The Scottish Government has set up a short life working group to consider existing policies, guidance and legislation which may be impacted by the judgment.

This work will position us towards a state of readiness to take all necessary steps when the EHRC’s revised Statutory Code of Practice on services, public functions and associations and updated guidance are published.

All public bodies must comply with the law.

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

No consultation has been taken forward in response to the suggestion made in His Majesty’s Inspector of Prisons’ Full Inspection report on HMP Barlinnie published on 24 March 2025 for a central repository for items to support people on their transgender journey. SPS has no current plans to create such a repository.

Work has already begun across the Scottish Government to consider the implications of the Supreme Court judgment. While we await the updated Code of Practice from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the Permanent Secretary has convened a Short Life Working Group (SLWG), at the request of Scottish Ministers.

The Scottish Government has not made any estimates or assumptions around the level of fuel consumption by MV Glen Sannox as this is a matter for CalMac Ferries Ltd (CFL) as the operator.

CFL have confirmed, however, that total marine diesel consumption is estimated to reach around 1,800m3 per year. The vessel is expected to consume around 1,700 metric tonnes of LNG per year. The proportion of annual propulsion by LNG is expected to be around 70%, but this is under constant review.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-35337 on 11 March 2025 which cover the costs of the current charter agreement. 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 Scottish Government has engaged with Trading Standards throughout the drafting of The Environmental Protection (Single-use Vapes) (Scotland) Regulations 2024 (the Vapes Regulations).

The statutory responsibility for delivering, commissioning and providing appropriate social care services at a local level lies with local authorities and Health and Social Care Partnerships taking account of local population needs. However the Scottish Government understands the growing concerns about the challenges around the availability of social care services, particularly in rural areas, and is committed to developing a sustainable health and social care system that ensures people get the right care, at the right time, in the right place.

That is why the 2025-26 budget includes over £15 billion for the Local Government Settlement and almost £2.2 billion for social care and integration – exceeding our commitment to increase funding by 25% by almost £350 million. At £21.7 billion, the overall financial envelope for Health and Social Care also reached record levels.

Furthermore in the Programme for Government 2025 to 2026, we have committed to ensuring that social care workers, who are delivering direct care in commissioned services, continue to be paid at least the Real Living Wage.

We do however recognise the considerable current financial pressures facing the care home and wider social care sectors. These pressures have been significantly compounded by decisions taken by the UK Government, such as the increase in employers National Insurance contributions (eNICs) and changes to the social care visa system and salary threshold levels.

The Scottish Government and COSLA continue to press the UK Government to fund the impacts of these changes on Scottish public services in full; this includes the vital services provided on behalf of local authorities by social care providers in the private and third sectors.

The Scottish Government is undertaking a programme of work to understand and respond to these pressures facing the sector. This includes a new social care Financial Viability Response Group, which has met weekly since February 2025 and comprises sector representatives such as Scottish Care, Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland (CCPS), Care Inspectorate and local leaders.

As well as this I, alongside the COSLA Health and Social Care Spokesperson, jointly host a monthly roundtable meeting with sector partners to consider the potential impacts of the eNICs and financial viability pressures on the social care sector.

That work is ongoing, but the Scottish Government is committed to working closely with partners to continue to identify the pro-active steps that can be taken to mitigate these impacts, protect services and support the people in receipt of care.

Following a debate in Parliament on 26 February, a Parliamentary motion was passed calling on Scottish Enterprise to “review its human rights due diligence checks to ensure that they take account of where products’ end use is, and that they fully comply with legal obligations under the Export Control Act 2002 and international law”.

The Scottish Government supported this motion. Scottish Enterprise’s work on that review is ongoing and the Scottish Government will continue to stay in close contact with it on this.

The licencing of exports of military technology, including for Scottish-based companies, is a reserved matter over which the Scottish Government has no control. We have repeatedly called on the UK Government to place an immediate ban on licenced arms exports from the United Kingdom to Israel and will continue to do so. The UK Government’s decision, announced on 2 September 2024, to suspend 30 export licences to Israel for arms used in military operations in Gaza, was therefore welcome, but we have been clear that it should go much further.

Prior to the Refinery’s closure, we understood that significant financial investment would be required to retain refinery operations at Grangemouth. Noting the fiscal constraints within which Scottish Ministers are required to operate, such an intervention would clearly require UK Government action.

Given the expansive fiscal levers at its disposal, the UK Government must exhaust all options at its disposal to ensure a future for the Refinery site.

Scottish Government officials are involved in a number of initiatives with UK Government focussed on the interaction between on and offshore windfarms and aviation radar systems.

Officials from the Scottish Government work with stakeholders, including the Ministry of Defence and industry representatives, through the Offshore Wind Industry Council (OWIC) Aviation and Radar sub-group. For offshore wind farms, the Ministry of Defence has launched Programme Njord to identify, procure and implement mitigation to resolve issues with military radar. The full costs of the long-term radar mitigation solutions identified by Programme Njord will be funded via an alternative route and the funding requirement is therefore removed from offshore wind developers.

The Scottish Government is also working with UK Government to ensure alignment between the Onshore Wind Sector Deal and the UK Government’s Onshore Wind Taskforce to help develop consistent and transparent aviation mitigation processes and deliver the deployment of onshore wind while ensuring safe aviation operations.