Chamber and committees

In 2024-25 the Scottish Government worked with the Scottish Funding Council and enabled a £13.4m ‘swap’ of capital for resource funding, recognising that colleges required additional resource funding for maintenance purposes.

Aware of the maintenance pressures colleges continue to face, actions are underway through the College Tripartite Alignment Group, comprising of Scottish Government, the SFC and Colleges Scotland, to consider options for a current year and longer term solution. These discussions sit in the context of SFC’s ongoing work with the sector to develop a College Infrastructure Investment Plan, due to publish in autumn 2026.

The Tripartite Alignment Group provides strategic direction on the pressures and opportunities facing colleges. More can be found about its work here on the Scottish Government’s website. For example, the Group has increased the flexibility in the system with the introduction of the SFC’s College Transformation Framework in Academic Year 2025-26 which offers options around bespoke funding arrangements between colleges and the SFC to enable colleges to plan their curriculum more effectively over a number of years. The Group has also agreed a new asset disposals process which enables most colleges to retain a significant proportion of the value of any sale to invest locally.

With public finances at their most strained since devolution, this government has made a long-term commitment to supporting the college sector by increasing teaching funding by 2.1% and capital maintenance by 4.9% compared to 2024-25.

ScotRail is not currently contracted or funded by Transport Scotland to operate rail services to Lockerbie. This has been investigated several times in the past but cannot be delivered efficiently by extending an existing service to Lockerbie.

It would require the leasing of additional trains and recruitment of staff resulting in an increased cost of several million pounds each year. It is therefore most cost efficient to the taxpayer, for cross-border operators to serve the station.

Options were explored to find a solution for Lockerbie station, however due to a range of factors, no sensible solution could be progressed at this time.

The Scottish Government has published school-level information in the Schools Information Dashboard covering the percentage of pupils attaining qualifications at each SCQF level. This covers all SCQF qualifications including National Qualifications and vocational and technical qualifications and awards such as (but not limited to) Foundation Apprenticeships and National Progression Awards.

In March 2025 the Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office and the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission (TJBCM) announced a partnership to advance brain tumour treatment, care and research through Scotland's first dedicated neuro-oncology fellowships.

Two TJBCM fellowships have to date been funded via this collaboration: a neuro-oncology fellowship hosted jointly in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and a brain tumour neurology fellowship hosted in Glasgow.

The information as requested is not held centrally. The Scottish Government funds hundreds of organisations and does not monitor which organisations have campaigned for gender self-identification.

We continue to take forward work to protect, promote and improve gender equality in Scotland, working with the First Minister’s National Advisory Council on Women and Girls (NACWG). The Scottish Government accepted the NACWG’s 21 recommendations for systemic change and has begun implementing them, including publishing the first annual statement on gender policy coherence.

Intersectional gender equality considerations will continue to be recognised in the Scottish Government’s policy and practice, including our forthcoming high-level action plan in response to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Right’s recent Concluding Observations. This plan will serve as an important milestone in our work to strengthen transparency and accountability around the implementation of human rights and we intend to publish our response later this year.

Beyond this, our draft mainstreaming strategy will intend to set out an ambitious and progressive agenda to further embed equality and human rights in all we do.

a) In the past three years the Scottish Government has spent the following on peatland restoration. Figures below include capital and resource:

• 2022-23: £17.3m
• 2023-24: £26.2m
• 2024-25: £24.6m

b) The Scottish Government is working with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) to support full implementation of its wildfire strategy this year. SFRS continues to invest significantly in equipment, vehicles, and training to strengthen its response to wildfires, particularly in rural areas. Over the past three years, planned spend of around £1.6 million has supported the roll-out of the Service’s wildfire strategy, including:

• Specialist wildfire PPE (400 sets): £300,000;
• 10 All-terrain Vehicles (ATVs) with specialist firefighting fogging units: £334,500;
• 10 ATV trailers: £76,700;
• 10 4x4 towing vehicles for ATVs: £440,500;
• 4 dedicated 4x4 wildfire support vans: £318,800;
• Specialist wildfire equipment: £134,190; and
• This is also supplemented by the creation of 14 wildfire tactical advisor roles around Scotland.

Alongside this, SFRS has delivered a comprehensive programme of specialist training to ensure crews are fully prepared to tackle wildfires safely and effectively. This includes:

• Tiered wildfire training through Learning Content Management System (LCMS), classroom sessions, and practical instruction;
• Specialist equipment training covering ATVs, fogging units, suppression tools, leaf blowers and brush cutters;
• Driver and operator training for 4x4 support units, trailers, and ATVs;
• Prescribed burning training provided by external partners (approx. £180 per person); and
• Wildfire tactical advisor training delivered in collaboration with Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service (Level 3 and 4 courses, approx. £2,000 per person).

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that the Supporting Transgender Young People in Schools guidance remains up to date and fit for purpose. As with any significant legal or policy developments, we are considering whether the guidance requires to be updated to reflect these.

In the meantime, the Scottish Government has ensured that education authorities and schools have been made aware of the interim update provided by the EHRC, the regulatory body for the Equality Act 2010.

The Scottish Government recognises that this will be a worrying time for transgender young people and their families.

Education authorities and schools provide a range of wellbeing support to children and young people which is planned and provided using the Getting it right for every child approach, ranging from pastoral care and support to targeted support, such as counselling provided through schools.

The approaches to provision of support will be tailored to the individual needs of the young person concerned.