In recognition that Scotland’s colleges are a vital part of our economy and wider society, the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) allocations provide a 2.6% sector increase in teaching funding for 2025-26 compared to last year, with an increase of almost 5% in capital maintenance funding over the same period.

The Scottish Government is engaging very closely with Colleges Scotland on issues affecting the sector, while the SFC robustly monitors the position of the sector and the challenges faced, and considers appropriate forms of support, including to address short-term cash flow challenges.

Since ScotAccount’s launch in February 2023, over 540,000 unique accounts have been created with more than 2,200,000 total sign-ins to ScotAccount made.

ScotAccount has been used to access the following services online:

Study leave for resident doctors is managed centrally by NHS Education for Scotland. All resident doctors in training, irrespective of board location, have access to the study leave budget. This includes regional or nationally provided courses, and individual training programme budgets. For further information, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-41661 on 13 November 2025. 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 remains committed to delivering the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant - that serving personnel and their families should face no disadvantage in accessing support and services in comparison to the civilian population as a result of their service.

Government officials have engaged with representatives of service families to understand their experience of living and working in Scotland, including access to childcare. At a local authority level, there has been particular engagement with Moray Council, to understand availability of childcare in the rural area around RAF Lossiemouth, and the impact this has on the ability to attract and retain service personnel.

This year, SG and MOD have participated in a short life working group convened by the local authority, which focuses on the school age childcare needs of all communities across Moray, identifying priorities for growth and development, test of change projects and community engagement. This has provided opportunity for the specific needs of service families to be heard and addressed.

More broadly, local authorities have statutory duties to consult and plan childcare provision locally in order to help them ensure the provision within their area reflects local needs, which would include the particular needs of service families. Scottish Government will be contacting local authorities in due course to set out planned changes to the Armed Forces Covenant and policies which will be impacted, including childcare.

The figures of 1,020 to 1,200 residential buildings with a height of 11 to 18m are drawn from estimates developed by the Scottish Government and published in June 2025. These were estimates of the approximate numbers of buildings in this category that might require work to alleviate cladding risk.

In parallel, however, the Scottish Government has been identifying specific buildings which may be at risk from cladding, through the series of information-gathering exercises set out in the ‘Next Phase Plan of Action’ published in August. We are using the outputs of these exercises to seek assurance from building owners that appropriate action is being taken, including through the Scottish Government’s Single Open Call scheme which offers financial support for assessment and any mitigation and remediation work found to be necessary.

Information on the number of veterans assisted to secure accommodation is not held by Scottish Government. Local authorities have the legal duty to provide housing assistance to veterans who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, and this includes offering temporary or permanent accommodation.

The Scottish Government collects statistics from local authorities on homelessness applications and assessments and outcomes, including information on veterans. The most recent annual homelessness statistics on veterans’ homelessness were published on 24 September 2025 and can be found on the Scottish Government website using the following link: Homelessness in Scotland: veteran homelessness - gov.scot.

Statistical analysis of accommodation outcomes in 2024-25 show that 75% of homeless veteran households secured settled accommodation in 2024-25. Achieving a settled outcome has been consistently between 75% and 79% over the last seven years.

GP Sustainability Loans are made by agreement between Health Boards and individual GP surgeries: the Scottish Government does not oversee an application process.

The following table shows how many loans have been agreed between Health Boards and individual GP surgeries in each year since 2018 and how much has been allocated to Health Boards by the Scottish Government for disbursement.

The Scottish Government partners with a relocation company to assist staff who are assigned to Scottish Government offices overseas.

The costs for the services provided, from financial year 2021-22 to date, are detailed in the following table:

The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) advice is challenging for a number of our key stocks this year across the Northeast Atlantic, not least the iconic stocks of cod and mackerel. There are many factors that may be contributing to this, such as natural mortality, climate impacts and low recruitment across the North East Atlantic.

North Sea cod is not collapsing. The ICES advice shows a stark picture of the health of the southern substock, and this is primarily what is driving down the overall advice. The immediate priority must be the implementation of spatial management measures that restrict potential catches of that southern stock. We already have significant measures in place in Scottish waters and we are reviewing these to see what, if any, improvements can be made.

The advice for mackerel is unprecedented, well below anything we have seen on the ICES advice sheetsat least since 1987. Scotland continues to work with the UK Government and our Coastal State neighbours to agree a comprehensive sharing arrangement. ICES advice clearly demonstrates the importance of the interim steps taken by the UK, Norway and the Faroe Islands, whose agreement immediately reduced the total outtake of the stock, representing a step towards more sustainable fishing, whilst the wider sharing discussions continue.

Our stocks are jointly managed with the fishing nations around us, with negotiations currently ongoing. It is important that we continue to work together to balance sustainably managed fish stocks and a sustainable and prosperous industry and coastal communities. Whilst there is some challenging advice there are also many stocks where the picture remains more positive and the overall trend is good. The Scottish Sustainable Fishing Indicator (SFI), which summarises the sustainability status of commercial fish and shellfish stocks in Scottish waters, shows that the sustainability status of stocks in Scottish waters has increased through time, from 39% in 1995 to 73% in 2023.

The 2024 Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics show that the number of active Scottish fishing vessels was 1,998, a modest decrease of 8 vessels compared to 2023. The fleet remains dominated by vessels under 10 metres in length, which have increased by five per cent since 2015, while the number of larger vessels over 10 metres has declined by 16 per cent over the same period.

In terms of employment, 3,735 fishers were working on Scottish vessels in 2024, down 48 compared to 2023. This continues a longer-term trend, with changes reflecting a range of factors including access to labour, technological advances and market conditions.

Despite this consolidation, the sector’s overall performance remains strong. In 2024, Scottish vessels landed 561 thousand tonnes of sea fish and shellfish worth £756 million — the highest value and tonnage recorded in the past ten years.

The Scottish Government remains committed to working with industry, coastal communities and stakeholders to ensure a sustainable and thriving future for Scotland’s fisheries.