Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Agri-Environment and Climate Scheme (AECS) was launched in 2015 to promote land management practices which protect and enhance Scotland’s natural heritage, improve water quality, manage flood risk and mitigate and adapt to climate change.

AECS has a strong uptake from farmers and crofters in Orkney. Since 2015 there has been 486 approved contracts from 288 businesses, valued at £24.48 million (figures as of August 2025).

This scheme is expected to continue until at least 2026 to deliver elements of Tiers 3 and 4 until new Elective and Complementary Support mechanisms are introduced.

Co-development and co-design with rural partners will be the foundational approach to the development of future support structures and delivery. We will work with farmers and crofters to make sure that our support is informed by their needs and experience. This will include specific consideration of our island farming and crofting systems to ensure funding is relevant and remains accessible to as many as possible. For example, a review of AECS is currently underway with stakeholders such as the National Farmers Union (Scotland) and the Scottish Crofting Federation inputting into this process.

Farmers and crofters can volunteer to help shape the policy and support that affects them by registering their interest here: Agricultural Reform Programme (ARP) - Volunteer to take part in research and design (Page 1 of 11)

The Scottish Government continues to develop policy and legislation to reduce marine litter pollution and grow our circular economy by reducing waste which can become litter.

We know that a lot of our marine litter comes from single-use products and we are building on previous legislation to tackle more of these items in the future. We are working across the four nations towards legislation that will ban businesses from supplying and selling wet wipes containing plastic, with exceptions for medical or industrial use. We remain committed to the delivery of a successful deposit return scheme for single-use drinks containers, working closely with industry and the rest of the UK to launch this in October 2027. In addition, we have also consulted on proposals to introduce a minimum 25 pence charge on single-use drinks cups, with the aim of incentivising the use of reusable alternatives.

To reduce packaging waste an Extended Producer Responsibility scheme is being implemented in 2025 across the UK. It will move the full cost of dealing with packaging waste from households to the producers. It will also incentivise businesses to reduce excess packaging and to design packaging that is more easily recycled.

The Scottish Government’s actions to improve the efficiency of household recycling systems are set out in the Circular Economy and Waste Route Map.

In partnership with local authorities and other stakeholders, the Scottish Government is co-designing a new statutory Code of Practice for household recycling. The Scottish Government held co-design events with local government on 23 June and 22 July 2025. The findings from these sessions are being used to inform the planning of wider stakeholder engagement with business, the third sector and citizens. The new Code of Practice will be completed by the end of 2026, after which it will be made available for public consultation.

We are making one of the biggest investments in a generation to modernise recycling in Scotland through the Recycling Improvement Fund. A total of £66.6 million has now been allocated to 27 local authorities for 48 projects to increase the quantity and quality of recycling across Scotland.

Local authorities in Scotland will see around £150 million per year in funding to support collection for household packaging waste through extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging. These payments will start from November 2025

An extensive programme of work has been undertaken across the Scottish public sector estate to identify the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) and to ensure buildings are safe for all building users.

Management of the Police Scotland estate, including assessments of the condition of its buildings, is an operational matter for the Chief Constable, under the oversight of the Scottish police Authority.

The Scottish Government supports the work undertaken by Police Scotland to address the issue of RAAC which has been identified in four locations across the Police Scotland estate, and their commitment to providing a safe environment for officers, staff and the public. Police Scotland has provided assurance that there is no risk to officers, staff, or visitors to those affected buildings.

We are investing a record £1.64 billion in policing in 2025-26. This includes £70 million of capital funding for investment in police assets, including the police estate.

Management of the Police Scotland estate, including assessments of the condition of its buildings, is an operational matter for the Chief Constable under the oversight of the Scottish Police Authority. The Scottish Government supports Police Scotland’s commitment to providing a safe environment for officers, staff and the public.

