The Scottish Government published a draft palliative care strategy ‘Palliative care matters for all’ on 02 October 2024 for consultation. The consultation closed on 10 January 2025. The responses have now been analysed, and the final version of the strategy and analysis report are due to be published in the summer. The strategy will be published alongside a delivery plan, which will set out our approach to ensuring that everyone who needs it can access timely palliative care and care around dying.

The Scottish budget for 2025-26 includes £5 million of investment to support independent hospices to provide pay parity with NHS levels. Officials are working with the Chair of the Scottish Hospice Leadership Group to explore mechanisms for providing this funding to hospices, while respecting existing commissioning arrangements with Integration Joint Boards (IJBs).

Officials have recently received further information from hospice colleagues to support this work, and we look forward to engaging further with Scottish hospices once this exploratory work has concluded.

The Caledonian System is currently delivered in 21 of the 32 local authority areas, covering over 70% of the population. The Scottish Government is committed to rolling the Caledonian System out further and by the end of this year, two more areas, Shetland and Angus, will begin training to deliver the Caledonian System, taking this up to 23 areas. The Scottish Government will in the next week be writing to all local authorities, detailing a change to the funding distribution. These letters will also provide details of a £1.4m increase in the Caledonian funding line. We will also be engaging with all areas to provide central support and training for those areas moving to deliver the Caledonian System.

There are a range of approaches in place which support the prevention of harm to vulnerable young people by those who work with them.

If an organisation has employees or volunteers doing a regulated role, it has a legal duty to report harmful behaviour to Disclosure Scotland. This duty applies whether the person is a member of the PVG scheme or not.

There are also a range or regulatory organisations whose function are to maintain professional standards. For example, the General Teaching Council for Scotland.

We are committed to tackling the underlying issues which influence ideologies and seek to protect the rights of all young people. For example, in schools we have undertaken work, aligned to the implementation of the Equality Act to prevent discrimination; through challenging racism, misogyny, and bullying and through approaches such as LGBT Inclusive Education and Supporting Transgender Young people in Schools Guidance which makes clear the responsibility of schools to support young people who are considering or who have changed their gender identity in order to ensure that they do not experience discrimination within schools and can reach their full potential.

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-37708 on 27 May 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 latest available information on convictions is for the financial year 2022-23. The answer is provided in the following table.

The SQA is actively addressing issues in respect of unauthorised use of AI in assessment by providing centres and candidates with guidance on appropriate use of AI in assessment: Generative artificial intelligence (AI) in assessments - SQA.

While any reports of malpractice are concerning, the number of occurrences identified from National Qualifications candidates are relatively low when compared to the numbers of candidates taking these qualifications. We will continue to monitor any issues as they evolve and work with partners to respond as appropriate.

Education Scotland have also produced guidance on the appropriate use of AI in schools: Teaching and Learning with Artificial Intelligence (AI) | Resources | Education Scotland

The Scottish Government is actively working with local government and teachers’ representatives to develop a set of AI guidelines to support learning and teaching.

The Scottish Government does not collect this data.

The information you have requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Body-worn video footage can be an essential part of a prosecution: providing a rich source of real evidence including exculpatory evidence. Provided promptly, such footage can:

• enable prosecutors to make an informed marking decision
• facilitate the early resolution of a case
• support an effective prosecution

Considerable work being undertaken within the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service to measure and monitor impact the impact of submission of BWV footage on both operational processes and prosecution decisions.

Officials from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service are working closely with colleagues from the Police Service of Scotland to ensure that the body-worn video footage submitted to prosecutors supports and does not detract from these aims.