Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has been engaging in ongoing discussions with the UK Government regarding the introduction of a “Hillsborough Law”, including a legal duty of candour for public servants and accompanying criminal sanctions. The Scottish Government is considering the extension of this to Scotland and the work in relation to this is ongoing.

The Scottish Government is aware of the Law Commission’s report on the common law offence of misconduct in public office in England and Wales and its recommendation that this is replaced with two statutory offences. The common law offence of misconduct in public office does not exist in Scots law. However, there is a comparable common law offence in Scots law of wilful neglect of duty. The Scottish Government has had some early engagement with the UK Government in relation to the Law Commission’s report.

To date, £4,400,000 has been allocated to the Islands Cost Crisis Emergency Fund since it was established in 2022-23. This can be broken down as follows:

2022-2023

£1.4 million

2023-2024

£1 million

2024-2025

£1 million

2025-2026

£1 million

The Scottish Government's Centre of Expertise on Animal Disease Outbreaks (EPIC) have undertaken studies into the levels of cross border trade between Scotland and England, with input from the Institute of Auctioneers and Appraisers Scotland (IAAS) to determine an economic evaluation of that trade on a monthly basis. EPIC have also conducted a study to assess the impacts on Scottish livestock movements in response to the England-wide restriction zone, with consideration to the control strategy which includes the requirement for pre-movement testing. The findings of these reports have been shared with key industry stakeholders in Scotland, devolved administrations and Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) colleagues for further analysis and discussion.

Ministers took the decision on 28 March 2025 to provide this funding for the Edinburgh International Book Festival (EIBF) to support their Schools Programme.

This programme aims to provide each of the 5,000 children participating annually with a range of free, in-person events, free books and supporting accessibility through a Transport Fund. Engaging children with reading is an aim that the Scottish Government strongly supports.

There was a range of engagement between the EIBF and officials regarding the programme. The organisation’s past performance in delivering educational and community projects was considered, alongside its financial governance and reporting processes. The review found that the proposal was financially robust and achievable, with a clear plan for sustainable delivery.

Analysis concluded that, without the aforementioned support, the festival would need to stop their schools programme, a key part of their strategic plan. Therefore the decision was taken to protect the schools programme following the loss of corporate sponsors.

Details of defence programme contractual arrangements, including associated jobs, are reserved and a matter between individual companies and the UK Government. Information on contracts awarded through the UK Government Ministry of Defence are published and publicly available.

We are unable to provide the information requested. The aquaculture sector is governed by multiple agencies in both Scotland and the UK, for example APHA (Animal and Plant Health Agency). These agencies provide different legislative functions and charging schemes. The agencies and their respective employees who work on aquaculture undertake a wide range of duties relating to the governance of aquaculture in the round, not only to the salmon sector.

The Scottish Government remain committed to addressing anti-social behaviour in partnership with COSLA and Police Scotland who have statutory responsibility for developing strategies to tackle antisocial behaviour at local level.

Recent actions of the Scottish Government contribute to a number of recommendations. For example, we recently announced a £26 million investment in the next phase of the CashBack for Communities programme. The programme’s focus on supporting projects that divert young people from anti-social behaviour and towards positive opportunities is closely aligned with the report’s findings and overall direction.

Further actions from the report are currently under active consideration, and we will provide a full update on implementation plans and timelines in due course. A formal response to the report is expected to be published later this summer.

We are continuing to give the SAWC reports on remote control static pulse devices and other aversive training devices careful consideration, along with the findings of our review into whether further provisions for wearable static pulse training devices are required, which was undertaken as part of the review of the Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Act 2020. Once we have finished our deliberations, we will announce our timeline for a further consultation.

Scottish Government officials meet regularly with the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission to discuss a range of issues. Officials were invited to subgroup meetings during the development of SAWCs report on remote controlled static pulse training collars; however there have been no specific meetings regarding the use of static pulse collars since the publiscation of SAWC's findings.

We do not hold lists of organisations and their views on shock collars, and it would be inappropriate for us to comment on their views.