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The specific spend from the Single Scottish Estate (SSE) programme budget during the 2024-25 financial year was £611,000. This budget covers a range of delivery matters for the programme, including funding 7 posts dedicated to the SSE work. The business as usual function of Property and Construction Division also provides delivery support to the programme.

The site of the former Braehead Brickworks is within the operational land of the M8 M73 M74 Motorway Improvements Project and is maintained by the project contractor, Scottish Roads Partnership (SRP). SRP has no plans for the site.

We recognise the importance of schools and families working together to promote positive relationships and behaviour in schools. A strong partnership between home and school helps create a consistent, supportive environment where children feel safe, respected, and are better able to learn and thrive.

The Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research published in 2023, highlighted a desire from some staff for greater engagement with parents, as not all parents were perceived as being supportive of schools’ efforts to address behaviour.

In response, the relationships and behaviour in schools action plan 2024-27 emphasises the vital role of parents and carers in supporting positive behaviour. As part of the action plan, we are currently developing guidance on responding to behaviour in schools. The guidance will be available later this year and will include advice for schools on working with parents to support positive relationships and behaviour.

Public bodies are reviewed quarterly as part of the Scottish Government’s Assurance cycle to ensure they are operating efficiently and effectively. We also set frameworks and provide guidance documents. One of the key aims of our Public Service Reform (PSR) programme is to drive efficiency and effectiveness across government and public bodies, making sure we have the public body landscape to deliver the services the people of Scotland need.

Scottish Government also ensures public bodies within our remit are subject to parliamentary scrutiny and accountability through a combination of legislative instruments, oversight bodies, and ongoing engagement with the Scottish Parliament. These include:

• Ministerial Accountability: Where appropriate, Ministers will update the Scottish Parliament on the actions and performance of relevant public bodies during debates, written and oral parliamentary questions and committee appearances. However, Ministers are not the Accountable Officers for Public Bodies, and, although Ministers may appoint the Chair and members of some boards, they do not influence how boards function.
• Parliamentary Committees: Scottish Government and its public bodies are scrutinised through the current 16 parliamentary committees, such as the Public Audit Committee and the Finance and Public Administration Committee which regularly hold inquiries into the activities of public bodies.
• Annual Reports and Audits: Public bodies and agencies are required to submit annual reports and accounts to the Scottish Parliament. These reports and accounts are also subject to audit by the Auditor General for Scotland, who reports to Parliament on the financial health and governance of these bodies. This independent scrutiny ensures transparency and accountability.
• Legislative Oversight: The Scottish Parliament has the power to introduce and pass legislation that sets the framework for the governance and scrutiny of public bodies. This includes legislation such as the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010. The Scottish Government’s annual budget process provides further structures for scrutiny and accountability.

Additionally, members of the public can contact their MSP to raise concerns and have the following mechanisms to scrutinise public bodies:

• The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman: The SPSO provides an independent process for investigating complaints about public bodies. This ensures individuals have a mechanism to question public bodies on their decisions and actions.
• Freedom of Information: All public bodies and agencies are required to be transparent about their activities. This allows the public to access information about their operations, further increasing accountability.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

Aviation and airspace remains a reserved matter for the UK government, however I am aware that Officials in Scottish Government are engaging with the Ministry for Justice on no fly-zone regulations across prisons and considerations are ongoing about extending them to Scotland.

SPS are continuing to implement both physical and targeted reactive measures that will negate the threat presented by drones as well as collaborating with Police Scotland, His Majesty’s Prison Service, Northern Ireland Prison Service and Irish Prison Service, to adopt a multi-nation approach to share best practice and response tactics in response to the threat presented by drone activity in and around our prisons.

Teaching is a rewarding and exciting career, with opportunities to share passion and expertise to inspire young people on their future pathways. While it is encouraging that intakes for primary teaching are overall above target, we are taking action to encourage more people into teaching, including in the hardest to fill teaching subjects.

These are long-term systemic challenges being faced globally, and we are committed to working together with partners, including teachers, unions, and COSLA, to develop solutions.

With COSLA, we are committed to working together to restore teacher numbers to 2023 levels, freeze learning hours and make meaningful progress towards reducing class contact time for teachers.. This will help ease teacher workload and improve outcomes for our children and young people.

Work is being taken forward through the joint Education and Childcare Assurance Board with COSLA on pupil behaviour and workload to overcome some of the challenges facing the profession and encouraging more people to consider teaching as a career.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-37086 on 6 May 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

We welcome the Scottish Fiscal Commission’s analysis and recognise the impact that changes in Scotland’s population health and demographics could have on fiscal sustainability, and we are taking steps to mitigate this.

It is a matter for the Scottish Funding Council to allocate funding to individual institutions, including whether there is a need to apply any conditions as part of this process.

The member may be interested to know that the Scottish Funding Council wrote to the Convener of the Education, Children and Young People Committee on 20 March outlining the conditions applied to the liquidity support for the University of Dundee. A link to the letter is as follows:

Letter from the Scottish Funding Council to the Convener of the Education, Children and Young People Committee on 20 March 2025

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-36866 on 6 May 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.