I have asked Stephen Pathirana, Chief Executive of the Scottish Public Pensions Agency, to respond. His response is as follows:

2,725 officers, over 50% of the retired police officers eligible for the McCloud remedy, were sent their remediable service statement by 31 March 2025. The Scottish Public Pensions Agency has published an extension to the deadlines and all officers will receive their statement by 31 July 2025. The information is available at: https://pensions.gov.scot/sites/default/files/2025-04/2025-04_Police_Circular_McCloud_Remedy_administration_%E2%80%93_Remediable_Service_Statements.pdf

I have asked Stephen Pathirana, Chief Executive of the Scottish Public Pensions Agency, to respond. His response is as follows:

The overall programme to deliver the 2015 remedy in Scotland is being managed by the Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA). This is a complex undertaking as it requires a remediable service statement (RSS) to be sent to eligible members numbering over 200,000 across the four pension schemes administered by the SPPA. Within that number more than 5,000 retired police officers are entitled to receive a RSS and make a choice about their pension benefits.

SPPA has introduced new digital automation processes which have had a positive impact on delivery speed and capability. The statutory deadline for providing a RSS was by 1 April 2025 or at a later date decided by the scheme manager. This discretion has been exercised and dates are set out on SPPA’s website: https://pensions.gov.scot/sites/default/files/2025-04/2025-04_Police_Circular_McCloud_Remedy_administration_%E2%80%93_Remediable_Service_Statements.pdf.

To date more than 3,400 RSS have been sent. SPPA expects to send most of the remainder by 31 May, with a small number of more complex cases issued by 31 July 2025.

The Scottish Government recognises that high quality, accessible and affordable early learning and childcare is vital in rural and island areas to support children’s outcomes and to enable parents or carers to train, work, or study.

At a national level, several work programmes are underway to support childcare access in these communities. This includes funding a new national childminder recruitment and retention programme, making grants available to local authorities via the Addressing Depopulation Fund (two of which contain a focus on addressing childcare issues) and investing £16 million over two years into our six early adopter communities, including those in rural and island locations.

Decisions relating to the school estate, including whether to temporarily close council schools and nurseries, are for local authorities to make in consultation with the local community. Local authorities have a statutory responsibility to make Early Learning and Childcare services available to all eligible children within their area and are responsible for local service delivery planning, this includes a duty to consult and inform parents every two years regarding local demand. We are currently reviewing guidance on mothballing to provide greater clarity on when it is an appropriate action to take. That will ensure that local decisions are based on effective engagement with the community, better reflect the needs of rural families and help to maintain access to early learning in those communities.

I would therefore encourage any families affected by planned service closures to engage with their local council about how the Early Learning and Childcare needs of their children will continue to be met.

The Scottish Government does not hold comparative data on senior pay levels across publicly funded Scottish Universities and therefore has no plans to publish this information.

This information is not held centrally.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to promote school meals and to take all reasonable steps to ensure that all children and young people entitled to receive free school meals are given full support to access them.

As I confirmed to the Education, Children and Young People Committee on 2 April, we remain committed to the roll-out of universal free school meals in the longer term.

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-37126 on 7 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

As published as part of the 2025-26 Budget, the NZE portfolio received Scotwind CDEL of £179.9 million in addition to £603.7 million CDEL allocation this financial year, which is targeted towards our investment in net zero priorities.

In responding, I must advise that licence applications to lethally control mountain hare before March 2021 were required for the previous closed season, however following passage of the Animals and Wildlife Penalties, Protections and Powers Scotland Act mountain hares are now a protected species and licence applications are required year round.

Licences to lethally control mountain hare have been issued for the following purposes since 2012; “Preventing serious damage to growing timber”, “Conserving any area of natural habitat” and “Science, research and education”.

Information determining if the land applied to the application is public or private is not held centrally.

Children’s Parliament was established in 1996. Their organisational mission is to lead the development of a rights-based culture in Scotland and ensure that children’s voices are actively engaged in shaping our world. They support the Scottish Government, local authorities, and other public bodies to fulfil their legal obligations to promote and protect the human rights of everyone and fulfil their duty of care toward children. Through their rights-based, creative practice, they provide children up to age 14 years old from diverse backgrounds across Scotland, with opportunities to share their experiences, thoughts, and feelings so that they can influence positive change in their lives at home, in school and in the community.

The Scottish Government engage with a variety of organisations, including the Children’s Parliament, to ensure there are mechanisms and channels that help to ensure that the voices of children are considered in decision making processes.

In 2023, 13 organisations competed, through an open procurement exercise, to be part of the Children and Young People’s Participation Framework Agreement. The Framework Agreement allows policy teams, from across the Scottish Government to commission engagement with children and young people from a list of pre-approved providers. To be appointed onto the Framework Agreement organisations had to demonstrate their experience and expertise in meaningful engagement with children and young people and the scope, reach, and impact of their work. The Children’s Parliament is one of nine organisations appointed.

Children’s Parliament was established in 1996. Their organisational mission is to lead the development of a rights-based culture in Scotland and ensure that children’s voices are actively engaged in shaping our world. They support the Scottish Government, local authorities, and other public bodies to fulfil their legal obligations to promote and protect the human rights of everyone and fulfil their duty of care toward children. Through their rights-based, creative practice, they provide children up to age 14 years old from diverse backgrounds across Scotland, with opportunities to share their experiences, thoughts, and feelings so that they can influence positive change in their lives at home, in school and in the community.

The Children’s Parliament have their annual accounts published on the Companies House website. These provide a breakdown of money received from the Scottish Government from 2020-24.

THE CHILDREN'S PARLIAMENT filing history - Find and update company information - GOV.UK

The 2024-25 annual accounts will be available on the Companies House website in due course, following the end of the financial year. However, at his point we can confirm that the Scottish Government currently expects to provide the Children’s Parliament with funding totalling £320,878 in 2024-25 (subject to relevant financial controls).

Children’s Parliament receives core funding from the Scottish Government via the Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention and Adult Learning and Empowering Communities Fund (CYPFEIF & ALEC) which is administered by the Corra Foundation. From 2018-19 to 2021-22 they were awarded £235,000. From 2022-23 to 2024-25 they received £246,750 annually. The Children’s Parliament is on track to meet the agreed outcomes by the end of 2024-25. Corra has indicated, through their formal grant reviews and monitoring, that the Children’s Parliament is delivering value for money and continues to demonstrate good progress towards the agreed objectives.

The Children’s Parliament also evidenced delivery of the aims of the three year grant funding, of £147,000 per year, that they received between 2021-2024 as part of the UNCRC Implementation Programme.