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The Scottish Government commissioned 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.

Local Government are also undertaking local scoping and modelling work to inform delivery of this commitment. This work is scheduled to be completed by summer 2025.

Implementation of the reduction of class contact time requires agreement through the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT).

The Scottish Government remains committed to reducing class contact time, and we will continue to work with COSLA and the teacher unions, through the SNCT to agree our approach to delivering this important commitment at pace.

Ministerial pay is set and administered by the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government has no role in this. You may, therefore, wish to direct any detailed questions on pay to the Scottish Parliament. A breakdown on Ministerial salaries is provided on the Scottish parliament website - MSP salaries | Scottish Parliament Website.

I can confirm that all Ministers accepted the equalisation of the MSP element of their salary, with the exception of the First Minister who chose not to do so to avoid any perception that he was personally benefiting from his own decisions on Ministerial pay.

Offshore oil and gas licensing, as well as consenting and the associated fiscal regime, are all matters that are currently reserved to the UK Government.

The Scottish Government has been clear in our commitment to achieving net zero by 2045. Any further extraction and use of fossil fuels must be consistent with Scotland’s climate obligations and just transition commitments and we have advocated for a licencing approach that has a Climate Compatibility Checkpoint as well as taking energy security into account. It is vital that we take an evidence-based approach to the energy transition. At the heart of our approach is ensuring a just transition for Scotland’s valued and highly skilled oil and gas workforces whose skills will be critical to the success of Scotwind and other low carbon energy projects.

Calls to the 111 service can go unanswered for a variety of reasons, including callers choosing to end their call after being connected to the automated messaging service and hearing the options available to them – including an NHS 24 callback service during busier periods.

Other options include accessing self-care advice via the NHS Inform website or contacting another area of the health service which may be more appropriate to meet their needs.

We continue to support NHS 24’s ongoing work to help reduce unanswered calls, including recently revising NHS 24’s key performance indicators to better reflect and understand the current demands on the service.

This work allows the Service to capture any unmet demand, and any potential risks where callers have made multiple attempts to access 111 without success.

In addition, over the past two financial years NHS 24 has received additional funding of £28.3m to support their wider role in the re-design of unscheduled care. This has allowed the service to boost their staffing numbers with 22 WTE additional clinicians recruited this year and the Service now almost at desired capacity in terms of call handlers.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-37627 on 27 May 2025.

The following table sets out any representations that officials have identified as being received by the Scottish Government referencing bereavement-based exceptional circumstances or appeals arrangements in relation to the National Qualifications.

It should be borne in mind that different exceptional circumstances and appeals arrangements were in place in 2020, 2021 and 2022 as a result of the alternative awarding processes in place due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Scottish Government is committed to driving key efficiency programmes such as Scottish Single Estates, Commercial Value for Money (CVfM), Collaborative Procurement frameworks, the Intelligence Automation Centre of Excellence, and Digital programme. There has been strong progress across these programmes which are expected to reach up to £280 million of cost avoidance and cash releasing savings over a two-year period by the end of 2024-25. This figure is not related to pay costs for board members of public sector or other non-departmental bodies.

The Scottish Government is working closely with our local government partners to improve the experience of children and young people with additional support needs at school, implementing the recommendations of the 2020 review of additional support for learning.

During a debate in Parliament on the Review of Additional Support for Learning and Implementation of Mainstreaming, held on 14 May 2025, the Scottish Government committed to engaging in a cross-party roundtable with Local Government to discuss what more can be done to support Additional Support Needs in our schools and to undertaking a review of Additional Support for Learning.

The scope and detail of the review will be informed by the outcome of the roundtable discussion and will also draw on the evidence set out in the recent reports from the Education, Children and Young People Committee Inquiry Report, Audit Scotland briefing and the Children and Young People Commissioner’s Report.

Statistics on 'additional support needs teachers’ are published in the teacher census supplementary statistics. This is available on the Scottish government website here Teacher census supplementary statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

In addition, statistics on school support staff are also published on the Scottish Government website and are available here School support staff statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

Spending on additional support for learning by local authorities reached a record high of over £1 billion in the last financial year. This year, in addition to that spend, the 2025-26 budget provides £29m investment for additional support for learning. This will support the recruitment retention and training of the ASN workforce at a local level, and will help to enhance professional learning on inclusion for all teachers, at all stages of their careers.

The Scottish Government takes the safety of the public very seriously. Sex offender notification requirements apply to an individual, irrespective of what name they use, and Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements documentation includes the recording of any aliases. Sex offenders must inform the police of a name change within three days and failure to notify such a change can result in a prison sentence.

We are aware that the Crime and Policing Bill, recently introduced to the UK Parliament, contains legislative change in this area. A Legislative Consent Memorandum (LCM) was lodged on 16 May 2025 recommending that the Scottish Parliament consents to the legislative provisions around sex offender management contained in the Bill. We await the outcome of the Parliamentary process which will determine whether or not consent is given to the provisions.