Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government expects all incidents of violent and abusive behaviour towards staff to be recorded.

In Scotland our local councils employ education staff and we expect all local authorities to be ensuring that their schools have policies in place which determine clearly what action should be taken to address challenging behaviour and to best protect their staff in the workplace. This would include having processes in place to record violent and abusive incidents towards teachers and staff.

The joint relationships and behaviour in schools action plan includes an action to review all current processes for recording incidents, to identify potential means of streamlining processes and improving consistency. An update on the plan will publish in the coming weeks.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of additional strokes that could be detected by adopting BE FAST.

The Scottish Government’s position is that the current evidence base does not support a move to the use of BE FAST, and this is supported by Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland and Stroke Association, however we will regularly review this position based on the best available evidence.

The requested information is not held centrally. The Scottish Stroke Care Audit (SSCA) does not routinely collect information on posterior circulation strokes or data on whether there has been a FAST “pre-alert” before arrival at hospital.

Any form of violence is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Schools should be safe and consistent learning environments for all.

Since May 2023, we have responded to teachers’ concerns about relationships and behaviour in a number of ways. This includes the publication of new guidance on gender-based violence, updating our guidance on mobile phones and anti-bullying, and providing £900k to local authorities to support training of support staff.

In August 2024, we published a joint relationships and behaviour in schools action plan with COSLA. The action plan sets out 20 actions to be taken by 2027 at both national and local level to help support schools to improve relationships and behaviour. This includes guidance on the use of consequences in schools and updating our national guidance on exclusions.

In addition, in 2025-26 we are providing:

• A further £29 million of additional investment to local authorities for additional support needs.
• £130 million Pupil Equity Funding to schools.
• £186.5 million to local authorities to restore overall teacher numbers across the country to 2023 level, and maximise the number of teaching posts available.

Finally, through implementation of the Violence Prevention Framework for Scotland, we have invested over £4m in the last two years to help prevent and reduce violence across Scotland. Over 2024-25, £2m of this investment has been used to support delivery of prevention activity including action focussed specially towards young people in collaboration with a range of partners.

Local authorities are responsible for the management of their school estate including decisions about the closure of schools. Local authorities are required by the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 (“the 2010 Act”) to carry out a full public consultation where they are proposing a permanent school closure.

Local authorities must also undertake specific additional steps when they propose to close a rural school. These include clearly demonstrating that they have considered alternatives to closure, an assessment of the likely impact on the community and impact on travel to school arrangements for local pupils. The local authority must also set out the educational benefit of the closure which is subject to an independent report by HM Inspectors. The local authority must respond to HM Inspectors’ assessment of the educational impact on those affected. If a proposal to close a school is rejected, then the local authority cannot repeat the process for five years, providing stability for the local community. These protections are intended to ensure that local authorities think very carefully before closing a rural school and consult extensively with the local community about their proposal.

Where it appears to Scottish Ministers that the local authority may have failed, in a significant regard, to comply with the requirements imposed on it by the 2010 Act, or to take proper account of a material consideration relevant to its decision they may “call-in” the decision for review by an independent School Closure Review Panel.

The Scottish Government published ‘Migration - Meeting Scotland's Needs’ in January setting out the economic benefits of migration to Scotland.

Scotland’s has distinct demographic challenges. While the UK’s working population is projected to increase by 0.5% between 2025-75 Scotland’s is projected to fall by 14.7%. Positive net migration increases the size of the working-age population, which is crucial for economic growth as well as fiscal sustainability. The UK Migration Advisory Committee has found that a 1% increase in the migrant share of the workforce is associated with a productivity improvement of between 1.2% and 3%. Research has shown that migrants contribute more to government revenue through taxes than they receive in public services. Migration can help meet the needs of our economy, public services and communities.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the retirement ages of GPs.

The Scottish Government does not collect or hold information on how many individuals may seek regulated independent healthcare provided transgender chest surgery.

Regular updates will be provided by Transport Scotland to Ministers to ensure appropriate action is taken to address concerns at the Shawhead Flyover. The current position is that Transport Scotland has asked its maintenance contractor (Scottish Roads Partnership) to assess several options for works at the junction to improve driver confidence. This work is underway. In addition, Transport Scotland has also asked Police Scotland for the junction to be assessed by their Police Camera Safety Team in the next site selection exercise, which is due to begin in April.

The safety of the rail network is a reserved matter under Schedule 5 of the Scotland Act 1998. The rail infrastructure in Scotland is owned and managed by Network Rail. The Scottish Government has fully funded Network Rail to meet its obligations as specified by the independent Office of Rail and Road (ORR) and Scottish Ministers expect Network Rail to manage the rail infrastructure in a manner which provides a safe and reliable railway for the people of Scotland.

Senior Officials from the ORR and the Managing Director of Network Rail Scotland have confirmed to senior officials at Transport Scotland that this matter is being addressed within Scotland, a point also reflected in the Chief Inspector’s recent letter to Network Rail on this matter:

“…..Scotland can substantiate a recovery of examinations and structural assessments within [2024-29]” Control Period 7, CP7.

The letter itself can be found here: Non-compliance with structure examinations - Letter to Network Rail dated 11 February 2025