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The Scottish Government believes everyone should be safe, and feel safe, in their home and community. Our communities are safer than they were a generation ago.

Community safety is not the responsibility of one organisation – it is a shared endeavour. Local authorities and Police Scotland have statutory duties to share intelligence and plans for antisocial behaviour strategies and local policing plans. The Scottish Government has increased the funding that local authorities receive in real terms by 5.5% for 2025–26, and Police Scotland receive a record £1.64 billion for 2025–26.

To address local needs and challenges, the Scottish Government also supports Crimestoppers Scotland through £182, 500 of funding for 2025–26. Crimestoppers aims to reach and support communities experiencing higher levels of crime, those who are at risk of harm, and the most vulnerable in our communities.

Neighbourhood Watch Scotland seeks to target its events and activities in areas of deprivation. NWS recently attended the Crime Prevention and Scam Awareness Day in Dundee.

At a national level, the Scottish Government has invested over £6 million since 2023 in our Violence Prevention Framework, supporting early intervention and diversion from violence. A number of programmes including No Knives, Better Lives, Medics Against Violence, and Mentors in Violence Prevention are reaching thousands of young people to support and empower them to make safer choices.

Through Curriculum for Excellence, children and young people learn about a variety of substances, including nicotine pouches.

The Scottish Government continues to work with Young Scot and other third sector organisations to ensure that young people, their teachers, parents and carers have access to accurate, evidence based, information on nicotine products.

In addition, the UK-wide Tobacco and Vapes Bill (the Bill), if passed, will introduce new restrictions on age of sale for all nicotine products and the advertising, sponsorship, free distribution and nominal pricing of vapes and nicotine products across the 4 nations.

New powers in the Bill will also empower the Secretary of State to regulate (amongst other things) product features, packaging, ingredients and flavourings in relation to vapes and nicotine products across the UK, with the consent of Scottish Ministers. The Bill will extend the Tobacco and Vapes retailer register in Scotland to cover all nicotine products and it will give the Scottish Ministers the power to impose restrictions in relation to the display of nicotine products in shops.

An update on implementation timescales for the Bill will be provided following Royal Assent.

The Scottish Government believes everyone should be safe, and feel safe, in their home and community. Our communities are safer than they were a generation ago.

Community safety is not the responsibility of one organisation – it is a shared endeavour. Local authorities and Police Scotland have statutory duties to share intelligence and plans for antisocial behaviour strategies and local policing plans. The Scottish Government has increased the funding that local authorities receive in real terms by 5.5% for 2025–26, and Police Scotland receive a record £1.64 billion for 2025–26.

Data from the Safer Communities and Justice Statistics shows that three in four adults said that they felt very safe or fairly safe walking alone in their neighbourhood after dark in 2023–24, a number which has been stable since 2016–17. This is an 11% increase from 2008–09.

During the development of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill (the Bill) the Scottish Government has had constructive discussions on new restrictions for all nicotine products. The Bill, if passed, will introduce restrictions on the age of sale for all nicotine products and the advertising, sponsorship, free distribution and nominal pricing of vapes and all nicotine products across the 4 nations. Some of these new restrictions will be similar to current restrictions on tobacco products. The Bill will also extend the Tobacco and Vapes retailer register in Scotland to cover all nicotine products.

New powers in the Bill will also empower the Secretary of State to regulate (amongst other things) product features, packaging, ingredients and flavourings in relation to vapes and nicotine products across the UK, with the consent of Scottish Ministers. The Bill will give the Scottish Ministers the power to impose restrictions in relation to the display of nicotine products in shops.

The UK wide Tobacco and Vapes Bill, if passed, empowers the Secretary of State to limit the amount of nicotine in a nicotine pouch, as well as ban any other ingredient that might be harmful in a pouch.

The powers within the Bill, subject to consultation, can be used to ensure that nicotine pouches are limited to an appropriate strength. The Secretary of State will be required to obtain the consent of the Scottish Ministers where regulations contain provision which would be within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament.

Nicotine products, including pouches, should not be used by children and young people. The Scottish Government supports age restrictions for all commercially available nicotine products. The UK-wide Tobacco and Vapes Bill, if passed, will introduce new restrictions on age of sale for all nicotine products, including nicotine pouches.

As I set out in my statement to Parliament on 30 September, early performance of the programme is impressive: 1,300 member companies, 35% of members are women and, collectively, members have raised £195m of investment.

I have also commissioned an independent review of the Techscaler programme. To ensure full transparency and accountability, the findings will be published in full by early 2026.

The Scottish Government uses governance processes in accordance with best practice as set out in the HM Treasury Green Book. Officials meet with Codebase regularly to oversee progress and delivery through weekly oral updates and the submission of detailed formal reports on a monthly and quarterly basis. Codebase are responsible for the content and accuracy of reports of information contained within. Senior officials also meet with the Codebase Chair, Gillian Docherty, on a monthly basis.

These arrangements ensure that appropriate processes and reporting channels are in place and that challenges and opportunities can be addressed appropriately.

The Scottish Government is subject to the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). No information about the scheme can be withheld from release in response to any request, unless a relevant exemption under FOISA applies to that information.

The terms of reference, membership and minutes of the National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (CSAE) Strategic Group’s meetings are published on the Scottish Government website: National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Strategic Group - gov.scot.

Membership of the Group is drawn from organisations that deliver, support delivery, scrutinise or regulate child protection responses and frameworks in Scotland, alongside relevant academic and research bodies. The group has one independent member, Professor Alexis Jay, who was selected for her particular expertise and experience in the area of child sexual abuse and exploitation.