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Through the Colleges Tripartite Alignment Group, the Scottish Government and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), along with Colleges Scotland, regularly discuss issues in the sector, such as the college funding model.

The changes implemented by the SFC aim to deliver a fair and flexible distribution model, and as advised by the SFC at the Education, Children and Young People Committee on 1 October, they are engaging with Colleges Scotland and the wider college sector on the fundamental review of the funding allocation model.

The Scottish Government is delivering a transformation programme to reform the post-school education and skills system, which aims at making the system more responsive to Scotland’s strategic skills needs at national and regional levels.

Alongside reform, we are also taking targeted action to meet urgent skills needs in specific sectors. For example, we are investing up to £2 million to develop engineering skills in the Glasgow City Region through a programme led by Clyde Maritime Cluster, and the defence sector, with Skills Development Scotland. Member authorities, led by Inverclyde Council, are leading on engagement with local employability partnerships to identify individuals who would benefit; and offer training opportunities through interventions including Skills Academies, paid work experience and guaranteed interviews. Companies are also working innovatively with regional colleges and other partners to look at specific interventions that would support candidates with particular upskilling or reskilling needs or with additional barriers.

Operational decisions such as curriculum delivery are the responsibility of individual colleges.

The Scottish Government acknowledges the challenges teachers face, including in managing excessive workload.

That is why we are working with COSLA and the teaching unions to develop a plan to reduce class contact time for teachers, which is supported by increased funding for councils of £186.5 million to restore teacher numbers to 2023 levels.

In addition, we are undertaking a range of additional measures including plans to commission independent work to examine how reducing unnecessary bureaucracy in Scottish education can improve teacher workload, and how greater use of digital technology can be utilised to help free up teachers’ time.

In recent years, we have also allocated more than £2m to specifically support the wellbeing of the education workforce and address a range of support needs, including teacher burnout.

We remain committed to sustained investment to strengthen provision of education in Scotland and we are providing local authorities with £185.5m in this year’s budget to maintain teacher numbers.

We remain committed to working with the teacher unions, and COSLA, through the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers, to agree our approach to delivering a reduction in class contact time. We are clear that reducing class contact time will help address critical concerns around teacher workload, thereby creating the space to drive improvement and reform in our schools and improve outcomes for pupils.

The Scottish Government reached a budget agreement with COSLA in December 2024 which included a commitment to make meaningful progress towards the implementation of a 90-minute reduction in teacher class contact time.

The Scottish Government regularly meets with representatives of teacher trade unions, including the Educational Institute of Scotland.

The 2021 SNP manifesto included a commitment to give teachers more time out of the classroom to prepare lessons, undertake professional development and tackle the challenges of closing the attainment gap.

We remain committed to delivering a reduction in teacher class contact time of 90 minutes per week, which we believe will create the conditions to achieve these improvements.

That is why we are working with teacher unions and COSLA through the SNCT to make meaningful progress towards delivering the reduction.

Teacher numbers increased by 12 between 2021 (2020 census baseline) and 2024. Teacher numbers for 2025 will be published with the teacher census statistics in December 2025.

The Scottish Government commissioned the report: Pupil projections and implications for teacher resourcing needs: education workforce modelling and research, which was published on 7 May 2024. This independent research has informed our engagement with partners on the commitment to reduce class contact time for teachers.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The figures recently reported in the media stem from a Freedom of Information request made to Police Scotland and relate to a single day snapshot of the situation as of
3 September 2025. Police Scotland do not publish the figures as a matter of course, given the day to day fluctuation around the number of outstanding warrants.

Police Scotland have been clear that they prioritise all arrest warrants according to threat, risk and harm, deploying national specialist resources and intelligence techniques to locate and apprehend those who pose the greatest risk to communities.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-41542 on 11 November 2025.

Status of major projects at outline business case stage or later – including NTC Forth Valley – is published on a 6-monthly basis in the Scottish Government’s major capital projects progress update. This is published on the Scottish Government’s website: Infrastructure Investment Plan: progress reports - gov.scot

As set out in the latest update (August 2025), the new ward continues to be delayed and an opening date is not yet confirmed for that ward. Work to agree a route to completion is ongoing. However, existing theatres (previously unused) have already been commissioned and in a phased opening, the National Treatment Centre began treating patients in October 2024.

There is an ongoing dispute with the contractor over final works required to bring the facility into appropriate condition for operational service. The final costs remain a point of negotiation and have not been finalised.

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.