Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.

Questions regarding day-to-day operational matters of Historic Environment Scotland, including queries relating to staff appointments, are best answered directly by Historic Environment Scotland.

I have asked Historic Environment Scotland to respond directly to the member with a full reply to his question in writing.

The Nature Investment Partnership continues to engage with a range of investors, land managers and local communities to identify the most suitable approach for each potential investment site. No private finance has yet been directed through the Partnership into on-the-ground projects. More information about the Partnership is available on its webpage: Nature Investment Partnership | NatureScot.

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

This was a 2-stage procurement process, and 4 contractors bid at the 1st stage Pre-construction phase of the process. These bidders were Balfour Beatty Group, Kier Construction, Robertson Group Ltd and Galliford Try Construction t/a Morrison Construction.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has received a submission through the Ultra-Orphan Pathway from the marketing authorisation holder, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, for exagamglogene autotemcel (Casgevy®) for the treatment of transfusion-dependent ß-thalassaemia in patients 12 years of age and older. A decision on whether Casgevy® is accepted on to the Ultra-Orphan Pathway for this indication will be published on the SMC website in due course.

The SMC has not yet received a submission from Vertex Pharmaceuticals for Casgevy® for the treatment of sickle cell disease (SCD). I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-34796 on 25 February 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.

Extensive research was undertaken on the impact of the first 30 minute reduction of the working week for Agenda for Change staff. This included its impact on maintaining system performance, meeting legislative requirements around safe staffing and the delivery of planned initiatives to support service recovery.

On review of this research it was clear that, to avoid unacceptable levels of risk to service resilience and patient safety, introducing the remaining hour on 1 April 2026 would be the most appropriate option. This also upholds the Scottish Government's commitment made in the 2023-24 Agenda for Change pay deal.

As part of the NHS Scotland Board Annual Review process, feedback was obtained from Area Partnership forums that highlighted safety concerns on any further reductions of the working week in 2025. Area Partnership Forum’s include representatives from Agenda for Change and other staffing groups.

To confirm, there is no delay in the implementation of the reduction of the working week to 36 hours for Agenda for Change staff. It was always the intention to use the initial 30 minute reduction in April 2024 as an opportunity to learn and assess how best to move forward with any further reduction in the working week.

The Scottish Government is therefore committed to fully implementing the remaining 60 minute reduction in the working week for all Agenda for Change staff on 1 April 2026. This will facilitate patient and staff safety, support the continued recovery of services and avoid any extra burden for our workforce.

This implementation date of 1 April 2026 remains fully in line with the commitment made as part of the 2023-24 Agenda for Change pay settlement and the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government.

In Scotland that statutory responsibility for the delivery of Education rests with our local authorities. Accordingly, the Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. Local authorities may hold this information.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The number of nursery service cancellations and registrations is a matter for the Care Inspectorate. The Care Inspectorate publish data on service cancellations and registrations (available here: Statistics and analysis), however the published data does not go back as far as 1999.

During the Roundtable meeting I held in Parliament on 4 February, I advised members of my intention to provide an update on the public’s response to the consultation as soon as possible. However, this will depend on the time required to review the considerable number of responses received.

The 12-week consultation period ended last month with over 1,400 responses received.

This feedback, which is now under active consideration by Transport Scotland, will help inform the Scottish Government’s final decision on how best to take forward improvements to the A96 whilst also balancing the demands of the challenging economic climate and the climate emergency.