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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.

This PQ was submitted along with another 10 all regarding the SYP.

The Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) have their annual accounts published on the Companies House website. These provide a breakdown of money received from the Scottish Government from 2020 – 24.

SCOTTISH YOUTH PARLIAMENT filing history - Find and update company information - GOV.UK

The 2024-25 annual accounts will be available on the Companies House website in due course, following the end of the financial year. However, as these are currently not available, the Scottish Government currently expects to provide SYP with funding totalling £430,339.68 in 2024-25 (subject to relevant financial controls).

As part of Scottish Government’s grant conditions, all funded organisations are required to monitor and report their progress towards delivery of their funding outcomes to ensure appropriate use of public funds and value for money.

Since the Children, Young People, Families Early Intervention and Adult Learning and Empowering Communities (CYPFEI & ALEC) third sector fund was launched in 2016, the Scottish Government has provided SYP with £1.7 million in core funding. The breakdown of this funding over the last five years is as follows: 2020-21 - £324,188; 2021-22 - £324,188; 2022-23 - £341,250; 2023-24 - £341,250; 2024-25 - £341,250 (included in the total above).

Most recent information suggests SYP is on track to meet the agreed outcomes by the end of 2024-25. The CYPFEI & ALEC fund is administered by the Corra Foundation. Corra has indicated, through their annual formal grant review processes and monitoring, that SYP has demonstrated good progress towards their agreed objectives on an annual basis. I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-35662 on 2 April 2025 for further information on Corra’s feedback. 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.

a) The Scottish Government publishes details of Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts - gov.scot containing information about Ministerial engagements, overseas travel, car journeys, domestic travel and gifts received.

b) The Scottish Government publishes details of Special advisers: gifts and hospitality - gov.scot, which includes information on travel expenses claimed.

ci & cii) The following table gives the relevant data for the last available 5 years:

1.Senior Civil Service;

2.Staff Below Senior Civil Service; and

3.Seafaring Staff.

The University of Stirling research was commissioned by the Scottish FA and SPFL. The Scottish Government has not undertaken any detailed analysis of the report to date. Our position remains that we have no plans at the current time to amend the legislation governing alcohol at football but we will consider any proposals put forward by the football authorities, and which we would expect to address the issues set out in the University of Stirling report.

I have discussed this issue a number of times with the SPFL and directly with some football clubs. More recently, the round table on enhancing Scottish football which has representatives from the footballing governing bodies and supporter groups, has discussed the reintroduction of alcohol in football stadia alongside other issues pertinent to Scottish football. We plan to publish the minutes of these meetings on the Scottish Government website in due course.

Since the publication of the 2020 report by the RSE Scotland's artificial intelligence strategy - Royal Society of Edinburgh : Royal Society of Edinburgh I have commissioned an independent review into the opportunities for AI which was published last year AI+Independent+Review+-+Call+for+Views+-+Initial+Report+-+Advancing+AI+for+Scotland+-+Reformatted+-+January+2024.pdf.

We have been continuously engaging with the UK Government to advocate that their approach to the regulation of AI considers the interests of the citizens and businesses of Scotland. We continue to provide AI support to business through our enterprise agencies and the AI Alliance, our delivery body for Scotland’s AI Strategy. They have recently relaunched the AI Playbook Guidance on AI Adoption Including Information on AI Policies — Scottish AI Playbook which is a one-stop shop for supporting businesses with AI adoption. The playbook also includes information on legal and regulatory provisions relating to the development and use of AI systems.

We are committed to co-developing and co-designing our agricultural policies with industry and rural partners.

We want patients to be treated as soon as possible. However, we know many are facing unacceptable waits and we are determined to do more. That is why we are targeting an additional £200 million to reduce waits and enhance capacity. We are also looking to optimise the full force of the £21.7 billion committed through the Scottish Budget to health and social care to improve performance.

The most recement statistics show that over the 12 months to December 2024, inpatient and day-case activity was over 256,000 (256,209); 7.4% (17,644) more than previous 12 months, demonstrating our plan to improvement in inpatient / day-case waiting times performance is delivering.

We firmly believe there is no contradiction between high quality food production and producing it in a way that delivers for the climate and nature and it is important that we do not offshore our emissions as we work towards net zero.

We are supporting our farmers and crofters to improve their efficiency, thereby improving their productivity and profitability and reducing their emissions. We also recognise that agriculture and food production relies on natural processes and will always cause some degree of emissions.

The Whole Farm Plan will help farmers and crofters measure their businesses’ impact and find ways to become more efficient and to cut emissions. We continue to explore new, innovative ways to help mitigate emissions from agriculture, measure and build carbon sequestration, while continuing to produce high quality food and improve biodiversity.

We are also helping to reduce emissions from farming through measures such as the reform of the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme and are looking at a potential pilot scheme on how support payments could encourage the uptake of methane suppressing feed products.

In February, the First Minister announced that around £14 million will be allocated to delivering the Future Farming Investment Scheme (FFIS). FFIS will offer flexible support for capital items that can be used to improve efficiency or support nature and climate-friendly farming.

We will bring forward a draft Climate Change Plan in the coming year that will set out policies and proposals for how our agriculture sector will continue to play its part in meeting our ambitious net zero national target by 2045.

We must also recognise the risks to our farmers and crofters of being undercut by imported goods with lower production standards as a result of the previous UK Government’s post-Brexit trade deals. Scotland wants to trade based on its high regulatory standards to protect consumers and enable producers to champion Scottish provenance. Scotland’s Vision for Trade sets out five key principles that should underpin Scotland’s trading and investing relationships, which include Sustainability and Net Zero. In line with those principles, our asks of UK Government include committing to regulating in line with the precautionary principle, to prevent environmental harm and maintain high regulatory standards in food safety, animal welfare and climate. We continually urge the UK Government to reflect those priorities through all UK Free Trade Agreements and other trade negotiations.

The Scottish Government is fully committed to delivering net zero by 2045. Our pathway to net zero must recognise that agriculture and food production relies on natural processes and will always cause some degree of emissions. We have no policy to reduce livestock numbers. Instead, we are committed to supporting the sector to enhance productivity and resilience while reducing emissions intensity