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The current booking system was released under the previous contract with CalMac to operate the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services. Under that contract CalMac were required to provide farebox revenue as a whole for routes across the network. The Scottish Government does not hold information on uncollected revenue, and there was no contractual requirement for them to provide this information to Ministers.

The Directorate recognises the importance of providing clarity on the app's planned launch date. At present a specific launch date in 2026 has not yet been confirmed.

Final timelines depend on ongoing development, testing and regulatory requirements to ensure the app meets all required standards.

The Directorate will provide a confirmed timeline once the current development and testing phase is completed.

I attended the 44th British-Irish Council meeting held in the Vale Resort, Cardiff, Wales on 5 December.

The summit was hosted by the First Minister of Wales and attended by ministers from across the UK and Ireland. The Prime Minister attended, as did the Taoiseach and Tnaiste, the First Minister and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Chief Ministers of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.

The theme of this year’s summit was a creative future: unlocking the potential of the creative industries across these islands.

The main summit plenary provided an opportunity to highlight the strength of Scotland’s creative industries as well as outline the Scottish Government support extended to our creative sector.

During the main plenary discussion on latest political developments, I took the opportunity to restate the Scottish Government’s ongoing concerns over the intolerable situation in Gaza.

I also welcomed the UK government’s headline agreement with the European Union, while making clear that further progress was required to address trade barriers and promote freedom of movement.

Ahead of the main summit I held bilateral meetings with the Tnaiste and Irish Trade Minister (Helen McEntee).

We discussed the close relationship between Scotland and Ireland; whisky tariffs and the United Kingdom’s new approach to the European Union.

I also held a wide-ranging discussion with the Prime Minister, during which I raised the impact of the UK Budget on Scotland’s oil and gas and renewables sectors and pressed for immediate action on the Energy Profits Levy.

I also discussed the future key economic infrastructure including Grangemouth and Mossmorran, and pressed for an update on UK-US Trade negotiations including the tariff on whisky.

Finally, I welcomed the recent UK Government announcement on the lifting of the two-child benefit cap, noting that this would allow the Scottish Government to further deliver on our commitment to address child poverty.

The Communiqué that was issued by the British-Irish Council after the meeting can be found on its website at: www.britishirishcouncil.org/resources/

44th British-Irish Council Summit

Vale of Glamorgan, Wales

5 December 2025

Communiqué

The British-Irish Council (BIC) held its 44th Summit meeting today, Friday 5 December 2025, hosted by the Welsh Government in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales.

The theme of the Summit was A Creative Future: Unlocking the Potential of the Creative Industries Across These Islands. The meeting was chaired by the Rt Hon Eluned Morgan MS, Prif Weinidog Cymru (First Minister), Welsh Government.

A Creative Future: Unlocking the Potential of the Creative Industries Across These Islands.

The Summit plenary focussed on Member Administrations’ respective screen sectors. Leaders discussed the importance of the sector to the Creative Industries, both culturally and economically, as well as the opportunities and challenges facing the sector, and efforts by administrations to support the industry and those working within it.

Latest Political Developments

Council members reflected on significant recent developments within their administrations and discussed a number of domestic and international topics of mutual interest.

Next Summit Meeting

The Council noted that the next BIC Summit will be hosted by the Government of Guernsey in summer 2026.

BIC Secretariat

5 December 2025

Plenary Participants

I am pleased to announce that today we have published our Phase 1 report on the Future Medical Workforce Project. You can access the report here.

The report follows an extensive exploratory process to understand the challenges and opportunities for Scotland’s medical workforce over the next 15 to 20 years.

Over the past six months, we have engaged widely with the profession, we have listened to over 2,000 doctors through a national survey and 40 focus groups.

The report reflects these candid views and explores how technology, service redesign, and cultural change can help create a better future for the profession, enabling high-quality care in a rapidly changing health system. It also makes the case for meaningful change.

Phase 2 of the project will begin in January 2026 and will focus on designing solutions in partnership with the profession. This will include workstreams on training reform, workforce planning, and service redesign.

