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There are challenges in recruiting and retaining on-call firefighters in some rural areas of Scotland and there are currently no on-call fire stations in the Highland Council area with a full staffing complement. However, a full staffing complement is not required for an on-call fire appliance to be deployed because it can attend emergencies if there are 4 crew available at any given time. When an appliance is not available, a response will be provided from the next nearest available location.

The recruitment and retention of staff is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service as the employer. There are currently six on call fire stations in the Argyll and Bute Council area with a full staffing complement. When an appliance is not available, a response will be provided from the next nearest available location.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who reply in writing within 20 days.

At this time there is no agreed pay award for Scottish Government.

Following a period of negotiation the Scottish Government made a formal pay offer to the recognised trade unions (PCS, Prospect, and FDA) on 14 July 2025. The offer was rejected by PCS and Prospect. FDA indicated they could not recommend acceptance to their members. We will continue to explore next steps with the trade unions to find a solution.

Freight Facilities Grant for 2025-2026 opened to applications on 7 April and closed on 1 May. Any company which wants to move freight by rail or water rather than by road and which is proposing to invest in new freight handling facilities in Scotland or re-invest in existing facilities in Scotland was able to apply for an FFG. Applications were considered against published criteria on what is and is not eligible under the scheme.

Applicants will be informed of the outcome of their bids shortly. Payment of grant to any successful applicants will be made no later than 31 March 2026.

I wrote to the Economy and Fair Work Committee on 25 June 2024 to confirm that a market testing exercise for Glasgow Prestwick Airport was underway. Scottish Ministers’ longstanding position is that the airport should be returned to the private sector at the appropriate time and opportunity. This must be to an organisation with the commitment and capability to operate businesses directly relevant to GPA.

Any decision to sell GPA must represent value for money for taxpayers and be informed by what is right for the long-term success of the business and its contribution to the local and Scottish economy. I am unable to comment on the structure of any transaction that returns GPA to private ownership or any conditions that would apply post-sale completion.

The process is ongoing and I will update Parliament when a significant development has been made.

Scottish Government does not provide legal advice to external parties and any questions about reported comments by Scottish Trans should be re-directed to that organisation.

The Scottish Government has invested an additional £11m in the past seven years to support new mothers to achieve their breastfeeding goals, with babies in Scotland now being breastfed for longer than ever before.

The Equality Act 2010 provides protection for breastfeeding mothers in public. In Scotland, section 1 of the Breastfeeding etc (Scotland) Act 2005 provides that it is a offence deliberately to prevent or stop a person in charge of a child from feeding milk to that child in a public place or on licensed premises, unless the child, at the material time is not lawfully permitted to be in the public place or on the licenced premises otherwise than for the purposes of being fed milk.

In addition, we are providing funding of over £1.1m to organisations working to promote LGBTQI+ equality in Scotland in 2025-26 demonstrating our commitment to protecting the rights of every LGBTQI+ person in Scotland.

The Just Transition Fund (JTF) created and safeguarded at least 230 jobs in its first two years of operation, alongside the provision of more than 750 training places and it leveraged over £34 million in additional investment. The fund also supported innovative technologies such as EV battery recycling and offshore green hydrogen; it invested in improved environmental outcomes, for instance through the Findhorn Watershed project; and it invested in communities with our participatory budgeting approach, benefitting projects in ecovillages, adaptation and local climate assemblies.

These are some of the initial impacts of the JTF, and we expect job numbers and other key outputs to increase as projects continue.

In addition, the Scottish Government, in partnership with the UK Government, has launched a new Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund to help support offshore workers transition to roles in sustainable energy sectors. The new Fund forms part of a wider toolkit of support available for Scotland’s offshore oil and gas workers, including an industry-led Energy Skills Passport. These initiatives reflect our commitment to ensuring a just transition for Scotland’s valued and highly skilled offshore oil and gas workers.

As described in the NHS Scotland Operational Improvement Plan (https://www.gov.scot/publications/nhs-scotland-operational-improvement-plan/pages/1/) and the answer to question S6W-35982 on 28 March 2025, the health and social care online app rollout will begin in Lanarkshire in December 2025 with an initial release (a minimum viable product approach), working with NHS Lanarkshire. The plan for rollout to the whole country, including the North East Scotland region, is currently being drafted in consultation with key partners including NHS Boards. The draft plan is scheduled to be approved and published in 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.

The Scottish Government is currently undertaking a programme of Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus local area visits to Scottish territorial NHS Boards which provides an opportunity to explore the levels of peer support available for people living with HIV.

The visits have identified excellent examples of peer support for people living with HIV, including use of digital solutions to reach individuals in rural areas where access can be more challenging. We continue to work collaboratively with NHS Boards and actively promote the sharing of best practice to help address any gaps identified through these visits.