are provided below:

a) Prioritisation by NSSC for the last 10 years:

The Scottish Government is committed to maintaining public finances on a sustainable trajectory. Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of public services is a key strand of the Public Service Reform programme, which reports to Parliament on a regular basis.

Accountable Officers for all public bodies or portfolio within the Scottish Government have a personal responsibility for the propriety and regularity of the finances under their stewardship and for the economic, efficient and effective use of all related resources. This includes being personally answerable to Parliament for the exercise of their functions. This is set out in the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000 and the Scottish Public Finance Manual.

The Scottish Government has no plans to incur the costs associated with the establishment of a new executive agency to duplicate the work already being undertaken by Accountable Officers and Ministers.