The Scottish Government remains committed to an all-age careers information and guidance offer that supports all people, including young people who are at risk of long-term benefit dependency to progress rewarding careers.

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) provide an all-age career service in every local authority with an SDS Careers Adviser in every mainstream secondary school to highlight the wide range of career options available. A careers advisor offers impartial advice and supports people to consider and make informed decisions having explored all options and relevant information.

Through the 16+ Data Hub (Participation Portal), SDS are working to ensure that every young person can receive person-centred and proactive support. Having a set of data supplied by a range of partners enables front line staff to identify and provide support to those not in learning, training or employment and who are at risk of disengagement.

Military service can be a rewarding career pathway for many young people, offering a wide range of training and career opportunities as well as valuable transferable skills. To ensure that the knowledge of advisors is accurate, SDS work with the Armed Forces and can direct individuals to armed forces career centre sites if appropriate.

At the invitation of schools, the military may promote the community-based and school based combined cadets programme to young people and provide information about the wide range of careers in the military. There are also sessions promoted to teachers, advisers and Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) Co-ordinators such as ‘Meet the Army’ which often includes military personal speaking about their career journey.

Universities are autonomous institutions, responsible for their own governance. However the Scottish Government expects all organisations in Scotland to comply with the law around protected beliefs and freedom of expression.

The Scottish Government will publish the independent analysis report of the consultation responses, as well as next steps for the regulation of HFSS food and drink promotions in the coming weeks.

The information requested is not held centrally. However, data are available that show of the university spin-out companies formed in Scotland less than 5% have registered trading addresses out with Scotland.

The national pipeline contains information on a range of investment propositions or projects, all of which are at different stages of development.

In general, it is an offence to collect native oysters from any location in Scotland. Currently the Loch Sween MPA is the only marine protected area that lists native oysters as a protected feature, and there are specific management measures in place for the MPA which prohibit fishing with a demersal trawl, mechanical dredge or by hand. British sea-fishery officers from the Marine Directorate will investigate any alleged reports of illegal fishing activity wherever it occurs.

The question does not reference the actual public satisfaction survey. The most recent survey, the British Social Attitudes survey report is for the whole of the UK. It does not have a particular locus for dental services in Scotland.

The Member is instead referred to Official statistics from Public Health Scotland at: NHS dental data monitoring report - Quarter Ending December 2024 - NHS dental data monitoring report - Publications - Public Health Scotland

The most recent findings show that in February, over 4.1 million courses of treatment were delivered to Scotland patients in 2024 under the new payment system, and over 900,000 patients were seen by an NHS dentist in the last quarter of 2024. This shows that the significant and continuing investment made in NHS dentistry is supporting high volumes of patient access to NHS care and delivering on our aims to sustain NHS dental services.

We also remain the only country in the UK to offer free dental examinations for everyone in Scotland, ensuring that cost is not a barrier to accessing care.

The commitment to develop a national pipeline of investment propositions is led by myself, working across portfolios and with public sector delivery partners.

The Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 establishes a framework for the assessment and mapping of flood risks and the planning in relation to the management of such risks. Under section 9 of the Act SEPA must prepare a flood risk assessment for each flood risk management district providing an assessment of any flood risk for the district. This is commonly referred to as the National Flood Risk Assessment and was last published by SEPA in 2018.

In addition, section 13 of the Act requires SEPA to prepare and submit to Scottish Ministers a document identifying for each flood risk management district any area in the district for which it considers that significant flood risk either exists or is likely to occur. These are more commonly referred to as Potentially Vulnerable Areas.

Under section 14 of the Act SEPA is required to update the document provided to Scottish Ministers on a six yearly basis. Scottish Ministers approved the latest update of the document in December 2024 and it can found on SEPA’s website.

Under section 2 of the Act the Scottish Ministers may give directions or guidance to SEPA in relation to the exercise of its flood risk related functions.

Since the publication of the Scottish Government’s response to the final report by the Independent Expert Group for the Unlocking the Value of Data programme, in January 2025, an Industry Data Access Steering Group has been established to oversee the development of an operational framework, as outlined in the Scottish Government response.

This project supports the aim of the Unlocking the Value of Data programme to realise greater value from public sector personal data when used with, or by, the private sector, for public benefit. The framework will facilitate private sector access to public sector data, in collaboration with the Scottish Safe Havens Network and through citizen and stakeholder engagement. This project aims to promote transparency, efficiency, and alignment with public expectations, ensuring the safe, secure and ethical use of public sector data by private organisations.