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To date, the Scottish Government has supported the Pathfinder phase of Bairns’ Hoose development with an almost £10 million investment from 2023 to 2025.

NHS GGC agreed in May 2024 that its PCANOS model and staff would be embedded into their specialist Alcohol and Drug Recovery Services in order to ensure long term sustainability. The realignment of PCANOS expertise into Glasgow Alcohol and Drug Recovery Services ensures that staff are fully supported by the wider Alcohol and Drug Recovery Service team to provide a full range of clinical, medical and psychosocial support services to individuals.

Glasgow City ADP greatly value the variety of specialist alcohol services across the city in dealing with the public health crisis in relation to alcohol. The Managed Alcohol Programme, the Fibro scanner pilot and the community and residential Alcohol Related Brain Damage Services are just some examples of the innovative and impactful provision in the city.

The Scottish Government is fully supportive of the actions being taken by both NHS GGC and Glasgow City ADP.

The IT staff in the Agriculture and Rural Economy Directorate (including those in Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA)) are involved in a range of digital activities from maintaining and supporting current services to developing the future services.

In addition to rural payments systems, we maintain and rely on other IT systems such as the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS), Estate Management Database (EMA), Drawing Office, Plant Health, Livestock Inspection System (LIS). These systems collectively assure eligibility for payments, support of inspections, responding to legislative requirements and supporting corporate systems.

ARE IT/Digital services and the data within them support a range of other government departments, functions and agencies including NatureScot, Forestry, Estates Management, Plant Health and Livestock Inspections meaning our IT / Digital services support a wider range of stakeholders.

IT staff in the Scottish Government’s Agriculture and Rural Economy Directorate (ARE) are members of the Government Digital and Data Profession covering an array of professional IT roles.

Many of these IT systems also rely on aspects of the shared Scottish Government IT infrastructure supported by other SG IT staff. The staff supporting these corporate systems are not included in the following table.

Due to the flexible deployment of IT staff based on skills and knowledge to where they provide the greatest benefit at a point in time aligned with priorities it is not possible to separately identify the staff costs solely associated with rural payments IT systems.

The salary cost (including overtime) of all directly employed IT staff in ARE for the four years 2021-2025 is as follows:

Legislation does not currently allow for variations to section 37 consents. Therefore, it has not been possible for the Scottish Government to receive such requests.

The proposed reforms mirror section 36C of the Electricity Act 1989 which makes provision for the Scottish Ministers to vary section 36 consents for construction, operation and extension of generating stations.

It is not possible to determine the internal Scottish Government costs attributed to staff time spent on the Heat in Buildings Bill proposals or the Heat in Buildings Strategy. Scottish Government officials operate flexibly across a range of policies and programmes according to the specific requirements of their work at any given time. They do not, as a matter of course, record the proportion of their time spent working on different matters.

The following table provides information from 2009-10 to 2023-24. Information is not available on a comparable basis for earlier years.

Leavers with no passes in National Qualifications at SCQF Level 3 or better.

As set out in our recently published delivery plan, we are committed to “co-management” of fisheries and we want to ensure that stakeholders are involved in the policy development and delivery process.

In the context of Fisheries Management Plans (FMPs), the Marine Directorate has undertaken pre-consultation with stakeholders which will inform the first formal consultation later this year. Discussions with stakeholders have taken place last year and, more recently, in February, we held workshops on demersal FMPs with plans for further workshops on Nephrops and pelagic FMPs in the coming weeks and months respectively.

Gathering stakeholder views is important to the overall process of developing FMPs.

The Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) supports the Scottish Government, local authorities and other public bodies to fulfil their legal obligations to promote and protect the human rights of children and young people. The SYP is the democratic voice of Scotland’s young people. Their vision for Scotland is of a nation that actively listens to and values the meaningful participation of its young people. Their goal is to make this vision a reality, in order to ensure young people in Scotland grow up loved, safe and respected, and able to realise their full potential.

The Scottish Government engages with a range of organisations when making policy decisions. This ensures policies are representative, and rooted in collaboration, delivery and outcomes.

It is therefore not possible to directly attribute and quantify influence on decisions to any one organisation.

However, it is important to acknowledge that over the years, the Scottish Youth Parliament’s (SYP) campaigning work has contributed to a number of changes to public policy, including:

Votes at 16 in Scottish elections

Equal Marriage

Protection of children from assault

Provision of counselling services in secondary schools

Incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into domestic law

Free bus travel for under 21s

Alongside the Children’s Parliament, the SYP plays a key role in the annual Cabinet and Executive Takeover meetings. First launched in 2014, these meetings with the Scottish Cabinet, and more latterly with the Scottish Government Executive Team, bring together decision makers at the highest level of government and children and young people. At each meeting the children and young people highlight and discuss their Calls to Action: tangible commitments to be taken forward by the Scottish Government.

A report from 2023 providing information on how the SYP’s contribution at earlier meetings has influenced policy can be found here: Children and young people's voices matter: progress report - March 2023 - gov.scot.

The Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) supports the Scottish Government, local authorities and other public bodies to fulfil their legal obligations to promote and protect the human rights of children and young people. The SYP is the democratic voice of Scotland’s young people. Their vision for Scotland is of a nation that actively listens to and values the meaningful participation of its young people. Their goal is to make this vision a reality, in order to ensure young people in Scotland grow up loved, safe and respected, and able to realise their full potential.

Please see the answer to question S6W-35663 on 2 April 2025 for details of the election process. 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 supports Health and Social Care Partnerships with funding provided to Health Boards and local authorities to implement guidance, such as that published by the Mental Welfare Commission on alcohol-related brain damage.

That will be supplemented soon by the UK’s first comprehensive guidance for clinical treatment for alcohol conditions. The guidance will include requirements for the treatment of ARBD and we will support the adoption of the clinical guidance.

We recognise that the management and support required for people with ARBD is not limited to healthcare. Whether it is social care, mental health support, primary care or alcohol treatment and support - including rehabilitation - in communities or in residential settings, the person affected must be at the centre of the support pathway.