The Scottish Government recognises the hazard of asbestos and the risks to health that it poses, however the management of asbestos in buildings is a reserved matter for the UK Government, and the Health and Safety Executive has UK wide responsibility for enforcement of the legislation and regulations.

We are investing a record £1.64 billion in policing in 2025-26. This includes £70 million of capital funding for investment in police assets, including the police estate.

As part of our Equally Safe governance arrangements, we have a progress reporting cycle in place which will see an annual progress report published by the end of this year, providing updates on the actions it contains and sets out the work that will be undertaken over the next period.

An interim progress report is also compiled for the Equally Safe Joint Strategic Board to monitor progress, the most recent one in February 2025. I would be more than happy to share a copy of this with the elected member.

The Scottish Government last met with the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Sustainable Funding Project Board on 14 November 2024.

The items discussed were the Delivering Equally Safe Fund, the next steps for consideration of the funding recommendations from the Independent Review of Funding and Commissioning of VAWG Services and the future of the Project Board.

Following the meeting, the VAWG Sustainable Funding Project Board was stood down and a short-life working group established to oversee the development of a VAWG Needs Assessment Tool.

Regular updates on progress are provided to the Equally Safe Joint Strategic Board, the advisory and oversight body for the Equally Safe strategy, which is co-chaired by the Equalities Minister and the COSLA Spokesperson for Community Wellbeing.

Violence against women and girls is a fundamental violation of human rights and has no place in our vision for a safe, strong, successful Scotland.

Our Equally Safe Delivery Plan contains a range of actions to build a robust and joined up approach to the prevention of violence against women and girls across all education settings in Scotland. Action 4.3 commits us to consider how we connect and share data with other public protection areas and use data and evidence to support conversations to prevent and reduce harm and to improve outcomes for adult and child victim-survivors of VAWG.

Tackling the difficult issues of having the right data for improvement and assurance and risk escalation at local and national level, is a workplan priority for the National Public Protection Leadership Group (NPPLG). A medium-term action for the NPPLG will look at how we progress interconnectedness of strands to inform policy and practice. The work of the Scottish Government Cross-Government Public Protection Team will complement the work of the NPPLG and support this action.

In relation to adult victim-survivors, the Adult Support and Protection National Minimum Dataset collects data on primary harm, including categories on physical harm’, ‘sexual harm’, ‘psychological/ emotional harm’ and ‘domestic abuse’. This data is shared with Local Health and Social Care Partnerships on a quarterly basis as unpublished management information and can be used to inform broader local discussions on public protection.

Adult Support and Protection contribute to the Equally Safe strategy as a partner in public protection and data will be available from wider sources.

For child victim-survivors, the Scottish Government are continuously looking to improve local and national data and evidence around child protection. A National Child Protection Data Group with members from the Scottish Government, Care Inspectorate and the Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection (CELCIS) oversees this work. The group meets regularly and organises annual in-person events to bring together individuals with an interest in local and national child protection data from across the country.

A national dataset is published on an annual basis to support the publication of the Scottish Government’s annual children’s social work statistics. The publication of these statistics is important to allow us to follow long term trends in child protection data. The data collection specification has been revised to ensure alignment with the National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021 – updated 2023. Child protection registrations linked to domestic abuse are collected as part of this publication.

A minimum data set for Child Protection Committees (CPCs) has been developed which aims to support the delivery of continuous improvement and self-evaluation responsibilities. The minimum dataset is a ‘package’ of data collation, presentation, analysis, reporting and scrutiny supports to support child protection improvement, local planning and service development, and expanded analytical capacity. Child Protection Committees can supplement the minimum dataset with additional information depending on the needs of their area. Version 2 of the minimum dataset for Child Protection Committees was launched in June 2021 and aligns with the National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland.

Since 2021, our partners CELCIS have administered the Children’s Care and Protection Data Community of Practice Scotland Knowledge Hub site. The site is open to all people interested in children’s data. The Hub will facilitate a more co-ordinated strategic approach to sharing learning and to help inform local planning and service development.