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The £15 million funding for general practice announced by the Scottish Government on 21 August 2025 will be allocated to territorial health boards as outlined in the following table.

Information on the incentives available in Enterprise Areas have been published on the following Scottish Government webpage: https://www.gov.scot/policies/supporting-business/enterprise-areas/

As noted, Enterprise Areas (EAs) have access to a package of financial and non-financial incentives:

Financial Incentives

• Non-Domestic Rates (NDR) relief - the main devolved incentive, as set by The Non-Domestic Rates (Enterprise Areas) (Scotland) Regulations 2016. Further information on EAs NDR Relief can be accessed here: https://www.mygov.scot/non-domestic-rates-relief/enterprise-areas-relief

or

• Full Expensing Capital Allowances, available from April 2023 until the end of March 2026. Companies can claim 100% capital allowances on qualifying plant and machinery investments. The Full Expensing Capital Allowances are within the remit of the UK Government and information on their statutory basis should be addressed to UK Ministers.

Non-Financial Incentives

• streamlined planning process,
• high-speed broadband,
• sector specific international promotion and marketing from Scottish Development International , and
• skills and training support from Skills Development Scotland.

The majority of non-financial incentives have been mainstreamed into generally available support for businesses by both the Scottish Government, and our enterprise and skills agencies and are therefore no longer exclusive to Enterprise Areas. A non-statutory planning protocol, committing all relevant partners to work together to facilitate the planning process in designated Enterprise Areas, remains in place.

There have been developments in the broader policy landscape of targeted support for economic growth alongside EAs. In 2022, the Scottish Government agreed with the UK Government to establish two Green Freeports in Scotland. Geographically focused, the Green Freeports incentives package also includes provision of NDR relief in Green Freeport tax sites, as part of a wider package of devolved and reserved incentives. This is aimed at supporting cluster building and attracting inward investment across the geographically defined tax sites within the Green Freeports’ outer boundary. A similar approach to the Enterprise Areas planning protocol was taken in developing a planning protocol for the Green Freeports.

Like EAs, both Green Freeports have a strong focus on renewable energy and there is also some geographical overlap between the EAs and the Green Freeport tax sites at Inverness, Nigg and Leith.

In addition, we have also agreed with the UK Government to establish two Investment Zones in Glasgow City Region and the North East, also comprising designated areas of land in which a package of devolved and reserved tax reliefs and spending will be available. The Scottish Investment Zones will use these incentives to support the development of clusters and drive innovation in advanced manufacturing, green energy and digital technologies.

The Scottish Government remains firmly committed to supporting small producers and empowering them to play a key role in making our Vision for Agriculture a reality. This year, up to £1 million is being invested through the Small Producer Pilot Fund to continue to support innovation, resilience, and growth across the sector.

Those individuals or groups with a holding no larger than 30 hectares (excluding common grazing), are eligible, and as we move forward with the Pilot Fund, we will further assess additional needs for local communities and this sector, and how we can support them.

The member may be aware that the First Minister visited Orkney Auction Mart in February 2025, and there he re-affirmed Scottish Government’s commitment to supporting small producers and strengthening Scotland’s food supply chain.

As an example of this support, last year nearly £300,000 in grants were awarded to several private kill abattoirs. This funding supported a wide range of vital activity – from training private kill coordinators and upskilling butchers, to improving customer engagement and developing strong business plans. These facilities are essential to a thriving food supply chain, offering accessible, high-quality services that help ensure long-term viability for small producers.

Further targeted support for this sector will be detailed in the upcoming Rural Support Plan.

The Scottish Government is committed to developing the role of nurse sexual offence examiners.

The Scottish Government and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service have together supported a test of change involving Queen Margaret University nurse graduates, so that they can undertake sexual offence examinations and give evidence in court. If approved by the Lord Advocate, this test of change could pave the way for nurses to undertake the role of sexual offence examiner in future.

We continue to fund places on a Post Graduate Certificate (PG Cert) in Advanced Forensic Practice course at Queen Margaret University – the first of its kind in Scotland. This qualification is a pre-requisite for nurses undertaking the role of sexual offence examiner in Scotland.

We also fund a skills lab at Queen Margaret University so that sexual offence examiners and recently qualified nurse sexual offence examiners can maintain and update their skills.

Developing a multi-disciplinary workforce model may also support the sustainability of services in remote, rural and island communities.

There are currently 24 qualified nurses with a further 10 working towards this qualification. Assuming all of the nurses graduate by July 2026, the total number of PG Cert qualified nurses in Scotland will increase to 34.

The Scottish Government has not yet received feedback from NHS Boards. We will issue a monitoring template to Boards shortly asking them to report on their progress towards implementation of the priority now actions set out in the Delivery Framework for Miscarriage Care in Scotland.

The Scottish Government will issue a monitoring template to NHS Boards shortly asking them to report on their progress towards implementation of the priority now actions set out in the Delivery Framework for Miscarriage Care in Scotland.

Once the NHS Board responses have been received and analysed we will consider how best to share information on progress.

Scottish Government provide funding to local areas to allocate as appropriate based on local need. Decisions about the need for community safety or outreach patrols will be for local areas to take.

Details of 2024-25 ADP funding and activity are set out in the annual funding letter which you can access here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/alcohol-drug-partnership-adp-letters-2024-25/

In addition, details of the National Drugs Mission funds, administered by the Corra Foundation support a range of projects are also available here: https://www.corra.scot/funding/grant-holder-data/

Scottish Government Ministers regularly meet foreign diplomats and Ministers visiting Scotland. Agreeing to such meetings provides the opportunity to discuss international cooperation but also to express the Scottish Government's opinion on international issues. I accepted the Embassy of Israel’s request for this meeting as it was an opportunity for him to express the Scottish Government's clear and unwavering position in calling for an immediate ceasefire by all sides in Gaza, the unconditional release of all hostages and the opening of safe routes to allow more humanitarian aid to reach the people of Gaza, which is what he did. Recognising the strength of feeling generated by the meeting, he subsequently issued a statement on 19 August 2024, which can be found here: Meeting with Israeli Diplomat - gov.scot.

The meeting with the Deputy Chief of Mission from the Embassy of Israel took place to express the Scottish Government's clear and unwavering position on the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The Scottish Government received the meeting request and accepted on the basis it would provide an opportunity to convey our consistent position on the killing and suffering of innocent civilians in the region.

It is clear that, having now spoken direct to the Israeli Government and making them aware of our position on an immediate ceasefire, it would not be appropriate for Ministers to accept any invitation for a further meeting. This will remain our position until such time as real progress has been made towards peace, unimpeded access to humanitarian assistance is provided and Israel cooperates fully with its international obligations on the investigation of genocide and war crimes.

The Psychology of Parenting Programme (PoPP) is funded through NHS Education Scotland (NES)’s Parenting workstream, which covers various programmes of work (including PoPP) to support the social, emotional and behavioural development of infants, children, young people and their families. In financial year 2023-24, the Scottish Government allocated £633,040 to NES to support the Parenting workstream, with a further £571,542 issued in 2024-25.

Details on cancelled rail passenger services, for each train operating company for the period until December 2024 are available on the Office for Rail and Road website, and can be found here: https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/compendia/toc-key-statistics/. The Member may wish to contact train operating companies directly in order to obtain more recent and more detailed data, related to cancellations of their services.

Compensation that is offered to rail passengers is a matter for individual train operating companies. The Member may wish to contact them directly to obtain this information.