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The Scottish Government recognises the current pressures on housebuilding and the importance of building more homes. We are aware of opposition from industry to the Scottish Building Safety Levy (SBSL). However, no immediate alternative solutions are being offered to address the scale of the funding challenge associated with cladding remediation. With developers contributing to cladding remediation in England through a Building Safety Levy, the Scottish Government considers it fair and proportionate that they are asked to do the same in Scotland.

We are aware that Scottish Land and Estates have voiced concerns with the proposed measures in the Bill, whereas other stakeholders would like the measures to go further and faster. It is important that our Land Reform policies take a proportionate and balanced approach, whilst improving how land is owned and managed in our rural and island communities.

We continue to listen to the views of stakeholders and have brought forward a number of amendments at Stage 2 to strengthen and simplify the Bill.

We have carefully considered the impact that the proposals in Part 1 of the Land Reform Bill will have on landowners across Scotland. The 1000 hectare threshold means that only the largest 1.4% of Scotland’s farms are expected to be in scope, according to 2023 Agricultural Census figures.

For further assessment of the impacts of proposed measures in the Bill, please refer to the Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA).

The Strategic Board for Teacher Education is developing a Teacher Education and Development Framework to support teacher development throughout their careers. This includes a specific focus on improving support and mentoring for early career teachers.

At this time, no other proposal for any additional facilities has been brought to the Scottish Government for consideration. Any future proposals will be subject to careful assessment, must align with public health priorities and reflect local collaboration. They would also need to satisfy the Lord Advocate in relation to the various requirements previously set out by her in order to receive a similar statement of prosecution policy as that which is in place for The Thistle.

The Glasgow safer drug consumption facility, The Thistle, will undergo a comprehensive, independent evaluation led by a collaboration of academic institutions, including the University of Glasgow, Glasgow Caledonian University, and other expert research partners. The findings from that evaluation will be an essential reference point in informing the development, scale, and scope of any future facilities.

The Scottish Government does not routinely collect or publish data on drug deaths within a specified radius of individual facilities, including the Thistle facility in Glasgow.

Accredited official statistics on drug deaths in Scotland are published annually by Drug-related deaths in Scotland in 2023 - National Records of Scotland (NRS) The most recent available statistics are for deaths registered in 2023. The next publication of these statistics is expected in September 2025 and can be found here Upcoming publications - National Records of Scotland (NRS) and will cover deaths registered in 2024. The most detailed geographical breakdown of these statistics is local authority area (i.e. Glasgow City).

Scottish Government publishes quarterly data to provide an indication of current trends in Suspected drug deaths in Scotland: January to March 2025 - gov.scot This data is operational information from Police Scotland who compile figures on the basis of reports from police officers attending scenes of death. This is management information and not subject to the same level of validation and quality assurance as official statistics. A geographical breakdown by Police Division is available for this data. Over the period January to March 2025, 61 suspected drug deaths were recorded in the G: Greater Glasgow Police Division.

Scottish Government utilises the National Dental Inspection Programme (NDIP) to both assess children’s oral health over the longer-term, and to understand the impact of dental policy and services, including Childsmile. As part of dental payment reform, we have also introduced adult oral health metrics for the first time. These are based on key data points routinely collected through dental examinations, and can be used by dentists to monitor the long-term oral health of their population cohorts.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) statistics published in May, and showing data to 31 March 2025, report that adults in the most deprived areas are more likely to be registered with an NHS dentist than those in the least deprived areas, however participation (the number of registered patients who have been seen by a dentist in the past two years) is lower.

To help address this, we work with NHS Boards to make available additional financial incentives to grow and sustain access to primary care dental services, this includes the Scottish Dental Access Initiative (SDAI), which financially assists dentists in either opening a new or expand an existing dental practice in a designated areas where there is unmet demand for NHS dental services.

There are no agreed plans at present but we will continue to consider the appropriate reporting on actions related to the Memorandum of Understanding, with the government and public agencies of Flanders.

Violence towards pupils or staff is unacceptable.

Responsibility for addressing concerns in specific local authority areas rests with the local authority, as the employer of school staff.

In August, we published our action plan on relationships and behaviour in schools, jointly owned with COSLA. The plan sets out 20 actions to be taken by 2027, including actions to reduce violence in schools. In March we published the first progress report on delivery against the plan, which highlighted progress has been made across all 20 actions.

In response to the findings of the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research 2023 about support staff’s experiences of violence, the Scottish Government provided £900k funding for training of support staff in direct response to findings of the research that staff would welcome such training.

As part of Programme for Government, we are investing £29m to support the recruitment, retention and training of the ASN workforce via local and national programmes.

On 17 June I published new guidance to support school staff on fostering a positive, inclusive and safe school environment, including the use of consequences. I also published guidance on risk assessments for violent, aggressive, and dangerous behaviour.

Consumer Scotland, as the statutory independent consumer body in Scotland, has responsibility for overseeing scams prevention and awareness work. In addition, the Scottish Government funds a post in Trading Standards Scotland to help minimise the scale and impact of energy efficiency related scams before they cause any consumer detriment.

The Scottish Government funds the Home Energy Scotland (HES) advice service, which provides free, impartial and bespoke advice and support for energy efficiency, clean heating and fuel poverty for all households in Scotland. HES is also the route for access to various Scottish Government grants and loans. No Scottish Government funding schemes participate in cold calling. We recommend that households call HES if they are unsure if a Scottish energy efficiency scheme is genuine.

Consumers can also contact the Scottish Government-funded consumer helpline, Advice Direct Scotland, to report any suspicious schemes and seek guidance on action.