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The Glasgow Safer Drug Consumption Facility (SDCF) will undergo a comprehensive, independent evaluation, led by a collaboration of academic institutions, including the University of Glasgow, Glasgow Caledonian University, and other expert research partners.

The Scottish Government is committed to an evidence-based approach to tackling drug-related harm and will ensure any further facilities are informed by robust, independent evidence.

The Scottish Government will assess the impact of the Glasgow pilot using those forthcoming evaluation findings and this will assist to build an evidence base for future policy considerations.

Any proposal for additional facilities or a wider roll-out will be considered on a case-by-case basis but will also require agreement from the Lord Advocate and the provision of a statement of prosecution policy similar to that which is in place in Glasgow.

We have carefully considered the impact that the proposals in Part 1 of the Land Reform Bill will have on landowners across Scotland. The 1000 hectare threshold means that only the largest 1.4% of Scotland’s farms are expected to be in scope, according to 2023 Agricultural Census figures.

For further assessment of the impacts of proposed measures in the Bill, please refer to the Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA).

Protecting children from harm is a key priority for the Scottish Government. Child sexual abuse and exploitation are abhorrent crimes and have a devastating impact on victims and their families. In Scotland, we are working closely with partners to deliver a co-ordinated multi-agency response to preventing child sexual abuse and exploitation in all its forms. We are committed to ensuring that robust measures are in place across Scotland to make sure our services can identify and support victims of online harm, including children and young people.

We are taking forward a range of work with our partners to both prevent abuse and intervene early to ensure that risk and harm to children and young people is recognised and acted on quickly and effectively. This includes the establishment of a new National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Strategic Group, comprising of operational partners, including Police Scotland, and other expert stakeholders, to review current action and agree where additional focus is needed to better protect children from abuse and exploitation, including online-enabled harm. This group’s overarching priority is prevention. Members are working together to identify priorities and actions to more effectively prevent, disrupt and provide support to victims of child sexual abuse and their families, including those facing online harms.

The Scottish Government is also a member of Police Scotland’s Multi-Agency Group on Preventing Online Child Sexual Abuse which monitors emerging online threats to develop a shared approach to using technological advancements to tackle abuse, improve data-gathering, improve support for victims and survivors and promote key activities delivered by our partners.

While regulation of the internet remains a reserved matter, we have successfully engaged with the UK Government on its Online Safety Act to strengthen protections for young people. The Scottish Government is also working closely with the UK Government on extending relevant Crime and Policing Bill provisions to Scotland, including offences relating to the possession, creation and distribution of Artificial Intelligence tools designed to create child sexual abuse material.

It is also important to emphasise the responsibility of tech firms in protecting children and young people. This is why I met Ofcom in August and again last week alongside the Minister for Community Safety to ensure pressure is put on tech companies to deliver effective safeguards for young people online, including the need for more prescriptive guidance to providers. The First Minister wrote directly to tech firms last year to remind them of their responsibilities and, alongside the Minister for Victims and Community Safety, I recently wrote to social media companies to invite them to meet to discuss the protection of children and young people from online harm.

We will continue to engage with the UK Government and Ofcom on implementation of legislation and to press for stronger protections to help keep children and young people in Scotland safe online.

The Scottish Government values the teaching profession and the important work that teachers do is one of the key strengths of our education system.

We will continue to work with COSLA and the teaching unions to address concerns around teacher workload.

We are clear that reducing teachers’ class contact time by 90 minutes per week will help address critical concerns around teacher workload, including the retention of teachers.

We will continue to work with COSLA and the teaching unions to make meaningful progress on this important commitment.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of securing local consent in the establishment of any new Safer Drug Consumption Facilities (SDCFs). Evaluation of such consent would need to be undertaken by any Health Board area wishing to propose establishing an SDCF and will be guided by inclusive engagement with local partners, including health and social care bodies, local authorities, community representatives and local resident.

Findings from the Thistle evaluation will serve as a reference point, generating key learning on implementation processes, health and social impacts, community-level effects, and cost-effectiveness.