A letter will be sent to the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee to provide an update on the report and to invite them, along with key stakeholders, to a cross-party discussion in the new year to review the findings and consider how best to take forward Phase 2 of the project.

This morning, I will visit the site of MiAlgae’s new bio-reactor project Grangemouth, which will see omega-3 being produced and sold at scale. The construction of the new plant at Grangemouth is being made possible as a direct result of up to £3 million in grant funding being allocated by the Scottish and UK Governments, with £1.5 million coming from the Scottish Government’s Grangemouth Just Transition Fund.

Subject to final negotiations and confirmation of public funding conditions, we are also allocating up to £6.23 million from the Grangemouth Just Transition Fund to Celtic Renewables to support pre-construction costs associated with its at scale ABE bio-refinery project at Grangemouth.

A further additional £595,000 from the Fund to be utilised by Scottish Enterprise to progress essential enabling activities that will make progress towards Grangemouth’s transition.

I look forward to providing a fuller update to Parliament later today on the progress being made by this Government to support Grangemouth’s Just Transition to Net Zero.

We welcomed the publication of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry’s Module 2 report on core decision-making and political governance on 20 November 2025.

Further to my statement to Parliament on that date, and following further consideration of the report, we can confirm today that the Scottish Government intends to publish its response before the dissolution of Parliament in 2026, in line with the timeframes set out by the Chair of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry.

The Scottish Government will now take the necessary time to engage with stakeholders, including through the dedicated Covid Inquiry Response Engagement Group. This group brings together members representing a broad range of stakeholder expertise, including organisations working with communities disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and those furthest from decision-making. Their participation ensures that the Scottish Government’s response reflects diverse perspectives and is grounded in real-world impact, while carefully considering the report’s findings and recommendations.

Following a parliamentary debate on 26 February, a Motion (S6M-16571) was passed calling on Scottish Enterprise to review its human rights due diligence checks.

I updated Parliament (S6W-38968) on Scottish Enterprise’s review on 25 June. I confirmed that Scottish Enterprise had identified opportunities for improvements, which it committed to rolling out incrementally, over 2025-26.

I committed to providing a further update to Parliament, once Scottish Enterprise had developed its revised and detailed operational guidance, and asked that Scottish Government officials be kept abreast of that work.

On 28 November, Scottish Government officials received a formal update from Scottish Enterprise confirming that its updated human rights due diligence policy and procedure had been substantially finalised. Operationalisation of the revised human rights due diligence checks will now begin, on a phased basis. During the period of early implementation, these checks will be subject to further refinement. Scottish Enterprise outlined further detail of its improvements, which includes provisions to ensure human rights due diligence checks effectively address and adapt to emerging risks associated with customer relationships through:

• An increase in the frequency of human rights due diligence checks, to every 12 months to maintain ongoing vigilance and responsiveness.
• Removal of previous exemptions and broadening of the scope of human rights due diligence checks.
• Enhanced online screening, supplemented by follow-up engagement with customers as necessary.
• Introduction of targeted customer checks, including the requirement for a customer statement specifically addressing items and activities governed by the UK Strategic Export Controls regime.

Scottish Enterprise has indicated that work is continuing on the development of a new digital platform for customer onboarding, which is to be rolled out in 2026. This will provide a more comprehensive customer journey and workflow for managing and recording customer interactions and due diligence checks, including human rights due diligence checks.

Scottish Enterprise’s letter also confirmed that its internal Senior Review Group, established following its review, is now fully constituted and meeting weekly. The Group will provide strategic input and support operational decision-making.

I thank Scottish Enterprise for its work on developing these enhanced procedures, and towards implementing them fully in 2026.

At an international level, APHA monitors any major, notifiable or new and emerging animal disease outbreaks worldwide on behalf of all GB administrations. We do this as an early warning to assess the risk they may pose to the UK, in particular those diseases which impact on animal health and welfare, international trade, public health or wider society. We assess the risk that diseases might come into the UK through trade in animals or animal products (legal or illegal), through movement of wildlife, or through movement of things such as insects which may carry a disease. We use these outbreak assessments to help us decide how to manage or reduce the risks.

