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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.

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.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of cybercrime units within Police Scotland as this is an operational matter for the Chief Constable.

We recognise the crucial role that Police Scotland officers and staff play in keeping our communities safe, including from sexual abuse.

In 2025-26, we have increased police funding to £1.64 billion, an increase of £90 million on 2024-25, to support police capacity and capability.

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 Glasgow Safer Drug Consumption Facility (SDCF) 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 Scottish Government is committed to an evidence-based approach to tackling drug-related harm and will ensure any further facilities are informed by robust, independent evidence.

The Scottish Government will assess the impact of the Glasgow pilot using those forthcoming evaluation findings and this will assist to build an evidence base for future policy considerations.

Any proposal for additional facilities or a wider roll-out will be considered on a case-by-case basis but will also require agreement from the Lord Advocate and the provision of a statement of prosecution policy similar to that which is in place in Glasgow.

The Scottish Government values the teaching profession and the important work that teachers do is one of the key strengths of our education system.

We will continue to work with COSLA and the teaching unions to address concerns around teacher workload.

We are clear that reducing teachers’ class contact time by 90 minutes per week will help address critical concerns around teacher workload, including the retention of teachers.

We will continue to work with COSLA and the teaching unions to make meaningful progress on this important commitment.

Protecting children from harm is a key priority for the Scottish Government. Child sexual abuse and exploitation are abhorrent crimes and have a devastating impact on victims and their families. In Scotland, we are working closely with partners to deliver a co-ordinated multi-agency response to preventing child sexual abuse and exploitation in all its forms. We are committed to ensuring that robust measures are in place across Scotland to make sure our services can identify and support victims of online harm, including children and young people.

We are taking forward a range of work with our partners to both prevent abuse and intervene early to ensure that risk and harm to children and young people is recognised and acted on quickly and effectively. This includes the establishment of a new National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Strategic Group, comprising of operational partners, including Police Scotland, and other expert stakeholders, to review current action and agree where additional focus is needed to better protect children from abuse and exploitation, including online-enabled harm. This group’s overarching priority is prevention. Members are working together to identify priorities and actions to more effectively prevent, disrupt and provide support to victims of child sexual abuse and their families, including those facing online harms.

The Scottish Government is also a member of Police Scotland’s Multi-Agency Group on Preventing Online Child Sexual Abuse which monitors emerging online threats to develop a shared approach to using technological advancements to tackle abuse, improve data-gathering, improve support for victims and survivors and promote key activities delivered by our partners.

While regulation of the internet remains a reserved matter, we have successfully engaged with the UK Government on its Online Safety Act to strengthen protections for young people. The Scottish Government is also working closely with the UK Government on extending relevant Crime and Policing Bill provisions to Scotland, including offences relating to the possession, creation and distribution of Artificial Intelligence tools designed to create child sexual abuse material.

It is also important to emphasise the responsibility of tech firms in protecting children and young people. This is why I met Ofcom in August and again last week alongside the Minister for Community Safety to ensure pressure is put on tech companies to deliver effective safeguards for young people online, including the need for more prescriptive guidance to providers. The First Minister wrote directly to tech firms last year to remind them of their responsibilities and, alongside the Minister for Victims and Community Safety, I recently wrote to social media companies to invite them to meet to discuss the protection of children and young people from online harm.

We will continue to engage with the UK Government and Ofcom on implementation of legislation and to press for stronger protections to help keep children and young people in Scotland safe online.

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.

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.

The Scottish Government recognises that NHS Scotland’s oncology capacity has been increasingly tested due to steady, long-term increases in demand driven by new medicines approvals, increasing complexity of treatment, an ageing population, more treatments for incurable cancers, and delayed presentations exacerbated by the pandemic.

Despite these pressures, we are treating more patients with cancer on time, within both standards, compared to the same quarter 6 years ago – 7.7% more within the 31-day standard & 0.1% more within the 62-day standard.

We continue to take action to address workforce pressures and have increased consultant radiologists by 27.7% in the last ten years. We continue to invest heavily in radiology training - for example we are currently funding around 190 specialty training places in clinical radiology, including 78 extra places we have added since 2014 based on modelling and future workforce need. This enables doctors to train and enter the workforce following completion of training - which takes a minimum of 5 years. This programme has been filled at 100% in Scotland from 2014 to 2024, with 230 resident doctors successfully completing the training.

Further, over £106 million has been allocated to NHS Boards in 2025-26 to address waiting times, with £21 million for imaging. We will reduce the radiology backlog so that 95% of referrals are seen within six weeks by March 2026, through expanding to seven-day services, recruitment, and utilising mobile scanning units.

I have written to the Royal College of Radiologists following their report as I hope to work together to support the development of solutions. This will ensure that our NHS continues to deliver excellent and equitably accessible cancer care.