Any future proposals will be subject to careful assessment, must align with public health priorities and reflect local collaboration. They would also need to meet the various requirements set out by the Lord Advocate, including the need for public consultation.

The Scottish Government recognises that NHS Scotland’s oncology capacity has been increasingly tested due to steady, long-term increases in demand driven by new medicines approvals, increasing complexity of treatment, an ageing population, more treatments for incurable cancers, and delayed presentations exacerbated by the pandemic.

Despite these pressures, we are treating more patients with cancer on time, within both standards, compared to the same quarter 6 years ago – 7.7% more within the 31-day standard & 0.1% more within the 62-day standard.

We continue to take action to address workforce pressures and have increased consultant radiologists by 27.7% in the last ten years. We continue to invest heavily in radiology training - for example we are currently funding around 190 specialty training places in clinical radiology, including 78 extra places we have added since 2014 based on modelling and future workforce need. This enables doctors to train and enter the workforce following completion of training - which takes a minimum of 5 years. This programme has been filled at 100% in Scotland from 2014 to 2024, with 230 resident doctors successfully completing the training.

Further, over £106 million has been allocated to NHS Boards in 2025-26 to address waiting times, with £21 million for imaging. We will reduce the radiology backlog so that 95% of referrals are seen within six weeks by March 2026, through expanding to seven-day services, recruitment, and utilising mobile scanning units.

I have written to the Royal College of Radiologists following their report as I hope to work together to support the development of solutions. This will ensure that our NHS continues to deliver excellent and equitably accessible cancer care.

The position outlined in the answer to S6W-37289 on 13 May 2025 remains that the revised policy statement for the protection of natural features on Ramsar sites will be published at the earliest opportunity.

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 committed to improving energy efficiency and decarbonising heating systems in Scotland’s buildings to support improvements in fuel poverty and to help meet our climate target to reach net zero by 2045.

We have committed to investing over £300m in our Heat in Buildings programme in 2025-26. The support is aimed at reducing emissions from heating and improving energy efficiency in homes and other buildings across Scotland, as well as developing heat networks.

We are continuing to engage with Historic Environment Scotland to consider the particular needs of Scotland’s traditionally constructed homes, protected, and historic buildings in taking forward our commitments to decarbonise.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving energy efficiency and decarbonising heating systems in Scotland’s buildings to support improvements in fuel poverty and to help meet our climate target to reach net zero by 2045.

In April, the Acting Minister for Climate Action made a statement to Parliament that set out the Scottish Government’s plans to introduce a Heat in Buildings Bill later this session, and that it would be accompanied by the introduction of a minimum energy efficiency standard (MEES) in the private rented sector (PRS).

We have now launched a consultation on proposed MEES regulations to be introduced in the domestic PRS. This will be accompanied by direct stakeholder engagement and workshops. Our proposals include a range of exemptions to accommodate individual circumstances which will provide flexibility for properties such as traditional and listed buildings.

We value the input from Historic Environment Scotland on this topic, and are committed to continuing to work closely with them to shape our proposals on MEES and any future proposals on decarbonising heating systems. We understand that certain buildings need particular solutions and HES will provide key expertise to ensure the best outcome for traditional and listed buildings and the people who live and use them.

The Scottish Government uses a variety of systems for different purposes. One of these is Scotland’s Land Information Service, created and maintained by Registers of Scotland, which provides online access to information on land and property in Scotland for both public and business users. Enhancements since the service first launched have included access to a Crofting Register layer, an Aerial photography map layer, the Sasines Register indicative ownership layer, the Books of Council & Session, the Register of Judgements, the Register of Inhibitions and National Library Scotland’s Historic Maps

The Scottish Assessors maintain the Council Tax Valuation List and the Valuation Roll which sets out the rateable value of non-domestic land and heritages unless they are statutorily exempt. As set out in the recent Scottish Budget and Scotland’s Tax Strategy: Building on our Tax Principles, we are taking forward work with the Scottish Land Commission which includes exploration of opportunities for improved data collection, data analysis and data publication to better inform decision making regarding tax and land.

Information relating to agricultural subsidies is published by Defra on behalf of the Scottish Government and can be accessed here: https://cap-payments.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx.