Chamber and committees

No Green Freeport relief had been granted by October 2024, when mid-year estimates of non-domestic rates income for 2024-2025 were collected. This is the latest available data.

Provisional outturn data for 2024-2025 will be published later in the summer as part of the Non-domestic rates income statistics series, and I will write to the member as soon as this is published.

The Scottish Government is continuing to invest in violence prevention activity through our grant funded partner organisations, including the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit and Youthlink Scotland’s No Knives Better Lives.

This includes the development and delivery of two campaigns on knife crime and weapon carrying, to raise awareness to older children and the adults around them, including a campaign specifically targeting primary aged school children.

The Quit Fighting for Likes campaign will be promoted to front line professionals to encourage conversations with young people to explore the impact of filming and sharing violent images online. Resources will also target parents to help support young people away from carrying weapons.

We are considering what more we can do to strengthen support for young people and communities.

The First Minister convened the meeting on 12 June to focus on the views of those working in the youth work sector on violence among young people.

We recognise there are a wide range of organisations working to support young people and families across communities who are undertaking valuable prevention and early intervention work. To ensure those attending were able to put forward views in the time available, it was necessary to restrict numbers, so were unable to invite everyone with an interest in this matter.

The Scottish Government remain open to meeting with organisations wishing to contribute to this discussion to help inform the overall response to strengthen support to young people and communities.

The current project plan is on track to have this business case completed by summer 2025. Once completed it will be reviewed through the appropriate governance processes.

The Wellbeing Economy Monitor is being published slightly later than planned owing to a review of the data and in order to make further improvements to the reporting. The updated monitor will be published in week commencing 14 July 2025. In addition to the Wellbeing Economy Monitor we will publish a data toolkit containing national and local data and a short report summarising wellbeing economy policy approaches in Scotland and internationally.

The Wellbeing Economy Monitor will be published on the Scottish Government webpages and can be found using the site search facility when searching for the terms “Wellbeing Economy Monitor” or “Wellbeing Economy”. We intend to bring together the Wellbeing Economy material as a collection on our webpages including previously published monitors which should add to its prominence.

We are unable to provide this information in the format requested. The various agencies involved in the regulation of aquaculture which includes finfish, shellfish and seaweed sectors, undertake a wide range of duties in relation to aquaculture including governance, policy development, research and supporting Ministers.

Scottish Government funding in 2024-25 enabled Police Scotland to undertake the highest level of recruitment since its inception, and Scotland continues to have more police officers per capita than England and Wales.

Furthermore, the Scottish Government has increased police funding year-on-year since 2016-17, investing more than £14.6 billion since the creation of Police Scotland in 2013, with £1.64 billion being invested in policing in 2025-26.

Decisions on how these resources are allocated, including the deployment of police officers, is a matter for the Chief Constable, who confirmed to the SPA Board on 27 March 2025 that the “Scottish Government funding allows us to continue officer recruitment for a full time officer establishment of around 16,500, while modernising the workforce to release experienced officers from roles which don’t need warranted powers so that we can prioritise, maximise, and support the frontline to deliver for our communities.”

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

As the Agency Accountable Officer, I am accountable to the Scottish Ministers for the day-to-day operations of SPS, this includes, but is not limited to, legal compliance with the Prison and Young Offenders Rules (Scotland) 2011.

As defined in these rules, the Governor in Charge (GiC) must establish a System of Privileges, taking into consideration numerous factors, including security.

SPS remains committed to prepare those in our care for a return to their communities and, for some, this includes accessing personal items through various forms of media. However, access to watching DVDs is at the Governor's discretion and remains a privilege, not a right.

There are currently no plans to review this practice.

Officer wellbeing is an operational matter for Police Scotland. I refer the member to my response to S6W-35420 on 17 March 2025 and S6W-37984 on 9 June 2025.

The Chief Constable has stated to the Criminal Justice Committee that the wellbeing of police officers and staff is one of her main priorities. Police Scotland has made a £17 million investment in workforce wellbeing, which includes a 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme and enhanced occupational health services, to support officers and staff wellbeing.

Police Scotland has provided reassurance that they have a healthy recruitment pipeline and has recruited around 1,370 officers since the start of 2024.