Chamber and committees

I am pleased to confirm that the suite of CHFS3 documentation has been signed by all parties and the new arrangements will come into effect on 1 October 2025 for an initial duration of 10 years.

This is the culmination of a significant amount of work over a number of years including a robust due diligence exercise and extensive stakeholder engagement to inform the approach taken.

The new contract will fundamentally change the ethos of the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services by moving from a commercial arrangement to a model which is more focused on the delivery of a public service, and which is fully engaged and responsive to the particular needs of the communities served.

The flexibility afforded under these new arrangements, along with our commitment to ongoing stakeholder engagement, will help deliver continual improvement throughout the duration of the contract.

Alongside the Scottish Government’s ongoing significant investment in new vessels and infrastructure, I fully expect CHFS3 to be a catalyst for positive change across the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services network.

The Scottish Government has no plans currently to mandate further data collection from salmon farms given the information already provided is sufficient for transparency and regulatory purposes. The approach was set in our response (March 2025) to the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee's recent inquiry and report into salmon farming in Scotland. In this correspondence, I also committed to improve the accessibility of existing data collections and to explore how to gain greater insights into cleaner fish mortality.

Public bodies, including local authorities, are expected to comply with all relevant procurement legislative requirements. Public bodies are responsible for deciding their actions in individual cases.

In addition to following organisation-specific guidance, the Scottish Procurement Policy Handbook provides guidance on the rules and policies that apply to the procurement activities of public bodies in Scotland. Additional and more specific guidance and e-learning is available to public bodies in various forms such as via the Procurement Journey website, Sustainable Procurement Tools and various Scottish Procurement Policy Notes.

The Scottish Government reviews its guidance on an ongoing basis to ensure necessary and helpful updates are made as appropriate.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) has four national youth engagement services on offer ranging from primary, secondary and tertiary interventions depending on local partnerships, funding and need. These are:

• FireSkills – This is a fully flexible programme, free for those aged between 12-18, consisting of a range of sessions based on firefighter drills, adapted to provide a unique opportunity and learning experience for young people.
• FireSkills Employability Award (FEA) - Building on the sessions from FireSkills, the FireSkills Employability Award has been developed in partnership with Ayrshire College and demonstrates the SFRS commitment to supporting the attainment challenge by providing the best opportunities for young people through providing formal recognition of their achievement.
• Fire Safety Support and Education (FSSE) - SFRS works in partnership to deliver FSSE to those under the age of 18. Through a programme of tailored interventions, FSSE offers a flexible approach to assist in the early intervention of those who demonstrate an unsafe interest in fire or fire related anti-social behaviour. The scheme aims to educate young people and their families on fire safety and consider wider implications and impact of their actions.
• Youth Volunteer Scheme (YVS) – SFRS’s YVS is a free national youth initiative that creates opportunities for young people aged 12-18. The main objective of YVS is to provide a safe, welcoming, enjoyable and fun environment where young people can learn as individuals, develop positive relationships and actively work together for a safer Scotland.

Operational responsibility for the National 5 Creative Industries course is a matter for the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA).

This Skills for Work qualification has been designed to link broadly to National Occupational Standards in the creative industries sector and provides some of the underpinning knowledge required for the industry. The course also gives learners experience of the practical skills required to work in the sector and helps prepare them for further training.

The course is context free so centres can choose which creative industries sector to base their course on. The City of Edinburgh Council is piloting using Roof Tiling and Stone Carving as the context for their course. This is not an SQA pilot although SQA did agree with the City of Edinburgh Council that the course could be used for this purpose.

The qualification itself is already established and available to all schools in Scotland.

We want young people to have the opportunity to undertake the pathway that best matches their abilities and aspirations.

SQA attainment data from Results day this year showed that the number of pupils and students achieving passes in vocational and technical qualifications and awards has reached a record high of 110,380 – this represents a year-on-year increase of 22.6% compared to 2024.

The Scottish Government has not carried out any formal risk assessment regarding Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and Ministry of Defence (MOD) civil defence co-operation and the proposal to transfer any defence liabilities to the civil sector as no formal proposal to transfer any such liabilities has been presented to us.

We are aware of technical work being conducted by NDA and MOD to evaluate the potential transfer of the Vulcan Naval Reactor Test Establishment, near to Caithness, to the NDA when the site reaches the end of its operational life, not expected to be before April 2027, and we will consider the results of this in due course. Under the terms of the Energy Act 2004 any proposal to give the NDA additional responsibilities, including defence liabilities, in Scotland requires agreement from Scottish Ministers and a Designation Direction under the Energy Act 2004 would require to be to be laid in the Scottish Parliament.

Any transfer of Vulcan to the NDA would also require the relevant authorisation under the Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018 issued by SEPA and so would be subject to robust independent scrutiny.

The link below shows the number of ongoing waits for Cardiology for Inpatient/Daycase Admission and New Outpatient Appointments at 30 June 2025 (latest) latest published statistics – this can be found under the 'data files' heading.

The first table is the waiting list size at month end for Cardiology Inpatient/Day case Admission and New Outpatient Appointments along with the median waiting time (days) at 30 June 2025 (latest). This information can be found at latest published statistics.

The second table shows the whole time equivalent and headcount of cardiologists at 30 June 2025 (latest). This information is available at NHS Education for Scotland NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence.

The funding decisions taken by the UK Government flow into UK Spending Reviews and budgets, which also set out the Scottish Government’s overall capital funding. The capital budget as laid out in the UK spending review on 11 June 2025 delivers a real terms cut to the SG CDEL budget by the end of period covered. In financial year 2029-30 the SG CDEL budget is 1.1% lower in 2025-26 terms. While the front-loaded nature of the capital budgets as well as the sizable increase in financial transactions are welcomed they do not offset the loss of spending power from this real terms reduction. It is widely accepted that the recent inflationary environment has had a greater effect on capital budgets particularly construction related projects. Therefore, the loss of spending power on infrastructure could be even greater than the numbers show. This has been compounded by historic real terms cuts to our Capital settlement by previous governments leading to a backlog in maintenance.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) has been working closely with partners, including Fife Council, to address a previous rise in fire-related antisocial behaviour. SFRS believes prevention and education to be the best method of dealing with fire-related antisocial behaviour and has confirmed that this partnership approach has contributed to a recent decline in such behaviour locally.

SFRS staff work year-round to share key fire safety guidance and to engage communities on the dangers and consequences of deliberate fire-setting. The Service’s Youth Volunteer Scheme operates in areas across Scotland, including in Methil, and is open to all 12 to 18 year-olds.

The Scottish Government continues to investigate the wide-ranging implications of aligning with the recast Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive on policy and legislation. This includes implications for the operation of storm overflows and the related guidance. I will provide further information to Parliament once this work has reached an appropriate stage.