In Scotland (and across Great Britain) the GB Dead Wild Bird Surveillance Scheme, administered by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) on behalf of the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and Defra (England), allows members of the public to report dead wild birds (via a helpline and/or online reporting tool), and for a selection of these birds (based on a triage criteria) to be tested for avian influenza.

The purpose of the scheme is to capture information on the general location and strains of avian influenza that might be prevalent in GB. This data then helps administrations to build up a picture of the current risks, and shapes how they then respond in policy terms. In addition to this, NatureScot have a network of reporters across Scotland who provide early intelligence on unusual mortality levels in wild bird species.

Although the reporting of suspicion of notifiable avian disease in wild birds is not mandatory, legislative changes in Scotland in 2023 made the reporting of suspicion of the virus in mammals a legal requirement. Members of the public are therefore instructed to report such cases to APHA.

The GB Poultry Survey also carries out passive surveillance on poultry premises (including gamebird premises) across Great Britain, on a ‘testing to exclude’ basis.

Underpinning all of this, the avian virology team at APHA Weybridge hosts both the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) and Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) International reference laboratory (IRL), and the UK National reference laboratory (NRL) for Avian Influenza (AI). In doing so, APHA brings technical excellence to the global diagnostic field that is supported by active research with both applied and fundamental targets. Together, the influenza team underpin the UK capability and capacity in dealing with potential incursions of influenza with an emphasis on AI virus (AIV) and its potential threat to the UK.

When a notifiable animal disease is confirmed at a premises by the Scottish Government, the Declaration, which legally confirms the premises as an infected one, and applies disease control zones in the area, is posted on gov.scot. The gov.scot avian influenza webpage is also updated. Specific stakeholder communications are also issued to the relevant local authority, relevant MP and MSPs, and to established industry and sector stakeholders, all of whom are encouraged to share established top lines and information on the outbreak.

Registered keepers within the disease controls zones are immediately provided with information on the measures implemented within the zones by text, but then registered keepers in the Protection Zone receive a letter from APHA providing detailed information on the measures in place and are also then visited by APHA to ensure that their birds are healthy. All registered keepers in the Surveillance Zone are contacted by phone by APHA to make similar flock health checks.

To supplement these communication routes, an interactive map is available via gov.scot, displaying every disease control zone in GB, and this is further supported by a range of disease control communications that are issued via the Scottish Government X account (@ScotGovRural/Twitter) and Facebook (facebook.com/ScotGovRural), along with guidance from APHA, in the form of a zone-specific social media flyer, on their social media channels and website Animal and Plant Health Agency - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

In 2024, Scottish Government made it a legal requirement for all poultry and captive birds (with limited exceptions) to register the location of their birds and provide contact keeper details. Keepers are also legally required to update their information on an annual basis, and to report significant changes to their flock within one calendar month.

In Scotland (and across Great Britain) the GB Dead Wild Bird Surveillance Scheme, administered by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) on behalf of the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and Defra (England), allows members of the public to report dead wild birds (via a helpline and/or online reporting tool) throughout the year, and for a selection of these birds (based on a triage criteria) to be tested for avian influenza.

Throughout the winter of 2025-2026 the UK National reference laboratory (NRL) for Avian Influenza will continue to test samples for highly pathogenic avian influenza and other notifiable avian diseases from this scheme (and from poultry samples collected though the GB Poultry Survey).

The purpose of the scheme is to capture information on the general location and strains of avian influenza that might be prevalent in GB. This data then helps administrations to build up a picture of the current risks, and shapes how they then respond in policy terms.

The scheme, in terms of the bird species collected aligns with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and its published target list of wild bird species for passive surveillance of HPAI viruses. This target list of surveillance species is published to ensure that that the surveillance in wild birds conducted by European Member Countries and other European countries is carried out correctly and that the relevant species are targeted.

In addition to this, NatureScot have a network of reporters across Scotland who provide early intelligence on unusual mortality levels in wild bird species.