Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government’s position on the introduction of a potential traffic congestion charge by the City of Edinburgh Council remains the same as the one referenced in my response to S6W-38195. Local authorities have existing discretionary powers to introduce local road user charging schemes under the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001, which was brought into statute by a previous Parliament. Once the necessary regulations and guidance are in place, it will be a decision for local authorities, including City of Edinburgh council whether and how to implement schemes.

Asylum is reserved to the UK Parliament and handled by the Home Office. This includes provision of asylum accommodation and support to people who would otherwise be destitute while waiting for a decision on their asylum application. Asylum accommodation is therefore provided by the UK Government to those who are eligible whilst in the asylum system and is managed under UK Government contracts.

The Scottish Government works closely with the Home Office, Local Authorities and Police Scotland to monitor activities surrounding community cohesion and protest activity. Police Scotland has existing powers to respond to instances of violence and intimidation within communities. There are no plans to introduce additional specific protection measures at asylum accommodation.

Both National Park Authorities publish sections on remuneration and staffing within their Annual Report and Accounts.

For Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority this can be found at: Annual Report & Accounts - Here. Now. All of us. - Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park and the Cairngorms National Park Authority reports can be found at: Cairngorms National Park | Search.

VisitScotland provided funding of £180,000 (£150k + VAT) to the DP World Tour for branding and advertising, which in turn provided Scotland with a global platform to showcase its credentials as one of the world’s premier golf tourism and events destinations.

This funding included the delivery of on-course branding and advertising promotion across live broadcast to a global audience. VisitScotland’s investment enabled a channel to market, and a platform to promote Scotland and the North-East as a year-round golf tourism and events destination, with the intention to inspire future visits.

Golf and golf events are important to Scotland and play a key part of our national identity, supporting communities, driving economic growth, contributing to environmental sustainability across the country and promoting Scotland through global profile.

VisitScotland provided £180k (£150k + VAT) to the DP World Tour for the Nexo Championship event, for the brand profile opportunity.

As set out in the letter from the Minister for Public Finance found here Letter from the Minister for Public Finance to the Convener of 23 September 2024, to the Convener of the Finance and Public Administration Committee, on 23rd September 2024, Scottish Government is working with the environmental public bodies to review both short-medium and long-term reform opportunities. By the end of 2025, the Group will have developed options for future operating models building on a prior programme of short-medium term improvement projects covering estates, digital, data & HR. This reform effort is focused on delivery of the environment strategy outcomes by using Public Service Reform principles as set out in the strategy published on 19 June 2025.

The Scottish Government has not engaged directly with any UK departments regarding the possibility of the Open Championship being held at Trump Turnberry and it has no future meetings planned.

Although the Scottish Government has a funding relationship with the R&A to support their events in Scotland, all venue decisions are solely at the discretion of the R&A and the Scottish Government is informed of venue selection after the decision has been made. The Scottish Government is not involved in the decision-making process.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-40528 on 23 September 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.

An agreement in principle to support the Nexo Championship was discussed between VisitScotland and DP World Tour at this year’s Genesis Scottish Open, which took place 10-13 July. The final decision to support the event was taken following contract review and negotiations that same month.

The tournament was a late addition to the DP World Tour schedule, announced midway through the season on 6 May 2025. It followed the cancellation in December of a DP World Tour event which had been originally scheduled for the week of 7-10 August 2025.

APS Group (Scotland) have never had to issue a product recall of any of the items contained in Scotland’s Baby Box. As detailed in response to PQ S6W-40091, out of over 352,000 Baby Boxes issued since August 2017, APS have only received reports of 190 faulty or damaged items. These individual items were from 14 different lines of items provided within Baby Box and not across a complete line, which would have necessitated a product recall.

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.